The pleasure of their company

When you tune in to GMA News TV (likewise on GMA News International) tomorrow (April 24) morning, you will finally see the guys whose voices you and I have been listening to on dzBB all these years — Joel Reyes Zobel on Super Balita sa Umaga nationwide starting at 6 o’clock, joined starting at 7 o’clock by Mike Enriquez (the boss) on Saksi sa Dobol B, until 9 to 11 a.m. when the tandem of Ali Sotto and Arnold Clavio take over on Dobol A sa Dobol B. Same programming except that you won’t just be hearing them, you will be seeing them.

A few days ago, the four of them sat for a free-wheeling Conversation. Read between the lines and you can feel the camaraderie among them. They make fun of one another and nobody gets pikon (peeved), and that’s the pleasure of their company on the air and off it.

(To Mike) You have been working with Joel, and with Ali and Arnold. How is it working with all of them?

Mike: It’s fun! That’s what radio is all about…it’s fun! I saw a bumper sticker in the US; it’s beautiful and I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life — Announcing is better than working.

I’m a radio listener and I agree with you. It’s easier and, yes, more fun following a radio program than watching TV. You can have your eyes closed and follow a radio program. The reach of radio is wider than that of TV.

Ali: Correct. Ask those caught in a traffic jam. Captive audience sila.

Mike: Especially in the morning when people are on the go. They don’t have the luxury of time to sit before a TV set.

Unlike in showbiz, isn’t there any scene-stealing?

Arnold: No problem kasi hindi namin inaabutan si Joel.

Joel (Tongue-in-cheek): The boss is always right. (Referring to Mike.)

Mike: Isa ka pa!

Ali: Whoever is giving the bonus is always right, hahaha!!!

Do you guys also get death threats like some hard-hitting radio guys do? Are death threats still used to intimidate or, worse, to eliminate fearless journalists?

Joel (The most hard-hitting of the bunch): I was shot once. Luckily, the cop who did it was drunk so he missed me. The cop was involved in the illegal numbers game at that time and I was hitting those involved. That was in 1992 and I think the cop is gone.

Ali: You know, ‘yung pagka-hard-hitting sa issues is very tricky kasi it’s wrapped in humor so it’s not as stinging pero actually may tama pa rin, di ba?

Mike, Ali and Arnold are very familiar, visually. And you are the least familiar.

Joel: I’m not really a stranger to TV because I did have a short stint on TV years ago. But now, I suppose more people will recognize me, “Uy, ikaw pala yon!” Okey lang.

Oo nga. Hindi ka pala si Ted Failon (to whom Joel is often mistaken for because they are sound-alike.) How do you feel being compared to Ted Failon?

Joel (Seriously now): It used to be flattering but not anymore.

Why “used to be”?

Joel: Because I also have my own identity.

Who came into the business first?

Joel: I think it was Ted. He started two years ahead of me.

The network slogan is very catchy — Walang kinikilingan, walang pino-protektahan, walang kasinungalingan, serbisyong totoo lamang. Do you stick to it, toe that line?

Mike: That slogan is not just for dzBB, that’s for the whole GMA network. They are words to live by 24/7.

Ali: That’s an ID motto.

Well, I think you did toe that line, especially during the last very partisan elections.

Mike: We had to, otherwise we would get fired. There’s no other way to go. At saka, none of us has any political ambition.

Ali: No political ambition AT ALL!!!

What if you’re going to report something unpleasant or negative about somebody you know, or somebody close to you. How do you handle it?

Mike: You need to have the capability not to sanitize your report; you just have to be objective. But it doesn’t mean that we don’t get hurt. We are also human, you know.

Of course, everybody knows that you are just human. You don’t just get hurt, you also suffer from coughing — you know, “Excuse me po!” (Joke!!!)

Mike: But we have no business inflicting our listeners with our emotions and our feelings…or our opinions. We have our own opinions and our listeners have their own.

Ali: Kunwari it’s a blind item about somebody you know in Arnold’s Sino segment. And that somebody you know reaches out to you to give his or her side, you have the responsibility to give them airtime.

(To Arnold) What about you? Kung mayroong somebody close to you na kasino-sino, isisino mo ba?

Arnold: Gaano ka-scandalous? If public money is in question and a friend is involved, that’s another story altogether. So far, nothing that serious. Sometimes, i-sinisino ko yung friends ko and we just laugh about it. Actually, si Mike lang naman ang namamahamak. He makes guesses but do I ever confirm them? Never!

Ali: For the record, we don’t know kung sino ang mga sini-sino ni Arnold. Even if he gives clues, we still can’t guess who the subjects are.

I know that you practice your profession relentlessly. But what do you have to sacrifice for it?

Mike: Many things…privacy, safety and, sometimes, part of your sanity. But I guess it’s a prerequisite for the job. You have to be a bit tililing sometimes to be able to last in this profession. There are times when you need not to take yourself too seriously. Otherwise, mababaliw ka! (Laughs) You have to be able to carefully calibrate when you have to be sane and you have to be a bit not sane. Just like in a cooking show, kelangan sukat na sukat ang ingredients.

Arnold: My family, but I’m thankful that they are not pressured by the fact that you are a public figure. They live a normal life. You can think and say whatever you want with the knowledge na hindi maaapektuhan ang mga mahal mo sa buhay. That’s why I avoid answering questions about my family. I try to spare them. But I do enjoy private time with my family.

Mike: I agree with Arnold. You do lose privacy. But I can’t help it because sometimes  napa-publish ang pictures ko with my wife. So when you go around, you can sense in the way that people look na, “A, siya pala ang wife ni Mike.” So, in a sense, we can be ourselves only abroad where we are not known. (Mike and his wife Baby are childless; they have two dogs named Booma and Mickey.)

Joel: I get pointers from Mike when it comes to privacy. Tita Baby has been telling my wife to get used to it, “Masanay ka na, maraming magpa-picture dyan.” (Joel and his wife, Bernadette Timbang, also a media person, have no child.)

Ali: My No. 1 passion is travel. But I have to give it up because of my work schedule. I’m glad that my husband Omar (Bsaies) understands. Pati siya has to make that sacrifice.

What can’t you do without? What do you pray for when you leave home?

Mike: My patron saint is San Miguel Archangel. I never leave home without my rosary inside my pocket. I pray for a meaningful day and safety not only of my own but also that of other people.

Joel: I do have my rosary, hanging from the windshield of my car.

Arnold: I do pray. My wife and I visit the Our Lady of Manaoag every month.

Ali: Ako naman, “Lord, send me Your holy angels to guard and protect me and my loved ones.” I pray to the Holy Spirit, “Bless my tongue so that I will announce His truth, His peace and His justice.” Na sana basbasan ang dila ko.

(Incidentally, Ali was supposed to be included in the How they know that there is God forum published on Palm Sunday, April 9, in Conversations with Ricky Lo. Here’s her answer: “It is easy to know that there indeed is a God in life’s beautiful moments — reveling in glorious sunsets, gazing at the face of our newborn, praising Him for every answered prayer. But it was in my life’s lowest abyss that I knew in my heart that He not only exists, but that He is always near. When my son Miko died, I felt there was no way I could ever climb out of my horrific grief. But here I am after 13 years, surviving the loss of a beloved child. Only by the grace of a loving God, and nothing else.”)

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)