THE Filipino Channel (TFC)’s mother company ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation was founded on October 23, 1953, and is now celebrating 65 years “in the service of the Filipino.”
I first set foot in ABS-CBN headquarters in Quezon City in the early 70s, when I was just in grade school, tagging along with neighbors who wanted to watch a live broadcast of the popular noontime show “Stop, Look and Listen.” I was a fan girl, happy to see in-person the celebrities I would only see on television. I had no idea I would one day work in this very same company.
I was already married then, raising our firstborn son, and already teaching Broadcasting at the UP College of Mass Communication when I felt the need to go outside of the academe and really practice my craft.
I intimated this with my professor, mentor and inspiration Cheche Lazaro, who encouraged me to audition at ABS-CBN as a news anchor. Cheche was then also working at ABS-CBN Channel 2 when the Lopezes just got back the station from the Marcos administration after the People Power Revolution in 1986.
And so in March 1987, and with the approval of my husband who was then a medical student at the UP College of Medicine, I mustered enough courage to go outside my comfort zone and stretched my wings to reach higher dreams.
I auditioned, was interviewed by big news organization executives Larry Ng and Jimmy Navarro, and got the job. I co-anchored the early morning newscast “Balita Ngayon” with Robert Arevalo and Mario Garcia, and with Jay Sonza as executive producer. It launched at the time of national elections which kept us all very busy, working at the old bodegas and studios of ABS-CBN that desperately needed repairs and upgrades after years of neglect.
After the May 1987 election, “Balita Ngayon” was canceled but I was offered to do the weather report for the evening newscasts. I had to decline because I found out then that I was pregnant with our second child. Hence, I decided to just focus on teaching as I raised two babies.
After a year, I had a short stint in newscasting for Channel 13 in Broadcast City when I was taken in after I auditioned for the job when an opportunity for the late evening news was announced in 1988.
BUT, once a Kapamilya, always a Kapamilya. Through Jay Sonza and another mentor and inspiration, Ms. Mel Tiangco, I was recommended to join as radio news anchor and commentator for DZMM in November 1989. This was my way back to ABS-CBN, and the start of my long fulfilling career in radio broadcasting.
I had the privilege of working with Mel and Jay, Kabayan Noli de Castro, Mario Garcia, Ka Kiko Evangelista, Kuya Cesar, Ernie Baron, and many more, under then Station Manager Lito Balquiedra.
From the morning slot, I was assigned to anchor the drive time primetime at night, which opened even more opportunities for me, including producing my own programs “Compañero y Compañera”, “Relos Reports,” and “Dear Ate Gel.” I also got to work with the late Atty. and Senator Rene Cayetano, and his children who are now public servants themselves — Pia Cayetano, Allan Peter Cayetano, Ren Cayetano and Lino Cayetano.
I was also privileged to work with Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, Atty. Danny Concepcion (now UP President), Daniel Razon (now the big boss of UNTV), and the lawyers and psychologists of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and Psychological Association of the Philippines, respectively.
My radio career also re-opened the doors for me to be back in front of the cameras, starting off as pinch hitter for Mel Tiangco for TV Patrol, co-host of Jim Paredes in “Tatak Pilipino”, co-anchor of Korina Sanchez and Ted Failon in “Hoy! Gising!”, co-host of Atty. Rene Cayetano in the TV version of “Compañero y Compañera” before he got elected Senator, news anchor for the late night newscasts “Pulso, Action, Balita” and “Headlines.”
These programs for radio and television have rewarded me with colleagues who have been my friends for life.
Moreover, my career in broadcasting also paved the way for me to earn numerous awards and recognitions that had later been helpful in my obtaining my “Alien with Extra-Ordinary Ability” visa so I could permanently live and work in the United States as my husband was training in Surgery.
I had to give up my career in 2001 so that my family (with four children) could join my husband in the United States where he took post-graduate training in surgery, and eventually got the rare opportunity to practice surgery in the United States. My family eventually naturalized to be U.S. citizens.
I thought my broadcasting career was over, but God arranged all things so I could be in the right place and the right time. In 2005, after my husband was done with his surgical training, we moved to California. During this time, ABS-CBN’s the Filipino Channel (TFC) started producing shows in the United States, and new doors had been opened for me to re-join the network again.
I started co-hosting “Citizen Pinoy” with Atty. Michael Gurfinkel, upon the invitation of John-D Lazatin and Maritess Militar, in 2005 up to 2008.
From pinch-hitting for “Balitang America” when it was just a weekly newscast, I was offered the privilege to be the main news anchor again by Ging Reyes, who was then News Bureau Chief for North America. On May 7, 2007, I started anchoring the “Balitang America” daily newscast, a privilege I cherish up to now.
Once a Kapamilya, always a Kapamilya. Thank you, ABS-CBN for giving me the opportunity to be a part of your 65 years anniversary story, and for making me realize my own life mission and purpose, in the service of the Filipino, wherever we may be.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
Gel Santos Rellos, you are a Political Hack by the Democrats leftist. There is not an ounce of fairness in you. I do not wish to listen to you anymore. You have Prostituted yourself to the Libtards.