Bananas appeal to Kiwis

Photo c/o RMO

"Certain things catch your eye but pursue only those that capture the heart," (Native American proverb). A Filipino like me, may be missing the other varieties of bananas that we grew up with. We do get some of them from time to time in Asian and Filipino stores.

On any given day, in a veggie shop, dairy or the supermarket, you will find heaps of people buying bananas. The ones we find in NZ usually come from the Philippines or Ecuador. Unlike Australia, we can't grow bananas (on a commercial scale) in our backyards, so hence the importation of this tropical fruit.

It's quite interesting to note that Kiwis really love bananas. They eat more bananas per person than any other person from any other developed country. On the average, Kiwis would eat around 20 kilograms per person each year, which is about two bananas per week.

I was raised in a country with a diet heavy on bananas: boiled, fried, sweetened, cooked, fresh, banana flour, banana cakes, as well as eating the other parts of the banana: flowers and stalks. I even got to know of someone who has started making "vegemeat" out of banana peelings, calling it banana burger patties. Alas, I didn't get the chance to taste it.

The kind of bananas we get here in NZ are limited in terms of variety. I think they're the Cavendish-type. They're not really my type but I do eat them from time to time. I miss the ones that I grew up with. I can still recall the days spent on the farm carrying the banana trunks for replanting up the hill. After nine months they begin to show flowers and fruits. There is even a red-skinned colour banana, the one my grandmother used to make into sweet cakes. Another variety is really very sweet and very small too, just over the size of a thumb. It's called señorita.

The next time you meet a banana, just think and remember where it came from. And that it took a very long journey just to be with you!

Kapeng mangosteen

Photo c/o RMO

"If you can't live longer, live deeper," (Italian proverb). Masarap ito, promise! I was introduced to this Philippine-made (actually from my favourite island of Mindanao, specifically Davao) last November 2024. I got the opportunity of interviewing the CEO of the company MX3 Natural Supplements who came over to Aotearoa New Zealand for their official launching.

It was actually in 2019 when I became aware of the MX3 products because they came over to NZ as a major sponsor of a media event by ABS-CBN. From then on I would see their posts in social media. Fast-forward to the present, I was thrilled and gratified that finally MX3 would be permanently present in NZ with the launching of MX3 NZ Ltd. as its exclusive distributor. I wasn't really sold to the idea of drinking coffee made from this amazing fruit from my youthful years. I bought a box (with 10 sachets) but I didn't immediately used it.

It was only when the school holidays in December started and I begun to have more free time that I decided to give it a try. And I am glad that I did because it wasn't too sweet and good for a diabetic like me.

Growing up in Zamboanga, I was exposed to these wonderful mangosteen fruit! We even had a few of them growing in my grandparent's farm. This juicy, sweet and tangy fruit was readily sold in my city. I didn't realize back in the day, that this fruit will eventually become the coffee for me. I'm glad that I took that step.

Rekindle the love for the game

Photo c/o RMO

"Everyone who is successful must have dreamed of something (Maricopa Native American tribe)." I've always loved this sport! Must be in my DNA---dad was a very good player, making it to the top of his college varsity team, as well as nearly getting into the commercial leagues in Manila, if the lure of the sea didn't pull him away from the game! He was above-average for a Filipino at 5-8. I'm a bit taller than him at 5-9 and played center-  guard in high school varsity. I can still recall when I was perhaps 6-7 years old when I first saw him play. The last time I played with my dad was when I graduated from high school in 1973.

 My younger brother Bimbo is the better player   among us four boys. Him being a leftie (quite   difficult to guard, defend). Both of us even enlisted   for a tryout when the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) was just starting in 1974. I recall walking the sidestreets of Paco, Manila, one afternoon to meet the guy who was doing the signups. We saw our names on the Seven-Up Uncolas team. It's an unfortunate thing that I lost my copy of a Manila newspaper (I think it was The Manila Times) wherein our names were published as try-out participants. However, we never made the cut. We were hoping to continue the basketball legacy of my dad.

