Miguel is an animal lover

Hosting a virtual adventure show like Team Explorer (a take-off from the original travel and environmental TV magazine show, The Explorer) aired 5:30 to 6 p.m. Sundays on Studio 23, is right down Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri’s alley, so to speak. Taping for the award-winningshow (runner-up in the Wildlife & Natural History category of the Asian TV Award), Team Explorer is not your studio-oriented show but one that brings you face-to-face with wildlife and other "wonders of nature," with the hosts (with Juan Carlos "JC" Gonzalez, Amanda Griffin and Jeffrey Hidalgo) rushing into areas where the weak-hearted – and the physically unfit – fear to tread.

Any day now, for instance, the team will go to the Balayan Beach in Batangas to monitor a "wreck dive" 190 feet deep, usually unreachable by normal divers, to unravel the mystery and history of a sunken ship 20-feet high recently sighted by fishermen.

"No," Miguel clarified, "we won’t do the diving; professional divers will do the job. But we will be there to cover the whole operation."

Miguel is resuming as Explorer host this Sunday after quitting the show a few years back to run for Congress. He’ll stay for seven Sundays and quit again as he braces for the campaign for the May 10 elections in which he’s running for reelection and, hoping to resume hosting again in June or July.

One-time segment host of the ABS-CBN early-morning show MUB (Magandang Umaga Bayan) and as he put it, "eased out" when the show underwent a reformat, Miguel is the athletic type, perfect as an Explorer. The show’s format, its thrust and features, and the issues it sometimes espouses jibe with the causes (among them, anyway) Miguel pursues in Congress, mostly concerning environment.

He authored laws geared toward the protection of the "fragile environment" and considers the passing of the Wildlife Conservation Act of 2001 as one of his greatest achievements as a lawmaker. He was also instrumental in the declaration of Mt. Kitanglad in Bukidnon as a protected area; and a certified diver, trained first aider and a governor of the Philippine National Red Cross. His concern for the Philippine wildlife inspired him to put up the Philippine Deer Foundation which runs a four-hectare rescue center in Bukidnon.

"We breed deer," said Miguel, former chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources. "We started with five heads and we now have more than 40. We rescue deer from sellers."

A Rooster (according to the Chinese horoscope), Miguel has always been an animal lover and protector ever since he was a kid.

"I wanted to be an ornithologist (a bird scientist) and later, a veterinarian. But my parents said there was no money in that field so I took up Agri-Business in UP."

When he was living with his parents in Bel-Air, Makati City, Miguel maintained an aviary at the backyard, housing hornbills and parrots among other birds. He had to reluctantly demolish the aviary (and entrust the birds to the proper government agency) when, at age 25, he decided to live away from home.

"Two dogs now keep me company," said Miguel who also rides horses (as he’s shown on Explorer). "I want to build a small zoo but there’s no space for that."

Meanwhile, Miguel is inviting everybody to "explore" the wilds with him and his team.

"People can learn from our show as much as they can from channels like National Geographic and Animal Planet. We have an edge in that our show is devoted to local wildlife and topics close to the heart of Filipinos."

Fanny’s Make-Up Line Tour

As a saling-pusa on The Buzz, I’ve been having difficulty in finding the right shade of make-up which is, ask any TV veteran, as essential as a typewriter/computer is to a writer. TV is a visual medium and you are "judged" as much by what you say as how you look and "project."

It was Fanny Serrano who found the "right shade" for me from his own Fanny Serrano Cosmetics (distributed in silver compact kit by St. Essence Manufacturing Co., Inc.) which is winning "converts" every day.

If you want to find your "right shade," you may catch Fanny in his "cosmetics" tour, as follows: Jan. 25 at SM Iloilo, Feb. 7 at SM Manila, Feb. 8 at SM Megamall, Feb. 14 at SM North EDSA, Feb. 15 at SM Cubao, Feb. 21 at Robinsons Ermita, Feb. 22 at Robinsons Galleria, Feb. 28 at SM Fairview, Feb. 29 at SM Centerpoint (Sta. Mesa), March 6 at SM Makati, March 7 at Landmark Makati, March 20 at SM Cebu, March 21 at Metro Ayala Cebu, March 23 at SM Davao, March 28 at SM Cagayan, April 3 at SM Bacoor (Cavite), April 17 at SM Marilao (Bulacan), April 24 at SM Pampanga and May 2 at SM Las Piñas.

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