Last word(s) on PMPC Star Awards

Curtain-raisers:

* Because of her new steady date from "high society," a Lopez no less (Ina Raymundo’s "ex"?), Vina Morales will again very surely get a lot of flak for being a "social climber." Last week, a group of showbiz friends organized a surprise birthday party for Vina but she was nowhere to be found. It turned out that she was "stranded" in Boracay with the Lopez scion. Now, will Vina and the guy also go on a "cruise" in the Caribbean like what he and Ina reportedly did? Abangan ang susunod na kapana-panabik na kabanata.

* President GMA said she’d allow First Son Mikey Macapagal-Arroyo to go with the Philippine contingent, if and when, to Afghanistan. Well and good. The experience of actually holding – and firing – a real gun should help Mikey in his (desperate?) aspiration to be an action star. Maybe before his Mom sends him to Afghanistan, Mikey should first undergo a "warm up" training in Mindanao by helping the soldiers go after the Abu Sayyaf members. Abangan ang susunod na kahindik-hindik na kabanata.

* The height of tactlessness (insensitiveness?) was bluntly demonstrated by co-host Janet McBride in yesterday’s edition of ABS-CBN’s Talk TV which tackled "May-December" relationships. Asked by co-host Ryan Agoncillo how she would feel if a man 20 years older courted her, Janet said, "Mandidiri ako; nakakadiri!" Did Janet ever consider how those older men in the panel, including Mark Gil (married to a girl young enough to be his daughter), feel about her tactless remark? Abangan ang susunod na tactless na kabanata.

* * *

The PMPC Star Awards was held two Saturdays ago but the ugly reverberations and the accusations of lutong-makaw and bilihan in some categories can still be heard (but to which "guilty" PMPC members seemed to have turned a deaf ear).

Of course, the "undeserving" awardees would never return their trophies (over their dead bodies?), reasoning, "Ibinigay sa akin, bakit ko isosoli?" Oo nga naman, ‘no? What do you think the PMPC members are, Indian givers? The bottom line is, well, finders keepers. You get a trophy, whether you deserve it or not, and you hold on to it like a lizard would cling to the ceiling.

In this light, I can’t resist printing in full a letter from reader T. M. Reynoso (no address given) who expresses exactly the same sentiments (and resentments?) I, and many others I’m sure, feel about the PMPC Star Awards for TV. Here’s the letter, as is:

Dear Mr. Lo:

Must we take the Star Awards for Television seriously?

Indeed, what are the credential, qualification and authority of the Philippine Movie Press Club (PMPC) for selecting nominees and giving out awards of recognition for programs, productions and performers of an entirely different medium from cinema? How impartial and authoritative could the PMPC members be in determining the awards categories and their winners? How sound are the criteria they used? How comprehensive has been their system of evaluation and the scope of evaluation?

In other countries, like in the US, awards for the various media are also given out. But they are usually handled by a body of peers usually composed by representatives from the media industry, the government, the academe and the clergy. Not by an exclusive group, much less by a press club.

But unless and until the TV industry comes up with such a collegial body of peers to select and hand out awards, the PMPC Star Awards for Television would do in the interim, provided the PMPC members would not let their individual or collective biases get the better of them as has been the general perception, especially in the last Star Awards.

It seems like the PMPC members are only tuned in to at most two channels. And yet, showering majority of its awards to just one station does not reflect the intensity of network competitions we are having for years now!

GMA was once again given the Best Station (for Balanced Programming) Award. There is as much entertainment and showbiz stuff as there are news and public affairs stuff in GMA’s daily program menu. You call that balance? Please define balanced programming. How about media’s other functions of education? Isn’t it also a big factor in determining balanced programming? How about an award for the station with the widest reach and biggest audience share? Mahar Mangahas can help along this line.

GMA also ran away with most of the awards for news and public affairs. But with most of its news and public affairs programs bordering on infotainment, who could say they really are the best in their categories? Who is to say that Unang Hirit was better than Alas Singko y Medya, the very early morning program it only copied, during the period of evaluation (when really was that?)? Who is to say that Mike Enriquez’s Imbestigador was better than Teddy Locsin’s Assignment which consistently featured more incisive and in-depth analyses straight from Locsin’s direct and more profound knowledge of what are discussed? Locsin’s credentials in the media and experience with the government, past and present, can not simply be ignored. Sen. Sotto could be the more experienced host but Sen. Noli de Castro comes to me as more authoritative and knowing in view of his past background as a reporter and because of the fact that he usually goes with the news gathering teams in the field.

For me, form is not as important as substance. News reporting and public affairs program hosting are more than just beautiful or handsome talking heads with pleasant or convincing modulated voices and well-studied TV postures. They are all about credibility.

GMA also had more than its share in the entertainment side. But Bubble Gang, over the more cerebral but equally hilarious Ispup? Or Bong Revilla as Best TV Comedy Actor over the zany yet profound Willie Nepomuceno, the natural Bayani Agbayani and the low-key but immensely talented Jon Santos?

As a Mass Communication student in the ’70s, I usually hear our professors tell us: we should give what the audience needs and not what they want. Slapstick comedies are cheap. We should endeavor to inform and educate while we entertain. Incidentally, that period spawned a gem of a comedy program in Dolphy’s John en Marsha which highlighted the traditional Filipino family and parodized our fractured values. I can still see flashes of that in Home Along da Riles also starring Dolphy.

Sharon Cuneta has been quite a revelation as a talk show host. There’s no question about the charm and capabilities of Jullie Yap Daza and others, some of whom you can only see if you tune in to the UHF channels. But PMPC only has the likes of Mel Tiangco and Kris Aquino in mind for the longest time now.

PMPC people, you can do infinitely better than what you have done thus far!

There has to be at least citations for such programs as Damayan of Rosa Rosal over NBN 4, ABS-CBN’s Hirayamanawari, Bayani and Wansapanataym series which all are replete with moral stories and historical vignettes, ABC’s Sing-Galing, VTV’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire. And yes, before I forget, that underrated afternoon weekly drama series, Munting Paraiso, also over ABS-CBN, which is a veritable local version of the Seventh Heaven.

If the PMPC is to be consistent, ratings and popularity should not be the main bases for the selection of nominees and awardees. If they can award such now-defunct shows as Brigada Siete, and 1 for 3 for their merit despite not rating too well, then too they can do to others.

Before I end this long litany of sins of omissions and commissions, may I ask the PMPC to please elevate already such shows as Eat Bulaga and the Maalaala Mo Kaya, and performers as Dolphy, Gloria Romero, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon and other previous multi-winners to the Star Awards Hall of Fame? These shows and performers have nothing more to prove.

The bottomline is therefore for the PMPC to continuously improve on its Star Awards for Television in terms of scope, evaluation criteria, selection process, impartiality and overall credibility.

Or else, it should stop this annual charade and just stick to entertainment reporting.

Thanks for your attention and indulgence.

Very truly yours,
– T.M. REYNOSO

PLM Mass Com Batch 1976