The photo with Sonny Barrios was the closest I got to being in the big leagues of Philippine basketball. This was taken in November 2019 when The Gilas Pilipinas women's team came to Aotearoa New Zealand to play in the Olympic qualifiers. The girls had an awesome experience on and off the court. That will be for a future blog post.

My television journey in the Philippines

Photo c/o RMO

"When the roots are deep, there is no reason to fear the wind" (African proverb). This is a throwback to a previous post while I am getting ready for what 2025 will bring me when it comes to working on local television.

I've always been a sucker for the underdog, always favoring the road less traveled, unpopular issues, unknown personalities, the ones that others chose to ignore, didn't want to touch, wasn't cool enough. It was a requirement in one of my master's classes at UP-IMC to do an internship and I chose PTV-4, the People's Television. That was the start of my television journey. It had a colorful history (one of ABS-CBN's TV channel, sequestered and used by President Ferdinand E. Marcos when Martial Law was declared, and finally recaptured by rebels during the EDSA Revolution (People Power Revolution). But it was not fully equipped and resourced by the time I arrived as an intern. The place had been ransacked, equipment stolen, and there was even a story floating around, that an entire OB van disappeared from the motor pool. I was always excited to come to the station, riding a jeepney or bus, all the way to Broadcast Plaza in Bohol Avenue, Quezon City. That was the only time I was nearest to the present day TV studios of ABS-CBN, aside from the visits, later on to their radio stations as required by my job in the music industry.


I have fond memories of my TV internship: production offices that were extremely hot (no aircon because a fire broke-out in the building), late night taping (that's when I first met Maan Hontiveros, talk show host and real EDSA Revolution hero, who later on became my boss at Warner Music Philippines), up and down the labyrinth, the maze, that was Broadcast Plaza, walking through dark, unlighted hallways, among many other value-laden experiences. And that was only inside the complex. I remember colleagues endearingly call Channel 4 as "channel poor." We were literally poor and lacking not only in high-tech, sophisticated equipment, but even simple things like camera cables. We were out in the field covering a Philippine Air Force event at Villamor Air Base and our cables didn't work properly. Being the intern, I was tasked to source it out. Not knowing anyone but feeling an affinity with government employees, I bravely approached the crew from Radio-TV Malacanang, who lent us the needed cables. That incident was my introduction to RTVM wherein I will find myself eventually doing projects from presidents FVR, Erap and PGMA.

When I started my internship, PTV-4 was one of the official 1988 Summer Olympics station in the Philippines (the other one was RPN-9). With that affiliation came the hope that the station will have its studios and facilities updated with high-tech and sophisticated equipment. Sadly I didn't get to see how that panned out because I had to end my internship having met the required number of hours. It was only many years later, when I started doing some board-work with the Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) at the Visayas Avenue main office of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), when I visited PTV-4 which transferred to its new studios and facilities at the back of the PIA Building. I was really impressed with the transformation. The people whom I knew told me that after I left, the station did get the much needed boost in terms of equipment, staff, benefits, etc.

My last and final encounter with PTV-4 was when I became a writer/production staff of Kaya Natin 'To with Ruth Abao-Espinosa as host. The show started with the station and later on moved to IBC-13 wherein I became the show's director, but that's another story. We normally taped our continuity spiel at the network's studios, sometimes after Ruth's work as newscaster of the midday report, at times after the nightly newscast at around 10 p.m. Those were the only times the studio was available. The cold blast from the aircon while we were taping, reminded me of the hot days and nights I've spent as an intern at the old PTV-4. Through the years PTV-4 had to fight for sales, ad revenues. It is no longer purely a non-commercial entity, it's a hybrid. In the beginning, the government didn't allot any financial help to the station. This was later on amended, allowing the government to infuse funds but not that much really. The station still had to go after TV commercials for it's operations.

