The day the earth shook

For someone who sleeps late and wakes up late, 6:20 a.m. is still midnight for me – the time of day (or night in my case) when I am still dead to the world. The earthquake that struck yesterday morning therefore must have really been quite strong because it roused me from my deep sleep.

As fate would have it, I decided to spend the night in my halfway house, which had to be on the 36th floor of a condominium building! My earthquake experience yesterday surely must have been more terrifying compared to most others in the metropolis and even in the outlying provinces.

The night before, I had trouble sleeping and decided to read a book about New York because some friends had flown there recently and I wanted to check for myself if I still knew the different boroughs of the Big Apple. (You may not believe this, but during my spare time, I pore over maps and I can tell you the capitals of the different countries in the world – very much like that kid in the cereal commercial.)

One line that struck me while reading the New York book went like this: "Skyscrapers can safely be built on Manhattan because much of the island is solid rock, which makes a strong foundation for building supports." (Well, those buildings may be safe from earthquakes, but not necessarily from ruthless terrorists.)

That made me ponder on the safety of the building where I was staying that very moment, but I quickly remembered the assuring words of the contractor (an engineer) who worked on my unit about the condominium being earthquake-proof and all that and that there was absolutely nothing for me to worry about.

With that in mind, I finally fell asleep at around 4 in the morning – only to be jolted in bed two hours later with the building swaying from left to right. No, I didn’t panic because I’ve already experienced this before in this building twice this year – the first in late February and the second one just a couple of months ago. But yesterday’s earthquake was a lot stronger and certainly more frightening.

My first instinct was to pray the Our Father, while looking at the clock to check on the time. After it was over, I immediately turned on the TV set because I knew that by then, the morning shows Unang Hirit and Magandang Umaga, Bayan were already in full swing. I was curious to find out if the people in these programs also felt the earthquake in their respective studios – and yes, how they were going to react to it.

As soon as I tuned in to Channel 7, I immediately heard Arnold Clavio’s voice and he was saying he thought he was just feeling dizzy due to lack of sleep.

Over at Magandang Umaga, the earthquake struck at a time when the show was in the middle of a commercial break. But as soon as Edu Manzano, Erwin Tulfo and Tintin Bersola went back on the air, they lost no time talking about it.

Then, the text messages started coming in – some from as far as Batangas and this immediately gave everyone a clue as to how far the earthquake was felt in Luzon. And thanks to these text messages, the viewers were assured at once that there was no significant damage to life and property – mercifully – and that there was no Ruby Tower disaster this time... thank God!

Startalk Anniversary

On Oct. 25, Startalk is turning eight, which is a long time- especially since most TV programs these days are only given five good years on television.

Startalk was put up by GMA-7 in answer to ABS-CBN’s Showbiz Lingo, which was then at its peak.

The original hosts of Startalk were Boy Abunda, Lolit Solis and Kris Aquino. A year later, however, Kris left GMA-7 and moved to ABS-CBN where she was given a daily afternoon talk show. Kris was replaced by Dawn Zulueta, who later also left the program to settle in Davao with her husband.

In 1996, Rosanna Roces eventually joined the show and things were never the same after that. For one thing, the show’s time slot was moved to Saturday afternoon at 2:30 (from its original 4 p.m. Sunday slot) upon the request of Osang, who didn’t exactly relish the idea of working on a Sunday – the family-oriented person that she is.

And Rosanna Roces being Rosanna Roces, people are always curious about what she is going to do or say. And I know a lot of people who tune in to Startalk because they don’t want to miss out on another controversy that may explode in the show, courtesy of Rosanna Roces.

Until recently, I wasn’t aware of the fact that people also tune in to Startalk to check out Rosanna’s hair and clothes. This was only pointed out to me by the very talented Celeste Tuviera (She of the Vidal Sasson training), who runs (and owns) Symmetria Salon in Connecticut, Greenhills.

On the part of Lolit Solis, her contribution to the show is not exactly to lend glamour to the program. Although forever identified with the Alok-bati segment, Lolit does a lot more in the show - but people are not aware of that. Her contributions to the program are actually intangible.

For one thing, she’s the only one among the three main hosts who attend the production meetings religiously and her opinions count a lot during these brainstorming sessions.

From my end, I have so much trust in the people who run the show from behind the scenes (Janine Piad, Floy Quintos, Rommel Gacho, Kokoy Boncan, Reylie Manalo, etc. ) that I just show up there every Saturday afternoon ready to receive instructions from them on what to do in the program.

The members of the production staff are the real heroes and the reason why the show is still here-a and doing very well, if I may say so myself. In the latest survey, for instance (and modesty aside), Startalk once again topped the rating charts and was No. 1 among the movie talk shows on television today. (Janine Piad showed me the ratings sheet early this month).

It has truly been a good year for us the in the show and on behalf of Rosanna, Lolit and the hardworking production staff of Startalk, I would like to thank everyone who supported the program through these past eight years and join us please as we usher in our ninth.