Everytime I find myself at the ABS-CBN complex of buildings and studios, I feel energized due to the multiple innovative endeavors currently being launched and developed there.
Just last month, I sat down with some “well-connected” executives who gave me a comprehensive view of those innovative and even breakthrough developments, as well as a tour of the complex’s state-of-the-art facilities.
It was one surprise followed by another as Carlo Katigbak, head of access at ABS-CBN, as well as president and CEO of Skycable, demonstrated the clear advantage of digital TV over the traditional analog telecasting system.
We also got a surge and insights into imminent and actual possibilities from a demo on new services like ABS-CBN Mobile and I want TV.
Personally, since we’re firm believers in the yet untapped powers of educational and instructional television, we got the biggest burst of hope and inspiration of all from reports that ABS-CBN will launch a children’s TV channel—YEY, now on test broadcast!
Right after our very bracing interaction with Katigbak, as well as with SkyCable’s Arlene Torres, our appreciation of “new possibilities” at ABS-CBN was further stoked by Donald Patrick Lim, ABS-CBN’s chief digital officer, who opened our rather clueless eyes to the similarly imminent future and actualities of the New Media, with special focus on its television-related applications, especially in terms of news and public affairs programs and services.
Access
ABS-CBN leads in access to such innovative services by computer, tablet, cell phone and other devices, further boosting its coverages’ reach, speed and influence, not just nationally, but internationally, as well.
We were impressed when Lim candidly shared that some ABS-CBN stars had millions of followers on Twitter. That heretofore untapped link to the viewing public, popular stars now use to great advantage, not just to make their fans feel more personally bonded to them, but also to add to their income, by way of all sorts of endorsements.
It’s a win-win situation for these “well-connected” stars, and Lim elicited laughter from our group when he said that we could build on our visibility and “popularity” in the print medium by also becoming a Twitter sensation!
—Well, that’ll be the day, was our subliminal reaction to that fey and droll fancy—but, thanks for even (whimsically) considering it! (Alas, we knew how to twit—but not to Tweet!).
Closest of all to my heart is one of the “oldest” but most valuable services at ABS-CBN—its Archives. Initiated by visionaries like Charo Santos Concio and archives and special projects head Leo Katigbak, the collection of “old” TV shows (since the 1980s) and films (all the way back to the ’30s and ’40s) is a veritable treasure trove of pop-culture gems that would otherwise have been lost to new generations of viewers and TV-film buffs!
Among the most impressive and valuable achievements of the archives are its restored titles, classics threatened with previously irreversible deterioration, past the point of remedy and rescue.
However, thanks to the prodigious efforts of the ABS-CBN archives, they have been restored to their former glory and power, for succeeding generations to savor!
They include “Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon?,” “Himala,” “Oro, Plata, Mata,” “Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa?,” “Anak,” “Tanging Yaman,” “Bagong Buwan,” “Milan,” “Dubai,” “Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo” and most recently, Mike de Leon’s “Hindi Nahahati Ang Langit,” with Lorna Tolentino, Christopher de Leon, Edu Manzano and Dina Bonnevie.
Significant part
Similarly valuable are the old TV shows and series stored in the archives, which have become a significant part of our pop history. Titles include “Tawag ng Tanghalan,” “Angkan,” “Ryan, Ryan, Musikahan,” “The Sharon Cuneta Show,” “Tatak Pilipino,” “Maala-ala Mo Kaya,” “Abangan Ang Susunod Na Kabanata,” “Star Drama Presents La Aunor,” “Goin’ Bananas,” “Twogether,” “Not So Late Night With Edu,” “Annaluna,” “Palibhasa Lalake,” “Mara Clara,” “Home Along Da Riles” and “Mana”!
Best of all, the archives are the repository of really old and rare Filipino films, starting with one of the very few 1930s productions extant, “Giliw Ko,” with Ely Ramos, Fernando Poe Sr., Mila del Sol and Fleur de Lis.
Other cinematic treasures: “Capas,” “In Despair,” “Sohrab at Rustom,” “Mutya Ng Pasig,” “Florante at Laura,” “Kambal-Tuko,” “Sa Paanan ng Nazareno,” “Aklat ng Buhay,” “Babaeng Hampas-Lupa,” “Señorita,” “Huk Sa Bagong Pamumuhay,” “Galawgaw,” “Waray Waray,” “Anak Dalita,” “Badjao,” “Hukom Roldan,” “Kundiman ng Lahi,” “Biyaya ng Lupa,” “Tanikalang Apoy,” “Aliss Sakay,” “El Filibusterismo” and “Tatlong Magdalena.”
These and other gems should be seen again by succeeding generations of Filipinos, because they prove that cinematic talent was already richly evident on the local scene even before the Second World War!
In particular, today’s indie filmmakers should savor these and other classics, because they are the deep roots and wellsprings of current cinematic activity in this country.
A clearer sense of tradition provides the context necessary to today’s prodigious film activity, and offers many clarifying lessons to be learned therefrom.
That’s the exciting thing about the many-sided formats at ABS-CBN, its combination of the best of “then,” the most exceptional of “now”—and the most promising and horizon-expanding of “tomorrow!”