for a typical day, i usually wake up at 6:30PM, watch news for about forty five minutes then prepare for yet another graveyard shift (starts at 8PM). but today was different. i barely had sleep during daytime. i was excited. not because Dallas Mavericks leads their series against the San Antonio Spurs. i guess that helped a bit but not quite. why? because my sister welcomed me home with the news that any hour from that moment one of the Filipino mountaineers attempting to reach the summit of Mt. Everest will be able to finally reach it. of course, makabayan as i am, i felt proud. at long last, may Filipino flag na rin na maiwawagayway sa tuktok ng mundo na magpapatunay na kaya rin ng Pinoy!
come 5:30PM here in Manila (3:30PM Nepal time) Heracleo "Leo" Oracion became the first Filipino to reach the 29,035-foot-high mountain top. in a country where no mountain reaches 10,000 feet and the only ice is inside freezers, Leo is being hailed as a hero, together with the other climbers (Garduce, Emata and Abenojar). tomorrow it's Erwin "Pastor" Emata's turn to aim what his fellow mountaineer has accomplished. meanwhile, the day after tomorrow, it'll be Romeo "Garduch" Garduce's turn. make us proud gentlemen! may the Lord be with you each step of the way.
what i didn't like while watching the news programs (24 Oras and TV Patrol) though is the evident partiality ABS-CBN had in its coverage of this historical feat. it is known to all that both giant networks, ABS-CBN and GMA, televised the groups' preparations from the start until their recent accomplishments. Leo, who is part of the First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition team, sponsored by the Lopezes, Lucio Tan, Fidel Ramos among others is identified with, of course, channel 2. but for the sake of balanced programming, 24 Oras expressed their share of pride on his feat. they even confirmed that Leo has indeed reached the summit. in addition, there were reports of their families as they too were glued on the TV for updates as they happen. knowing that Pastor Emata is still with the "other side", they did not hesitate in showing photos of him, his family, his attempt to climb tomorrow and how the Filipino people collectively is be proud of him. i mean, that is balanced programming! aba paglipat ko sa TV Patrol, the climber identified with channel 7 wasn't even mentioned. naitanong pa ni Ted Failon, "kamusta naman yung ibang kababayan natin tulad nila Dale at Romy Garduce?" i was surpised at Abner Mercado's response, "si Dale wala tayong balita kasi sa kabilang side siya umaakyat (Tibet side). si Garduce, tatlong araw ang lamang natin sa kaniya." i nearly threw the remote control at him. ridiculous! this attempt to climb the highest mountain in the world wasn't in the first place a race. in case he doesn't know, which clearly resonated through his comments that he doesn't, climbers adhere to a certain code of ethics: that mountaineers don't race against each other but just their own self. their own limits. wasn't Mr. Mercado aware that there are already public criticism from some sections of the local mountaineering community that the TV networks' sponsorship of the groups' climb, which prompted them to climb way ahead of their previously set schedules, could get the three climbers killed? this is not for their network's glory. phew! this is not even considered the personal glory of Leo Oracion! this is for the whole Filipino people. for ALL of us..
it's sad how institutions today infuse competition to people included in such events, which primarily had goals of instilling self-discipline into one's self and testing personal limits. for what? to boost their market profit? to highlight their share of the event? which later eventually lead to envy and sadly to our (Filipino's) disgrace. please stop such acts.. upon saluting Leo, Erwin, Romy and Dale, i salute GMA-7's continued pursuit of balanced news programming. walang kinikilingan. walang pino-protektahan. serbisyong totoo lamang.
mind you, i'm not a solid Kapuso viewer. all i'm after are programs that show no biases. just my two cents for the day..
