The smiling chairman's daughter

It was a late intimate dinner among friends and the TV set was tuned to GMA News’

Powerhouse.

For some reason, I always only get to catch the tail end of this program hosted by Mel Tiangco.

One Monday night not so long ago, I wanted to kick myself in the head when I got home late and saw the last segment of this show. I wasn’t exactly a big fan of the featured guest that evening: Former President Fidel V. Ramos.

No, I didn’t vote for him during the 1992 Presidential elections. I went for Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

After he got elected and was merely two months in power, I began harboring a personal grudge against him. I was only two-weeks old with ABS-CBN then.

FVR was the live guest of Noli de Castro’s Magandang Gabi, Bayan and I had to be in the Channel 2 complex that time for voice-over chores. I got turned off big-time when his security group shooed me away like a stray dog and barred me from getting inside the premises of my own workplace because I had a paper bag that contained snacks for my show’s staff members. To the rescue came Ted Failon, who assured them that I was no assassin.

Three years later, I was at the CCP Main Theater for a concert and was asked  again by FVR’s men  to move from what was one of the best seats in the house. The entire row had to find other seats so that the President could have a better view.

Two years before that, I was given my TV acting debut in the now-defunct political satire Abangan ang Susunod na Kabanata  yes, that riotous, but intelligent comedy that had Noel Trinidad playing a corrupt congressman and had a neurotic, pill-popping wife colorfully portrayed by Tessie Tomas.

I had a major part in that week’s edition, but to my disappointment, after it was already in the can, Malacañang decided to ban the whole episode.

My resentment toward him began to thaw only six years ago when The Philippine Star threw an anniversary bash at the Makati Shangri-La. I was standing near the escalator with my friend from advertising Liza Obispo when he walked by and paused to shake my hand. That gesture from him was enough to disarm me and I decided to let go of all the unpleasant experiences I encountered with his men. Come to think of it, I’m sure he wasn’t even aware that his image was getting tainted when he was President  no thanks to the overzealousness of his former security group.

 During that Powerhouse interview he did with Mel, however, I saw myself admiring this man because he answered straight to the point all of the host’s questions alluding to controversies during his administration.

Maybe that was the only time I ever listened to what he was saying without me throwing a shoe at the screen whenever he was on TV. Or perhaps after stepping down from power and now that he is even much older and wiser, his views also changed.

After watching Powerhouse, I switched to Saksi and found out that his daughter Jo Ramos had died from lung cancer. Belated as this may be, my condolences to him and the rest of his family.

But going back to that dinner where we were tuned in to Powerhouse, I was a bit worried that my companions in that informal gathering would switch channels because the featured guest was not a former President of the Philippines. She’s a president, all right, but that of GMA Films: Lawyer Annette Gozon-Abrogar.

She is not an artista  although her doing cameo roles in movies she produces was one of the issues she addressed in the show (“to save on talent fees for extras”). Since she is no soap star, I was afraid that others in the room would not be interested in her and change channels (it wasn’t my house). I had long wanted to know her since we never had a conversation longer than five minutes.

However, even the restless in the group sat riveted to the screen because she was very honest and sincere with the response she was giving to Mel’s rather delicate questions. And I have to give it to Mel for having thrown those queries like darts that hit the bull’s-eye and yet didn’t come out like she was grilling her subject like a Kempeitai police interrogating a suspected guerilla during the Second World War.

 Truth to tell, Mel was being intrusive with her questions. Of course, that was for the benefit of the curious viewers who wanted to know more about Annette (at that point, her sincerity and simplicity had already won for her fans who had suddenly become interested in her life).

Her father, GMA 7 big boss lawyer Felipe Gozon, built a huge house in Makati so that all his children and their kids could stay under one roof. Do they contribute to the household expenses? That question seemed harmless, but it was too personal. But go, go Mel! Ask it. We want to know. Annette’s answer was honest and straightforward: “No, spoiled kami.” Such candidness was disarming.

When Mel enumerated Annette’s scholastic achievements, the academicians among the dinner guests had asphalt and cement coming out of their nostrils in envy: Valedictorian from grade school to high school (Colegio de San Agustin), B.S. Management Engineering cum laude (Ateneo), Bachelor of Laws (UP) and Master of Laws (Harvard).

For all those accomplishments, Annette never looked intimidating on screen. At the end of the show, the people during that dinner wanted me to confirm their collective assessment: “She must be very nice in person.”

My retort: All my encounters with her had been very pleasant. I’ve never heard anything nasty said against her. She’s very nice and well-liked, but I really don’t know her very well.

But she’s your boss  how come you don’t know her well?

That got me thinking: Do I fall under her? I’m not sure, which only shows how clueless I am about office hierarchy. I’m not sure if she is my boss.

But this I am definite: She never acts like a boss. And there are no ugly stories about her throwing her weight around in the network.

From what I know, she is exactly the way she was depicted by Powerhouse: Simple, unassuming and forever smiling.

Is she powerful? Obviously, she is not the type to spell that out. But clearly, she has the power to charm everyone around her.

Yes, even my dinner companions who watched her were charmed. Now, they all want to work for GMA 7 to be with her and get to know her even better.

Powerhouse as a program truly has the power to show and enable viewers to appreciate the true facets of society’s powerful people.