How Jessica makes a difference

Jessica Soho had always wanted to make a difference. She would reunite families (on QTV 11’s Sana’y Muling Makapiling), expose kidneys for sale, cover the hostage crisis, etc. She has never been a mere bystander.

And now that the May poll is fast-approaching, GMA 7’s vice president of news does not plan to just look out her window while the circus goes by. Jessica has come up with a new program that she expects will again make a difference.

Frustrated as many of us are about how past elections have been conducted and about politics and politicians in general, Jessica has made another leap of faith.

She has come up with Philippine Agenda, which premiered last night at 7 on GMA 7. The weekly show will focus on election issues. No personal attacks or mud-slinging, please; just plain issues.

After all, these issues have been with us since who knows when: education, corruption, crime and justice, housing, job security in the Philippines and abroad, the environment and hunger.

Philippine Agenda translates them into terms Juan dela Cruz can fully grasp. Jessica and four other pillars of GMA News and Public Affairs (Mike Enriquez, Mel Tiangco, Arnold Clavio and Vicky Morales) will see to that.

The most senior staffers of GMA News and Public Affairs sift through the myriad issues poll bets tackle in debates and campaign speeches. They pick up salient points from election experts and, like jewelers who can tell the real from the fake, show televiewers which of them is hogwash and which is not.

Teachers, doctors, government officials, policemen, overseas contract workers will talk about how their lives are affected by inept government policies.

Jessica hopes this will open the voters’ eyes wide enough to make them choose their officials wisely on May 14.

"Let’s not be carried away by personalities, political ads and song and dance numbers," pleads Jessica. "Instead, let’s look at issues squarely. Let’s remind politicians that there are real issues to address."

Jessica knows she’s taking a big gamble. She’ll be changing old habits in the personality-driven event called local elections. The award-winning broadcast journalist also knows that while Philippine Agenda airs on primetime, a public affairs show like hers is something the audience in that timeslot must learn to get used to first. Fans of StarStruck (which used to occupy Philippine Agenda timeslot) must shift from pure entertainment to public affairs mode. And it won’t be easy. It will call for an overhaul in viewing habits and even one’s attitude.

But, Jessica figured, if she won’t start the ball rolling, who will? If not now, when?

"As media, we must bring elections to a higher level. We must take a long, hard look at our problem," says Jessica.

And she’s thankful her mother network agrees and is willing to take this leap of faith with her.

After all, wasn’t it around the same time three years ago when Jessica scored a scoop by getting Fernando Poe Jr. to admit that he has a child by Ana Marin? That was in Bio Data, the election program Jessica hosted with Enriquez, Morales, Tiangco and Clavio in 2004.

If Jessica got a presidential bet to spill the beans on his private life, she can very well dig up issues just as hidden from the public eye on Philippine Agenda.

Last night’s episode started the program with a bang. It focused on Jessica’s assigned issue: education. Jessica went to a remote Masbate barangay to take shots and interview people in a dilapidated classroom. The students must wake up as early as 3 a.m. to reach the place by foot. And their books don’t even belong to the school. It belongs to a nearby school where the teacher goes just so her students can have something to read in class.

Lest her viewers say the sorry situation happens only in a far-flung barangay in the province. Jessica and her staff also visited a school in the metro.

As the televiewers saw for themselves, the problem remains the same. The situation has not improved.

"While education gets a big chunk of our government budget, it’s still low compared to that of other countries," laments Jessica.

Just as pathetic, we send our nurses abroad and foreigners like Koreans go the country to study. But our educational system is in a sorry state.

This coming Sunday, Philippine Agenda shifts to health, with Clavio presenting issues related to this all-important topic.

Jessica and company have more jolting revelations to give. And they will come in a language Juan dela Cruz best understands: Tagalog. It will be seven weeks of eye-opening footage based on rock-solid data.

The results will not be felt until May 14. But the five pillars of GMA’s News and Public Affairs hope that in trying to make a difference, Filipinos will feel ripples of change, not only this election season, but even beyond.

It may be a single step in the journey of a thousand miles. But it’s a step the future generation could be eternally thankful for.