Batalk Channel will keep you company

I have been cooped up at home since the beginning of the quarantine season so I couldn’t exactly tell if there is someone out there who, like me, has been sandbagged to use digital technology to communicate with other people through social media platforms. It is nerve-wracking because the digital world is not familiar to me so I am fidgety, I am nervous, even uncertain. But I embrace this uncertainty with God’s blessing, certain that some good things are going to happen.

I have a Boy Abunda Facebook fan page where I get to post some pictures of my activities, write random thoughts on my wall and share videos of encouraging words via Spoken Mula sa Puso.

Several days ago, I started the Boy Abunda Talk Channel, a.k.a. Batalk Channel, on YouTube and presented to viewers the initial episode of Talk About Talk (TAT) with Sky Quizon, Gabee Paras and Clark Banaag as TATlers. It was an episode that bared my thoughts and feelings with regard to the closure of ABS-CBN, my mother network for 21 years. Sky, Gabee and Clark threw questions pertaining to my long-time Kapamilya co-workers who are now left jobless as a result of the franchise denial. Answering them made me so emotional that I felt that my voice cracked and my spirit flinched in pain.

Sky asked if I have been receiving offers from other networks. I said that I will consider working for another channel after Dec. 31, 2020 in deference to ABS-CBN. I’d like to be able to cry. I’d like to be able to grieve. I wasn’t able to grieve enough on my Nanay’s death and then ABS-CBN followed. So, this is my opportunity to ruminate, to examine, to meditate, to think. I’d like to be a better person after this episode in my life.

Gabee, on the other hand, recalled that there were mentions of one of my lines and how I asked about sex or chocolates during one of the hearings on the ABS-CBN franchise in Congress. “It was parang immoral and not a good example to the Filipinos watching,” she said and then continued to ask me, “Moving forward, will you start to be more careful in mentioning those kinds of things?”

With humility, when it was discussed in Congress, it hit me and seriously made me think about it. After I saw the replay of that particular manifestation of Bishop Abante, I asked myself, “Am I weakening the value system and the moral economy of this country?” I truly thought long and hard about it and my answer is, “No, I am not.” Why? Because I am within my space. I come on air after 11 p.m., close to midnight. I am on parental guidance and I want people to know that if you are irritated, that if you are not comfortable watching us, you can switch to another channel or you can switch off. That’s my whole point. But I want Bishop Abante to know that I took it to heart, that I listened and I examined.

Some would say this is not the time to be humble but the moment to fight back and to shout. I respect that but my choice is different. I will continue to be humble. I will continue to beg anybody and everybody who has the power to bring ABS-CBN back to life. I am not a spokesperson of ABS-CBN. This is again personal and I will do it with humility.

Curious minds would like to know if I am interested in joining politics. Well, right now the answer is no. Will I change my mind? Maybe. I don’t know but a public office outside of an elective post is more possible.

More questions were answered yet not all can be put on print due to limited space. However, you can visit Batalk Channel anytime. Apart from TAT, we will also do the Blackout Convo and One, The Interview. Not to be missed is the Fast Talk segment but we are giving it a twist and we call it Fast Talk ng Bayan. Watch out also for the short films and independent films under the boyabundaoriginals. Once in a while, we will do The Interviewer that puts the spotlight on the man or woman who has the narrative of the moment.

Stay safe. Batalk Channel will keep you company. Please subscribe to the Boy Abunda Talk Channel on YouTube.