Vicky Morales: Hope for the hopeless

Vicky Morales can’t help it. After hosting GMA 7’s Wish Ko Lang weekly,
her life has taken a different turn. The changes didn’t happen overnight.
It came gradually, after constant exposure to have-nots, has-beens and other unlucky souls the public service show has featured in its Saturday timeslot (4 p.m.).

Carmen Ronda’s story was an eye-opener, making Vicky count her blessings over and over. Carmen still remembers her luxurious but miserable life as many a top actor’s leading lady. But she doesn’t look for them every time she goes home to her modest house.

"Carmen wallowed in luxury while her career was way up there," Vicky muses. "Today, things are not what they used to be. Carmen takes pains counting every single centavo she earns from her sari-sari store. Then, she carefully tapes each coin and piles them one after the other."

The sudden change in status doesn’t faze Carmen a bit. If at all, she couldn’t be any happier. The age-old adage about money not bringing happiness dawned on Vicky all the more after this.

The touching stories don’t end there. Vicky’s heart bled for Olongapo boy Kevin, who hasn’t seen his Afro-American father for years. The Wish Ko Lang team knew finding Kevin’s dad in the US was like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. But that didn’t faze them. They still packed their bags and took the chance.

Vicky and the staff tried to reach Kevin’s dad everyday. The guy, who works as crime investigator, wanted anonymity and proved elusive at first. But persistence works wonders. Kevin’s dad finally took the call after the Wish Ko Lang staff’s repeated attempts.

Father and son reunited in a tearful encounter triggered by a key chain Kevin’s mom gave each of them years back. Kevin had one half of the key chain while his dad kept the other half.

"I still e-mail father and son to this day," reports Vicky.

Her newfound friends and the wisdom she gains from her Wish Ko Lang encounters give Vicky an all-time high. She forgets her erratic schedule, hectic pace and sleepless nights of taping and running after a story.

So immersed is she in her work Vicky can’t bear to be away from it for months on end. Once, she tried to take a month’s sabbatical. But the momentum was so strong, Vicky was back on the set soon after.

Still, is the price of her success – delayed motherhood – too steep to pay?

The Ateneo graduate looks at the bright side. "Dawn (Zulueta, pregnant after seven years of marriage) gives me hope and inspiration. She and husband (Anton Lagdameo) have been married a longer time and look, they’re expecting a baby. Besides, the doctor found nothing wrong with King (Reyno, her lawyer-husband) and me."

Turn the tables on her and Vicky will tell you outright: a child of her own is what she wishes for more than anything else in the world. Thus, she’d rather spend time with her equally-busy husband on weekends.

"That’s when I compensate for the late nights, the hectic pace, the demanding work," says Vicky.

She’s not complaining, though. After all, news and public affairs is where she always wanted to be.

The turning point came during the EDSA revolution in 1986 when Vicky saw action as a pollwatcher in the Guadalupe Viejo precinct, then considered a hotspot. This, she told herself, is the kind of work I love. If it means eating humble pie by preparing and serving coffee in the newsroom at first, so be it.

ABS-CBN executive Charo Santos-Concio had other ideas back then. She offered Vicky a showbiz career. She politely turned it down, and showbiz’s loss has since become (TV) news and public affairs’ gain.

Vicky has come a long way from her first (segment) hosting job on ABS-CBN’s Tatak Pilipino. As host of GMA’s Saksi, Vicky indulges her passion for interviewing. Because of Saksi too, Vicky cannot leave Manila for long periods of time. She cannot, for instance, travel to far-flung areas like Mindanao for Wish Ko Lang.

But Vicky makes sure she more than makes up for this through program content.

"Wish Ko Lang brings instant fulfillment. Audience reaction is instant. And I just love being a channel of hope," Vicky describes how she feels every time she does the show.

This gung-ho spirit has boosted the show’s ratings for the past three years. Not even competition has succeeded in toppling Wish Ko Lang from its lofty position. Today, it can afford to be more generous and grant a wish it has never given before: a house and lot worth P1-M. The three families chosen as possible recipients of the grand package were presented in last Saturday’s edition of Wish Ko Lang’s third anniversary special.

Alfredo and Rosella Sanipa live in a matchbox-sized house – so small the couple sleep sitting down so their eight children can fit at night.

Mary Jane and Gary Henry have not had a good night’s rest since the onset of typhoon season. Rain has been pouring into their shack, built from plywood remains.

Boy and Lina Alejandro and their nine kids live in a little raft atop a garbage-strewn river.

Which of these families will finally have a decent roof over their heads? Televiewers can text in their votes: WISHKOLANG and letter A for matchbox house, B for raft and C for plywood house (e.g. WISHKOLANG C).

They can then send their votes to 2364 for Globe, 2344 for Sun Cellular and 367 for Smart and Talk and Text. A lucky texter will receive P50,000 cash in the promo.

Vicky will announce the winning family in the second part of the anniversary special on July 30. The two other families meanwhile, won’t end up empty-handed. Each will get livelihood showcases worth P150,000 each.

Wonder no more why Vicky and company get as much as one sack of letters, a deluge of e-mails and phone calls appealing for help every single day. In these difficult times, it’s all hard-up Juan de la Cruz can do to get by, day in and day out.