It’s the 14th year for Straight from the Sky!

Today is a red-letter day for me as it is the 14th anniversary of our talk show Straight from the Sky. My first show was aired on March 27, 2000 and our first guest was newly-appointed by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas and I had to fly to Manila to do the interview in his office, which he was still trying to familiarize. Back then, my good friend, the late Cerge M. Remonde, was also having his talk show in SkyCable. But he lasted only for three months because he too was appointed by GMA to a post in Malacañang.

It was SkyCable’s general manager Boybo Villanueva accompanied by my dear friend who later became general manager of the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) Mr. Angelo “Angie” Verdan who asked me to do a talk show for SkyCable. Of course I had to do some thinking, after all, we had never done this before. I even asked my good friend, the late Angelo Castro of ANC’s The World Tonight, for some tips and advice. Angelo told me that he was envious of what I was doing because he was only reporting the news on TV, while we could do commentaries not just in the newspapers but now also on TV.

Few people know that the late Manong Max Soliven gave the title of this show to me. When I told him about the SkyCable offer and asked him for a title, he said, “Your column is entitled Shooting Straight and since you would be with SkyCable, why not call it “Straight from the Sky” and so we did it and we’re now running at 735 shows with only four replays. Of course we experienced a lot of technical problems like our last taping for the Year 2013 was supposedly about The Future of Metro Cebu’s Mass Transportation, which unfortunately got corrupted. So we’ll redo it with Eng. Rene Santiago next week.

I never in my wildest dreams ever believed nor entertained a thought that this show would last as long as it has. Frankly speaking, I don’t even know whether I should start thinking of retiring from the talk show. Fourteen years is a long time doing interviews with people who have a thing or two to say to Cebu. But with my entry as managing consultant for MyTV, we entered into a deal with Parasat in Cagayan de Oro last year and since I replay this show on MyTV, Cagayanons can also see our shows where MyTV is the only local show there. Last year was especially meaningful for us in Straight from the Sky because of our sponsor Delmar Travel and Tours where we did a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where we had 8 episodes. If fact, Albert Dajab, my editor/director, just pieced together video footages of our shoot in Jerusalem, which we would show this Holy Week.

What does the future offer for Straight from the Sky? At this point, we can only tell you that in Cebu or the Visayas and Mindanao, we have the most experienced TV crew that has gone to places like Macau, Rome, and the Holy Land, a feat that could only happen because our Lord Jesus Christ wants me to also evangelize to our televiewers especially in this season of Lent.

At this point allow me to thank SkyCable for its continued support for this show and of course our various sponsors and above all our faithful televiewers who more often than not approach me when they meet me to tell me that we had a good show on Straight from the Sky. We will always be alert for whatever good news that is available out there. Thanks to one and all!

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On Sept.1st, it will be 75 years since (it started on Sept.1, 1939) German der Fuhrer Adolf Hitler started a new kind of war called “Blitzkrieg” where German forces invaded Poland after Hitler agreed to the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union which partitioned or annexed territories between themselves, like Finland and the Baltic States and eventually Poland. This came from the heels of an earlier pact called the Munich agreement between British Foreign Minister Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler that allowed him to annex Czechoslovakia because of the Sudeten Germans living there and eventually he also annexed Austria.

Remember the old saying, “Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.” Last week, after Russian President Vladimir Putin (with the approval of the Russian Parliament) sent 10,000 troops to the Crimea, which is part of Ukraine, it emboldened the Russians living in Crimea to hold a referendum that they wanted Crimea to be part of Russia.

After the referendum, Prime Minister Putin immediately annexed the Crimean Peninsula as part of Russia. The die has been cast… and World War III would be in the offing if we don’t put a stop to this escalation. Will it bring a new war to Europe that saw peace for 75 years? Or as we are seeing the prophesies of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fatima coming to fruition because the Pope never consecrated Russia into her Immaculate Heart? The Blessed Virgin never lies… there is no world peace because there was no consecration.

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