A story of gratitude for a ‘corporate’ mother
MANILA, Philippines – When ABS-CBN reopened in 1986, we were a mere handful who started production of News, and launched a few shows on-air. “Watch Us Do It Again” was the station tagline. I wondered how on earth we were going to do anything again since we failed miserably in our first attempt at the station’s opening morning newscast (anchored by David Nye and myself) at the time. New managers (the “cavalry”) were recruited to join and help the fledgling, struggling network — with offices cramped in the warehouse area of the former MBS Channel 4 and small cubicles set apart by low cardboard-like dividers.
One day, Charo Santos walked through the main corridor and we, the elves, saw her shoulders up, from above the cubicle walls. “She’s very tall,” we murmured. “They say she’s going to be the new boss in Production.” Back then, she was at first, simply, “pamangkin daw ni Jimmy Navarro.” That was the first day of many days that were to become the golden years of the new, resurrected ABS-CBN.
While I’ve always been organic in News, there was a time I worked under Production with Charo. I was a co-host with Noli de Castro in a show called Magandang Umaga. When Noli left the show to start his primetime program Magandang Gabi Bayan, I was alone, not knowing how to pick up pieces. It was Charo who told me, “It’s you now. Kaya mo ‘yan.” Suddenly, I was singlehandedly going to be both host and executive producer of a two-hour daily show — and what did I know about producing a show? Magandang Umaga Po ran a good five years. And that started my long career both as a host and a producer.
In television, many good things begin from the smallest idea. So many uncertainties, insecurities about failure can bury every good possibility from happening, every potential from blooming. One thing for sure: it sometimes takes just one person to believe in you, for you to start believing in yourself. That, Charo did for me.
In the many years that followed, I was pretty much on my own navigating work and developing confidence to self-start and get things done. I only hollered for help when I thought I needed it. I remember a day during those early years, I went to Charo’s office like a child telling on a supervisor who was encroaching on my office space, deliberately trying to irk me. I won’t forget how Charo huffed and puffed — in her ladylike manner of course — and, without saying anything, marched to this person and inspected the situation. I was left in her office a few minutes. When she came back she said, “Okay na.” I smile whenever I think about that day. I’m certain she doesn’t even remember.
Protecting your children is second nature to mothers. And they never really remember every instance. But children often remember. It leaves an imprint and the memory, by choice, stays. In the next many years, and as I moved from Production to News, my interaction with Charo lessened considerably. But on certain occasions of dire circumstance and trouble — and I’ve had my share of trips to the Principal’s Office — it was Charo I would call on.
A few years after I joined News, I received and kept this birthday card Charo sent me. It read, “To one of my original anaks.” It was official. I’d been tempted to feel it and, she declared it. I felt like an anak ever since. Another card was one she sent in 2008. It was a good year for work and I’d won several awards in succession from here and abroad. I didn’t think she would even notice and make the effort. We hadn’t been in contact for a while. It read, “I’m proud of you...wow.” The card sits on my home office desk to this day.
I am aware of some of Charo’s ups and downs, as we all have our share of those. In the earlier years of ABS-CBN — before it became the superstructure it is today — there was always time to sit and talk. And like any family, when a member has issues, everyone else knows and feels it. Charo is legend this way. Her heartaches we somehow know about. It’s like when your mother doesn’t talk about it but the children know something is wrong. Charo’s laughter has echoed through the networks’ corridors, as her tears had flooded it. She remains my example of choice for the virtues of patience, humility and restraint.
In one conversation we had in her office over kare-kare and rice (she loves Pinoy food), she talked to me about life adjustments over the years. I told her about how I’ve had to humble myself and put up with a lot but that I believed it was probably good for my spirit. She said, “May mga bagay na dapat ireklamo sa buhay, Korina. Pero, konting-konti lang yun...” Somebody once commented to me, “I was telling people at a dinner, that if there’s one thing that should explain your staying power in this industry it is your patience. You know how to take it, and wait.” My response was, “Kay Charo ko nakita yan.”
So, there. Charo, the quintessential corporate mother. For in every happy family, the mother is key. There is not as much an ABS-CBN as there are the people who make ABS-CBN. Who was it who said, “Empires rise and fall — but it is the soldier who you fight shoulder to shoulder with whom you will most remember?” Your barracks-based family. The achievement matters, but how other people made you feel good about yourself getting there lingers.
One poem reads, “My mother. Who ran to me to help, when I fell, and would some pretty story tell, or kiss the place to make it well.” May I add, “Threaten her loves and she’ll give you hell?” Thank you, Charo. Happy birthday.