I valued my internship times because it opened my eyes to the power and possibilities that television can do to people, events, issues, institutions, religion. I saw why it was necessary, important, and crucial, that government should also have a TV station, with a mandate to serve the people, not focusing too much at the ratings game but focusing more on producing quality and informative programmes. It broadened my knowledge and understanding of media literacy, development communication, and propaganda. I began to see and realize why and how groups of people, the government included, would like to espouse, propagate, and perpetuate a certain way of life, using the power and influence of television. I became fascinated and enamored with political economy as one of the major perspectives of media studies.

Through the years I moved and worked from one station/network to another: PTV-4, RPN-9, IBC-13, GMA-7, UNTV-37. I was never an employee, always an independent contractor coming in to do a job, a project. I chose that path, it was a conscious effort, an independence that I cherished. I never had the chance to work for ABS-CBN. The nearest I got was volunteering for the 1969 presidential elections and finding myself riding in a jeep with the networks provincial Radyo Patrol reporters, going from different polling booths, to gather news and information. It was the 2nd time that the Marcos-Lopez tandem was going to the polls. They were very successful in the 1965 presidential elections. Back in the day, Philippine politics always had that hidden, invisible agenda, a theory perhaps, that at least one candidate must come from outside Manila or Luzon. Marcos was from the Ilocos region (Luzon) and Fernando Lopez was from Iloilo (Visayas). Fernando and his brother Eugenio Sr. owned ABS-CBN, Manila Chronicle, Meralco, among many other businesses. In 1965, Lopez for vice-president wasn't the popular choice. He was 3rd in popularity behind Rafael Salas (Western Visayas) and Emmanuel Pelaez (Mindanao). But come 1969, he was the choice of Marcos to again be his vice-president. The Marcos-Lopez tandem went against Sergio Osmena Jr. (president) and Genaro Magsaysay (vice-president). It was a strong team, proven track records, efficient political machinery, and media clout and influence. I could still remember one of the campaign jingles playing on the radio sang to the tune of my native Zamboanga (No Te Vayas).

TV stations and networks will always have an agenda. It doesn't matter whether you're a commercial or non-commercial entity. A commercial one would like to maintain it's top ratings to generate more sales and ad revenues, utterly relying and at the mercy of sponsors. A non-commercial one would like to disseminate it's masters message to as wide a demographics as possible, not worrying too much on sales and ad revenues. Will the two agendas collide? Or can they co-exist in one station/network? The present day television landscape in the Philippines will, might give you a clue.

My 35 years spiritual reawakening journey

Photo c/o RMO

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things, (Henry Miller)." It was October 1990 when I found myself at a crossroads! I was by then not a very religious person but I still believed in a Divine Creator, a Supreme Being, one God, what I and others called Jesus Christ.

There were several reasons why I was where I was then: the prospect of being able to teach in college (I was a high school teacher back in the day), working in a TV show, able to do a radio show of my own, and of course my plan to get married early 1991.

I have been asleep for so long (alive but asleep), not really progressing with my life, career, etc. It took me nearly 10 years to fully and finally awaken my spirit.

It was the first day of the new millennium when I realized that what I know and who I am is/was/will be is/was/shall be the result of thousands of years of my ancestors roaming Mother Earth. From that new day, I began to yearn, look for, discover, believe, and seek my personal AI, my Ancestral Intelligence. Hence this blog, right here, right now, 12 January 2025.

World Introvert Day

 

Source: futureoffranchising.com

"Quiet people have the loudest minds" (Stephen Hawking). Great to know there's a day for people who would rather be alone and be by themselves, preferring quiet and solitude. Introverts are energized by their aloneness and feels drained from too much of what's going on in the world, as well as endless social engagements.

The theme for 2025 is "Some peace and calm in a noisy world." This day was established in 2011 by Cristina Smith, a writer and self-identified introvert, as a reminder of the value that introverts bring to our society. She is now an award-winning extrovert author. It would be interesting to find out how she was able to move from being an introvert to an extrovert.

There are times when I want to be by myself, to focus more on my internal thoughts and feelings. 2025's theme resonates well with me right now, especially with what's going in the world today!