It’s a small world after all

"Si Echo, si Echo! Pa-picture tayo!"

Click!

"O, di ba si Heart Evangelista ‘yon?... Heart, picture tayo, puwede?"

Click, click!!

"Hayun si Diet! Dali! Habulin natin baka makaalis!...Diet, can we have a picture with you? Okay lang?"

Click, click, click!!!

It was bedlam at way past 8 the night of April 2 when the ABS-CBN stars and entourage landed at the San Francisco International Airport, jet-lagged from a 12-hour direct flight from Manila, for the ABS-CBN Global’s The Filipino Channel’s 10th-anniversary show scheduled the next day (April 3) at the Cow Palace (beamed "live" on A.S.A.P. Mania noon of April 4, Manila Time).

It was as if a Fans Day was declared right then and there as Filipinos at the airport, some of whom were fetching the stars and the rest the other passengers of Philippine Airlines flight, scrambled over one another for a chance to pose (for posterity) with their favorite stars. It was so much fun that even the business editors with the group, Tony Katigbak (of The STAR) and Raul Marcelo (of Inquirer) and his wife Yvonne, joined in, flashing their own digital cameras (maybe to show folks back home that, you know, they did rub elbows with the likes of John Prats and sister Camille accompanied by their parents, Heart Evangelista with her mom, Kaye Abad, Mickey Ferriols with her boyfriend, Carlos Agassi, Bernard Palanca and a few others).

Although tired to the bone (many of them having done advance tapings for shows), the stars obliged with a smile. For almost an hour while everybody was checking everything else (the luggage, the cars to take them to their respective hotels, etc.), cameras clicked, clicked, clicked while foreigners (maybe they didn’t have TFCs yet, no?) wondered what the fuss was all about.

The scene at the Sanfo airport was in stark contrast to that at the Centennial Airport in Manila where the "TFC entourage" gathered, some of them (holders of Business Class tickets) at the PAL Mabuhay Lounge and the rest (Economy Class) at the waiting lounge "outside."

Used to seeing ‘em stars on national television and perhaps in casual encounters at the malls or the restaurants, Manila fans have become somewhat blasé, not at all as excited as the fans "out there" (familiar with homegrown stars because of TFC), merely looking in quiet admiration or, at most, breaking into a shy "Hi, Echo!" when they bump into Jericho Rosales.

Other stars joined the TFC show from some other places: Anjanette Abayari flew in from Los Angeles (where she’s based) with her Mexican boyfriend Jake Gomez; G. Tongi from Hawaii (although she’s also based in L.A. where she moonlights as a waitress at a Thai restaurant); Louie Reyes (of The Minstrels) also from L.A.; and Joey Albert from Vancouver where she and husband Ting Pacis and their two daughters are based.

John Lloyd Cruz arrived early morning of April 3, day of the show, via Northwest, together with director Gilbert Perez (who megged the TFC show at the Cow Palace). Still groggy from lack of sleep (advance for tapings for his and Bea Alonzo’s ABS-CBN soap It Might Be You), John Lloyd rushed to the Cow Palace right after lunch for the rehearsals. There, Martin Nievera and Vina Morales, who arrived in Sanfo ahead of the rest, were going through the motions like robots, having gone through them over and over again.

All accounted for? Hail, hail, the gang’s all here!

It’s showtime, folks!

Jeff Remigio, director for ABS-CBN Global Limited, international arm of the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation ("which serves Filipinos worldwide with products and services tailored to their needs"), had been running here and there since three days ago, laying the groundwork for the big show simulcast not only in Sanfo and Manila but in all corners of the world where there are TFCs (Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Asia, both coasts of the USA – everywhere!), and when we spotted Jeff at the Cow Palace he was still running here and there, seeing to it that everything fell into place.

It was 8 p.m. Saturday, April 3, in Sanfo; and 12 noon Sunday, April 4, in Manila (and God knows what time in New Jersey or London or Kowloon or Sydney or Dubai, etc.). But through the wonders of technology, the more than one million TFC subscribers all over the world and millions of televiewers from Aparri to Jolo were, I’m sure, glued to the same show. As I was saying, TFC has shrunk the Global Village into an intimate neighborhood, making all of us realize that, yes, it’s a small world after all!

When our group – Tony, Raul (with Yvonne) and I, with Maloli Espinosa-Manalastas (ABS-CBN’s VP-Govt., Corporate Affairs and PR) and Leah Salterio (ABS-CBN’s Director for Public Relations) – arrived at the Cow Palace at 5 p.m, three hours before the show, we were greeted by a big crowd gathered outside (with cars filling up the whole parking space). Soon, the largely-Pinoy crowd (paying tickets worth $20, $30 and $50) occupied every nook and cranny – well, almost! – of the Cow Palace which has a capacity of...20,000?

Seated on the front rows with the Lopezes, led by ABS-CBN Chairman and COO Gabby Lopez, were incoming ABS-CBN President Cito Alejandro (who’s assuming his post on May 1) and Rafael ‘Raffy’ Lopez, Global Limited COO and head of The Filipino Channel who was smiling from ear to ear, seeing the dream of ABS-CBN Chairman Emeritus Eugenio Lopez, Jr.’s dream of "building bridges on the air" finally coming true.

The first TFC station was put up in April, 1994 in Burlingame, California, and since then, dozens of other stations have been set up in every part of the world with the number of TFC subscribers multiplying by leaps and bounds.

I presume that you saw how the "simulcast" went, with Gary Valenciano, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Kuh Ledesma and company hosting the Manila end, with Lea Salonga (who sang the TFC theme song Isang Dugo, Isang Lahi, composed by Elzar Dodjie and arranged by Lea’s brother Gerard, during the introduction of the new TFC ID). Those at Cow Palace must have expected the show to proceed continuously, like a regular concert, and Martin, the main host, kept reminding everybody that it was like watching a "taping," with the Cow Palace show taking a "break" while the Manila end was "on" – and vice-versa.

In Sanfo or in Manila or anywhere for that matter, fans are all the same, especially the young ones. They scream at the sight of their fave stars, melt when the Hunks gyrate onstage, scramble for the chance to shake the stars’ hands or get their autograph or pose for photographs with them. All John Lloyd had to do was wave or fly kisses and the whole Cow Palace would explode into shouts of joy.

Anjanette and G Tongi did a dance number together, while Louie Reyes and Joey Albert did ballads. In-between "breaks," Martin and the other stars did impromtu song numbers separately. At one point, while going back onstage after mixing with the audience as he sang, Martin missed a step and slipped on the stairs, but he promptly regained his composure, much to the amusement of the audience which applauded him right on! At the reception held after the show, we teased Martin. "Gary V. could never have pulled the same act!" No, it wasn’t "scripted."

The next day, the "TFC entourage" went their separate ways, some flying to L.A. for shows and others to other parts for a well-deserved Lenten break (like John Lloyd Cruz who flew to New York to visit his brother).

Many of them bumped right smack into each other – in Disneyland, at the Universal Studio? – greeting each other with "You look familiar!"

Oh, well, what a small world, no?

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])