What’s next after Wowowee

Wowowee, ABS-CBN’s top-rated noontime show, is off the air for a while – after the Ultra stampede on February 4. As I write this, probably all 71 dreamers who had lost their lives have been buried. The 608 injured (data as of February 16) have undergone treatment, with some of them returning to the hospitals complaining of backaches or other discomforts, or going to the ABS-CBN Foundation to ask for money to buy dentures or eyeglasses they lost during the stampede.

But the healing process is ongoing.

At the media forum Bulung Pulungan last week, Tina Monzon Palma of ABS- CBN Foundation and Bantay Bata and Fr. Carmelo "Tito" Caluag, member of the ABS-CBN board of directors, talked about ABS-CBN picking up the pieces after the stampede, i.e., what it has done for the victims and what it plans to do for them.

Tina said, "The tragedy is not so much that 71 persons have died. The bigger tragedy would be not having learned a lesson (from what happened February 4)."

She talked of the victims being rushed to hospitals, funeral parlors being checked for lifeless bodies brought there, of funeral services held, of burials being held in Surigao, Cebu, Pangasinan, Isabela and Davao. Talks were held with grieving families and missing children reconciled with their families.

ABS-CBN shouldered the funeral and burial expenses for the dead, and medical expenses for the injured, It provided transportation services for those who wanted to go back to the provinces, as well as for relatives in the provinces who wanted to come to Manila to look for the missing loved ones. Children separated from the guardians during the accident were under the custody of Bantay Bata.

There were lessons learned, she said, such as having a system of segregating the elderly and children from the able-bodied, and ticket distribution at future popular shows.

The ABS-CBN Foundation, she said, is the social arm of the network, but what the executives and rank-and-file did to help after the Philsports Arena debacle was "something out of the ordinary." Tina said that with a serious mien, but most of the time she was cool, and smiling and not answering questions like did the stampede harm ABS-CBN’s rating, would the network’s foes use irresponsibility on the part of the network to demolish it.

Tina said that ABS-CBN Foundation, as a social service arm of ABS-CBN Broadcasting network, is supported by the network’s giving it free air time for its programs "Bantay Bata," "Bantay Kalikasan," and "Bayan Micro Finance." Income earned from sponsors goes to the Foundation for its staffmembers’ salaries, and the big donations are given directly to the three shows. As Tina had indicated in previous interviews, Bantay Bata staffmembers were not asked to help the stampede victims, but it did not use its funds.

Father Caluag spoke about the Foundation’s launching of a long-term basic program called "71 Dreams." This calls for assisting the 71 families of victims of the stampede ("families with less in life," said Father Tito) until 2007. Beginning 2007, another batch of 71 families who may not have been at the Wowowee incident will be participants in the program up to 2010. Beginning 2010, another batch of 71 families will be in the program.

Except for the initial 71 families, assistance to the 71 Dreams beneficiaries will not be in the form of cash, as Father Tito, who drew up the program plans, does not believe in dole-outs, but in the proverb that says one should not give man fish but rather teach him how to fish. "We want this to be a partnership between the benefactor and beneficiaries," he said. "We want to use this as a channel to help create a network of compassion to effect change in society, and for better citizenship. We’d like to encourage hope in people."

The partnership’s approach is holistic, he said. The focus will be on character-formation. Psychiatrist Honey Carandang has been asked to help in the intervention.

Father Tito recalled that in the early morning of February 4, he was dressing up and saw the footages of the stampede on television. Julius Babao was talking about bodies being carried off. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. "Sh….," he said to himself. He lives just two blocks from gymnasium. "I felt numb. I realized that my world is different from those people who were dying, or had died from the stampede."

The priest expressed admiration for people’s response to the incident. Banks were closed as February 4 was a Saturday, but upon request, they opened their doors to allow ABS-CBN to withdraw money. In the funeral parlors, cashiers’ booths were set up to give financial assistance. And countless people, he said, volunteered their services to help transport victims and families. Those were acts of compassion, he said.

He had praises for the network’s president, Eugenio "Gabby" Lopez III. "Gabby responded to the crisis immediately." He was at the scene within the hour he learned of the incident. He assumed command responsibility for what had happened. He announced that the network would give assistance to those who had been affected. He led relief and rescue efforts, together with Vice President Noli de Castro and Philippine National Red Cross chair and Senator Richard Gordon. He attended to the injured at various hospitals to which they were brought. " I never saw a person act with such integrity," said the priest.

Tina said she did not know how much the network had spent for the victims, and Father Caluag said "71 Dreams" was going to be expensive, but he believes that things will work out with Divine Guidance.

Tina did not wince when somebody mentioned the possibility of a class suit being filed by families of the victims. "We have no choice. It will do them good if they hire lawyers. They are stronger as a group, although some might want to file suits on their own."

A media person said it was admirable how ABS-CBN handled the coverage of the incident, as if it were another network doing it. To this, Boo Chanco, a public relations man for Benpres, a sister company of ABS-CBN, said that the fair and objective reporting was due to there being a professional group of people handling the news coverage." He mentioned the names of Maria Rezza, Chari Villa, and Luchi Valdez.

Wowowee is off the air, but a good number of spectators indicated that they want it back. If there’s another person – other than the victims and families – deeply hurt by the debacle, it would be Willie Revillame, the show host, who had provided many program contestants with instant fortune to start up a livelihood venture and give them a better life.

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