#mmk

i wasn't able to watch the mmk episode today but i was able to see it's ending. timely with the agency visit we had at Holy Face Rehabilitation Center for Mental Health in Tabiguian, Tabaco City, the episode was about a girl suffering from mental illness specifically with schizophrenia and was being accused by the people as being the 'aswang.' i took the courage of posting a simple and similar message both in facebook and in twitter. the one i posted in fb is below and i was amazed by the 24 likes it received after two hours.

i displayed the same message in twitter and after two hours, my tweet was retwitted by resaabigail who happens to be a producer of the show. anyway, natuwa lang ako. haha.

anyway, i hope that those people who had retwitted and liked the post will do their own little way of promoting the stoppage of stigmatizing persons who are mentally ill because they also have their worth and dignity and that they are also persons. no more, no less.

#DaBestPasko

I believe that this is one of the things that ABS-CBN is consistently very good at - Christmas Station ID. Throughout the years, ABS presents new concept and theme of Filipino Christmas. for sure, the Da Best ang Pasko ng Pilipino song will be a hit comes the Christmas Party or Christmas Celebrations in the country. WELL DONE ABS-CBN!

ps. but i still believe that their most successful station ID is the Star ng Pasko way back 2009 because of ramdam na ramdam yun ng mga tao and my personal favorite, Tuloy na Tuloy pa rin ang Pasko some years before. haha. :)

now i know who they are

the first time i saw storyline on the abs-cbn news channel, my attention was easily caught. it's unique cinematography including its effects, sounds and others plus the way they deliver the stories of their interviewees is very appealing for the story is first hand and directly came from the interviewers themselves. however, since we do not have a tv at the boarding house in legazpi, i cannot really watch it per episode on a weekly basis on the ANC then. today, it is also shown in abs-cbn but still there is replay in ANC. hm. i think i had seen a couple of episodes including those that of Ninoy, Atty. Saguisag, Sec. Robredo, former senator pimentel and also a couple of episodes involving ordinary people like the story of a "kariton boy" who amused me because of his english speaking skills and interest in comics.

well, i forgot that last night was a storyline night and i don't even have a clue when will storyline be aired in ANC. worse, i saw a comment commending how beautiful the story was. good thing, it happened that i was doing a channel hop and i drop by in ANC and poof... it was STORYLINE. what i saw was the story about Dukot and if i am right it was about the torture victims. but the last story really really caught my attention and even caused goosebumps. it was the story of the "tragic story" of the sweetheart Alexis and Nika who were shot by robbers one night in Alexis' home at times st. sayang naman si Alexis oh! he can make a difference. tsktsk. worse thing is that they were good people who can bring and do a lot for the good of the Philippines. nakakahinayang! i may not know them personally but their story affected me. tsktsk. well, i hope justice will be serve for them anytime soon.

ps. while browsing some tumblr blogs, i came across a cover of UNO Magazine which bears the phrases "Justice for Alexis and Justice for Nika. during those time, i am really ignorant of who they are and i even told myself that maybe they were children who were victims of child abuse. good thing, my ignorance was changed and social consciousness aroused when i saw the episode.

pss. two thumbs up for storyline. :D

psss. JUSTICE FOR ALEXIS AND NIKA! Good people deserve it!

pssss. photos below were grabbed from philstar.net and fb page of in memoriam of alexis and nika.

a piece of OUR reality

it is very seldom that i watched a noontime show when i arrived here in naga due to wide array of choices over the different channels (both international and national) to watch. but one noontime, papa watched Eat Bulaga! (the longest running noontime show in the Philippine TV) and during that day, it was Ryan Agoncillo's birthday. of course, it is quite a custom to TV shows especially variety shows to give the birthdayperson a kind-of-blowout and greeting. Ryan's birthday celebration was highlighted when he gave the earnings of his brother-in-law to mang rogelio, an impoverished jeepney driver which he knew from BBC's Toughest Place to be a Bus Driver. So as a curious audience, i searched and actually watch the BBC's TOUGHEST PLACE TO BE A BUS DRIVER which i can say is a real piece of OUR very own reality in the eyes of a foreigner.

The close to an hour documentary revolved around the story of Josh West, a British Bus Driver from London who drives a state of the art double decker bus and the challenge imposed upon him to actually drive and have a taste of how it is to be a bus/jeepney driver in the Philippines specifically in Manila which according to the narration is being referred as the most densely populated city in the world. Of course, as a first timer, Josh found it hard to navigate the streets of Manila and much more to drive using the jeepney which he even described as "a vehicle which he thinks as not roadworthy." But eventually, he made it with the aid of attending to a driving class and with the help of Mang Rogelio.

