TFC's 15th Anniversary

TFC (The Filipino Channel) commercials never fail to give me goosebumps and leave me teary eyed. Probably because I, having been an OFW once, identify so much with the characters. Not only that. The creative people tasked to do those commercials are so good that they know exactly how to make their TVCs tug at the heartstrings of the viewers. Their 15th Anniversary commercial which was shown in ASAP on April 19, 2009 was no exception. The scenes were just all too familiar, at least for overseas Filipinos and their families – the pain of leaving home, the agony of separation, the loneliness of being in a foreign land, the joy of being entertained by ABS CBN artists, the ecstasy of homecoming – all told in a few minutes of touching visuals.

As TFC celebrates its decade-and-a-half of bringing overseas Filipinos closer to home, I couldn’t help feeling nostalgic for two reasons. One, it reminds me of my days as an OFW, leaving family and friends behind at the age of 23 to seek the proverbial greener pasture in Saudi Arabia, ironically the land of oil and sand dunes, and returning for good when I was 40. Certainly, the best and most productive years of my life were spent serving and working for people other than my own.

Two, the very first Filipino organization that TFC partnered with in Saudi Arabia was The Philippines to the World Entertainment Foundation, Inc. (PWEFI), the non-profit SEC-registered organization that I myself founded in 1997 (http://www.geocities.com/pwefi/intro.html).

When PWEFI was working on its Philippine Centennial projects in late 1997, TFC was in its early stage of entry into Saudi Arabia. It was perfect timing. I thought it was an excellent medium through which our Centennial activities could be promoted. So I wasted no time in writing the TFC office in Manila to explore the possibility of having them sponsor our events. Incidentally, that was my first exposure to organizing events.

Just as I was excited at the prospect of having TFC sponsor our activities, TFC seemed just as eager to lend support to PWEFI. In no time at all, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed between me and TFC (as represented by its then-Marketing Manager, Milette Zamora). Right from the start, it seemed PWEFI and TFC would be a great team-up.

PWEFI's Centennial activities – namely, The Philippine Centennial Cup Team Tennis and Bowling Tournaments, and the “Proudly Filipino” and “A Flag in Every OCW Home” campaigns – were the very first Filipino community events in Saudi Arabia that were sponsored by TFC. As part of that sponsorship, TFC provided a gigantic streamer for the opening ceremonies and another for display at the venues in the entire duration of the tournaments. It also sent flyers and brochures, and promoted all Centennial activities of the Foundation through interstitials and pluggings in their programs. This PWEFI-TFC partnership undoubtedly paved the way for other Filipino community organizations to have their projects and activities promoted over TFC.

From then on, PWEFI maintained excellent relationship with the channel by providing community news and tips, suggestions to improve their programming, video footages of various Saudi scenarios for use in their plugs and interstitials, and video interviews and features of OFWs.

TFC also played a vital role during our 1999 worldwide signature campaign to urge then-President Joseph Estrada to declare 2000 as “The Year of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)” which I am proud to say is also my brainchild. In fact, even before the eventual declaration was announced in local newspapers, TFC had already announced the good news through its program The Global Filipino (TGF) which I informed immediately after confirmation with Malacanang.

When I came home for good in 2000, I maintained the friendly relations with TFC. Perhaps, subconsciously, it was my way of staying connected to the OFW sector, something that I was and always will be proud having been a part of. TFC would also ask me to occasionally guest on their programs like when I was interviewed about “The Year of OFWs” in The Global Filipino’s October 12, 2000 episode, Kumusta Kabayan’s (KK) pilot episode on October 20, 2000 where we discussed about coming home for good, KK’s December 8, 2000 episode where the topic was The OFW Year, and KK’s April 11, 2003 episode about pyramiding scams.

When I published Global Pinoy in June 2005 it was also TFC which first promoted the publication, also through Kumusta Kabayan.

Over the years I’ve made friends in TFC. Some of them have moved on either to other careers or to TFC overseas assignments like Dittie Galang, Lita Teodosio, Maribel Hernaez. I should also mention Jose Nolan, the first TFC executive I met during our Centennial projects in Riyadh. Today, whenever I go to the ABS CBN Global office I still see some old friends like Ned Legaspi, Lawrence Ledesma, Pam Lluz, Amor and a few others I know only by face.

Nine years into being an ex-OFW I still feel like one and TFC – with its occasional TVCs – certainly helps in bringing that old feeling of being an overseas Filipino. Today, my connection with TFC is not exactly OFW-related anymore but more along the line of providing talents for their commercials and interstitials. No matter what it is though, I shall always feel like a TFC kapamilya. After all, it was a significant part of my last three years as an OFW in Saudi Arabia.

The Filipino Channel - certainly what every overseas Filipino can come home to 24/7. Happy 15th Anniversary TFC and more power! (Please check out related photos in my Photos Section).