All the Sides, All the Time

For something close to full disclosure, let me first acknowledge that my cognitive bias naturally favors any enterprise that involves trusted friends and other people I like and admire. In my view, their level of excellence has also endowed them with high credibility. And so, my otherwise uncharacteristic endorsement of an entertainment platform starts with this. 

As a nocturnal creative, I’ve long developed the habit of allowing my TV set to go on practically all night — when I’m done with some live sports coverage, a Netflix or YouTube treat, and while I’ve settled on laptop work in a lotus position on my bed. Even after all these in the wee hours, when my arduous pursuit of sleep begins, somehow I deem the white noise more helpful than counting sheep. 

Thus, while I slide into varying modes of consciousness or theta-waves acceptance, CNN customarily offers gruesome details on Trump’s latest gaffes or unwelcome reports on the situation in Gaza and Ukraine. Of late, they’ve become so ghastly that I’ve had to scrounge elsewhere among various other channels for more suitable fare. 

At some point, it was Cignal’s One Sports channel that stretched through the night with vintage reels of the PBA as a lead-up to its 50th anniversary. Samboy Lim in his prime and relatively early Robert Jaworski continue to be repeat treats. When the featured games shifted to more recent seasons, then the audio was enough to replace the bleat of imagined sheep on a steeplechase race.   

I’ve been happy with my shift to Cignal, after junking another cable subscription I had relied on for decades. Current political events have enhanced my appreciation for its news venue with a flagship motto of “All the Sides, All the Time.” I hadn’t noticed it at first, but now that my need for white noise plus plus has found alternative gratification, the gladder I’ve been for the chance to welcome Cignal’s One News channel in its entirety. 

First, while my lodi legend of a writer-buddy Lourd de Veyra appears to have tired of his “Word of the Lourd” infotainment, he now partners with Denise Tan for “Afternoon Delights” at 2-to-4 p.m. — my waking hours. Their commentary on the stolen-billions muck-up is served bite-sized while they indulge on finger-food merienda. 

Then comes “Storycon” with The STAR EIC Ana Marie Pamintuan enjoying a Zoom link with a panel composed of Regina Lay (from Bloomberg), regular newscaster Ed Lingao, and Ronald Llamas, my favorite political punster.     

The main straight-news program “The Big Story” is then anchored by veteran Ces Oreña Drilon  (another longtime friend), with junior associates Shawn Yao and Pauline Verzosa. It segues into a “Play by Play” section with sports broadcasters Andrei Felix and Cesca Litton. 

Lingao and Llamas also serve as partners in “Long Conversation,” another discussion session on politics, occasionally with Yao and Angela Lagunzad-Castro. Non-political entertainment is served up by the effervescent Gretchen Ho’s well-produced solo travels and adventures, local and foreign, titled “Woman in Action.”

I’m not too sure about all the other programs offered in the One News channel. What actually drew me was particular appreciation for an episode in a wee-hour program billed as “Go Local.” It was an interview of coconut farmer Frank Regis, who took over a Dr. Gerry’s natural coconut honey enterprise. The articulate subject had parlayed it into a profitable business with his one thousand coconut trees in Mauban, Quezon. Video clips showed how a coconut sap gatherer can climb up a single tree and work his way through a network of bamboo bridges, using special skills for the process called “pangangaret.” Employing two knives, he’d cut from a flower coming out of the puso as inflorescence or blossom, in a different way than collecting sap for tuba) or prospectively, lambanog). He had to avoid having the sap flow, or be contaminated in any way, before he poured it into the kawit that was lowered down upon filling. The contents were taken to an area where they’re filtered three times, before the next process reduced the 87 percent that was water. 

Voila. Ensured that no allergens spoiled the process, Dr. Gerry’s Coco Nectar or concentrated coconut sap, with its 17 identified amino acids, is bottled and sold, as a “disease fighter” against bacteria. Well, I’ve found a source, ordered a sample bottle, and am trying it out as another health supplement.  

That program “Go Local” may have been produced sometime ago, as other interesting programs like “Change Makers” with host Anthony Pangilinan seem to have been done during or right after the pandemic, and just continue to be replayed. This may also be true of “Discover Eats” hosted by food explorer Clang Garcia (her latest interview was of Pampango Chef Sau del Rosario), and “Mom Business” featuring mothers as entrepreneurs. All of these are informative, entertaining, and actually inspiring, even if some wake sectors may say that they mostly address middle-to-upper-class concerns.  

But now that I’m mostly glued to One News on TV, with occasional forays to One Sports, I’ve really appreciated the planning and conceptualization that have gone into filling up a channel 24/7 — with such programs as “Thought Leaders” and “Money Talks” with host Cathy Yang, and features like “Archives” with half-hour docus on our past presidents, political leaders, and socio-political contretemps (sometimes billed as “The Probe Archives”). A recent replay was of “The Mark of Villar” — produced in 2020. A similar feature is “Chronicles.” They’re all quite objective, with broadcast journalists, historians, government officials involved all delivering honest assessments — the likes of Patrick Paez, Manny Mogato, Jose Victor Torres and Raffy Alunan. 

Last Wednesday, “The Long Conversation” had Lingao, Llamas, Paez and Mogato all showing up in camouflage wear to playfully suggest a military scenario. Also in a camo jacket, Ho eventually joined in on the banter and laughter. While the discussion was serious, with Llamas typically offering both the most sentient and most satirical views, for the long hour they appeared to be a happy family of journalists determining possible outcomes — and they are myriad — of our current situation, when national rage over corruption in government still has to be appeased. 

All for the viewers’ edification, mind you. Seriously, if playfully. And I like that.