Well, i decided to post some sort-of-a-review for the documentary not just because a Filipino and the Philippines is being featured but because on the important pieces of our reality it captured while Josh's story is going on. the first of our piece of reality is that many filipinos are still trap under the spells of poverty, that no matter how hard they tried to work and work and work even harder, when the sun rises anew, they are still in the same situation they are in. it's as if a trap wherein poor filipinos no matter how hard they strive will still end up being poor just like Mang Rogelio's situation which happens to be the very sentiment of Mang Rogelio. that everyday, many filipinos do job that at the end of the day will hopefully suffice their needs for that day alone. another thing is that even the Reproductive Health Bill or popularly the RH Bill was featured. well, personally the situation of Mang Rogelio's neighbor (which unfortunately i forgot the name) made my personal stand firmer that there is a need for the passage of RH Bill not because it gives everyone an artificial contraceptives but it gives the couple a chance to choose on what they think is better for their family.

Hmm. so much for the RH Bill. what was truly saddening i

s the part where "pagpag" - a kind of food in tondo wherein it's ingredients are collected, washed and recooked remains or remnants of foods from a fastfood chain is being served. it is shocking and saddening but we cannot blame the people of tondo in making and patronizing pagpag. it is their situation that made them do that. come to think of it, if they have better access to foods or let's say opportunities for employment, they will not do that. Josh even cried upon hearing the story and the sentiments of the pagpag maker (photo below). it is saddening because it once again caught a piece of our reality through a foreigner.

perhaps the reality that the documentary gave Ryan and inspired Ryan's decision to help Mang Rogelio even for the short-term. the realness of the story and the documentary itself is so good because even though foreigners made or produced it, there is no exaggeration but it tells the story on how the people say it. Nonetheless, the documentary made me proud that i am a Filipino. that no matter what obstacles or hurdles we face in life, we fight and we try our best to become better. Furthermore, just like josh for sure, the story of Mang Rogelio humbles me and made me appreciate our and my status now and it inspired to do more once i started working because there are jobs that are worse than mine.

Lastly, Josh was successful with his challenge though there was a part where he was lost along the route and had a hard time with driving and counting change. I hope that Josh's adventure in the Philippines would become an eyeopener to the British people as to how lucky they are that they are developed and perhaps could share some not only to the poor Filipinos but to the poor people all over the world

.

ps. Jollibee was kinda featured but not really. it's just that Mang Rogelio and his family together with Josh ate at Jollibee when Mang Rogelio's jeepney was covered by the number/colorcoding. (seepicturebelow)

lets talk about TV.

for the whole summer, one of my pet peeves is watching tv aside from surfing the net and eating. come to think of it, since school time is once again here (just days or exactly one week before classes will start), it would simply imply that watching tv for me will be limited. when the classes starts, i will live again in albay (of course, i study there!) and living in a boarder house is not that comfortable like the life in my own home which, for me, justifies the saying "THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME!." i will surely miss my time watching tv programs in discovery channel, natgeo, disney channel, abs-cbn, anc, star movies, etc. especially that the tv programs that our small black and white tv in albay only offers program from local channels such as abs-cbn, gma and nbn. thats why sinusulit ko na ang aking panahon habang nakakapanood pa ako ng programs from cable channels.

well, speaking of tv, did you know that Naga City hosts most of the regional stations of the local channels in Bicol. Naga City have the ABS-CBN Naga - Studio 23 which also serves as the regional station, GMA 7 - Naga - QTV, UNTV 39 News Center (all of them located along Panganiban Drive) and the TV5 affiliate PBN TV5 Naga. While ABS-CBN offers local programming, GMA 7 has yet to offer local programming. Noticeably, GMA is just starting up its Bicol operations by constructing their station. Right now, GMA have improved the quality of their signal along with QTV 28. Currently, the Bicol Region as a whole enjoys a couple of local programs like Marhay na Aga Kapamilya, TV Patrol Bicol and MagTV na Oragon of ABS-CBN, Bareta sa Singko of PBN TV 5 Naga an affiliate of TV5.

in summation, TV Stations such as PBN TV 5 Naga, ABS-CBN, GMA, Studio 23, QTV and UNTV have their regional stations in Naga City. in the case of the state-run NBN, they have a station in Naga but their regional station is situated at Legazpi City being the Regional Government Center.



information and pictures used above are courtesy NagaCityDeck.blogspot.com
in photos above: ABS-CBN Naga Tower and GMA 7 Naga Tower