Sowing the seeds of hope

They’re not married to each other. But they’ve stuck it out with each other eight years.

Sen. Fred Lim and Kaye Dacer of DZMM’s Aksyon Ngayon (Monday to Friday, 1 to 2 p.m.) have exposed the Pyramid Scam that led to the arrest of Rose Baladjay, went to depressed areas to bring provisions for calamity victims, defended the lowly from abusive government officials and others.

They sing together in Aksyon Ngayon’s concerts for indigent patients, the most recent of which was sponsored by The Philippine Star.

They tease each other on air like old friends do, with Lim extolling Dacer’s good looks and the latter playfully airing the tape of the senator singing Here, There and Everywhere in their recent benefit concert.

But this was not the state of affairs when the senator and Dacer first saw each other in the radio booth. He was a general and NBI director, and she just finished college.

The show was Pasada 630 (since DZMM is located at 630 khz on AM radio). Then DZMM vice president Lito Balquiedra offered Lim a stint on radio.

"I balked. Radio was then foreign territory. And I didn’t know Kaye, whom he mentioned would be my partner. I told him I might bungle up the job," recalls Lim.

Dacer was not exactly jumping up and down for joy either.

"I felt intimidated teaming up with a big name like him," Kaye recalls her knee-jerk reaction.

So Dacer decided to act as the student with Lim as the teacher. She was all ears whenever her radio partner would answer her questions.

"I learned from his frankness, his direct way of talking," she reveals. Lim was the Pygmalion who strengthened the then wet-behind-the-ears radio anchor’s love for truth and standing up for one’s rights.

The pay-offs worked both ways. Dacer matured beyond her years; her glibness and fluency of speech rubbed off on him.

The partnership had to end when Lim ran for public office. So Dacer had to anchor Pasada on her own.

But the separation proved to be short-lived.

After Lim won the elections, Dacer approached DZMM boss Peter Musngi and asked if she could revive her partnership with Lim, who already won as senator by then. Musngi said yes, and so "Katapat" Fred Lim and Kaye "Action Lady" Dacer were back in each other’s arms as working partners in the airwaves.

Today, Aksyon Ngayon acts as the poor man’s last recourse in seeking redress for grievances and help in things, ranging from eyeglasses to wheelchairs (care of Zaldy Naguit of Targa Communications).

Lim and Dacer are so identified with each other you can’t mention one’s name without the other.

"We are proud of the fact that we never used Aksyon Ngayon for personal gain. Everything goes to public service," the two chorus.

Thus, aid – financial and otherwise – keeps on coming. The program’s donors know they can sleep tight at night. Their donations are in safe hands. And the Aksyon Ngayon team will keep its hands clean as conduit between the haves and have-nots, the powerful and the powerless alike.