The MTRCB in cowboy country

Red-eye flights on successive days can be a killer. Had to have my two fave masseuses come on two successive nights after I got back two Saturdays ago from overnighting in Masbate, where the MTRCB conducted its monthly regional forum.

This has been part of an activist program of reaching out beyond imperial Manila to engage cityfolk in the regions in discussions that result in stronger awareness of MTRCB’s new thrusts. These thrusts certainly turned manifold under the leadership of former chair Grace Poe Llamanzares, now Senator of the Republic. And now it must be said that her successor, Atty. Eugenio “Toto” Villareal, has even upped the ante — with the over-all policy theme of “Matalinong Panonood ng Pamilya nina Juan at Juana.”

Each month now, a set of MTRCB “BMs” or board members sign up for participation in these countryside forays. Last year it still wasn’t that regular, albeit regional forums were successfully conducted in Vigan, Tagbilaran, Davao City, Baybay City in Leyte, and Puerto Princesa.

Various schools in Metro Manila were also visited by teams of BMs, who would conduct entertaining exercises to show young students how a preview committee would determine the proper classification after factoring in certain themes and actual scenes in television shows and movies.

Some of these forums continue to be held in the MTRCB Building on Timog Avenue, with several schools invited to send in delegations of students and teachers. When it’s BM Gladys Sommereaux, actress and comedienne, conducting the exercises, one can be sure that the house is brought down. And the students who volunteer to participate in enacting hypothetical scenes, supplying their own dialogue, wind up with the experience of their young lives.

This way, too, the public that is engaged in such forums come away with a better appreciation of the factors that help us decide on classification.  

That was how it was when six of us, BMs Cheche Conrado, Bobby Andrews, Manny Buising, Joey Romero, Tony Veloso and I joined our MTRCB chair for a weekend in Masbate City, with BM Maloli Espinosa-Supnet as our host, guide, facilitator, and programs emcee.

The topics we took up before our first audience of close to 500 at the Masbate Colleges auditorium were: Revised Classification Ratings for Television Programs, with the inclusion of the “SPG” rating in addition to “G” and “PG”; Revised Classification Ratings for Films, which now consist of “G”, “PG”, “R-13”, “R-16”, and “R-18,” besides “X” of course; and “What the MTRCB has done, is doing, and will do for Juan and Juana.” We all took turns handling these topics, with Bobby Andrews and I partnering for the last one.

This was generally repeated in the other forums and meetings with regard “Media Literacy,” LRC or Local Regulatory Council orientation, and signing of memoranda of understanding with cable company owners.

These were all done within our first day, a busy Friday, after our dawn flight led to early check-in at the seaside Legacy Suites, in time for breakfast. An hour for freshening up and we were off for that first session at Masbate Colleges, where we were also treated to performances by two sets of student cultural dancers.

It took us some time to leave the premises after the program concluded, because an instant fan-girl club mobbed Bobby Andrews for photo-ops, selfies, signatures, hugs and busses. We had to pry him out physically so we could get on to lunch at Tio Jose restaurant, which turned out to be terrific.

Chair Toto then led us in paying courtesy calls on Masbate City Mayor Rowena Tuason and Masbate Governor Rizalina Seachon-Lanete. Dinner was at the Espinosas’ main house in a vast compound that had a chapel, a radio station billed as The Ranch, an events place named Punta Terraza, and horse stables.

Maloli’s mom sat at the head of our long table that groaned under dishes of crabs heavy with aligue, scallops in soup, inihaw na liempo, croquetas, fruits, cabernet sauvignon and Glenlivet 15 single malt whisky.

On a wall behind us was a large framed painting of Maloli’s dad, former Governor Moises Espinosa, a handsome, hefty cowboy on horseback, with a herd of cattle behind him. His tragic loss, by a gunman’s bullet in 1989, I recall to have been a cause celebre — as yet another politically motivated assassination.

Before that dinner, we had an hour before sundown when we managed to take in the highlight attraction that week in Masbate City: the 21st staging of Rodeo Festival 2014, which started on March 30 and ended only last Saturday, April 13. Participating in the culminating five-day Rodeo National Finals were cowboy contingents from Benguet, Nueva Ecija, CamSur, Cebu, Leyte, Bohol, Palawan, Cagayan de Oro, Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental and host Masbate.

Known as the Father of Rodeo Masbateño is former governor then congressman Emilio Espinosa Jr., Maloli’s uncle, who started the fest in 1994. In 2002, fending off the claims of other places for the title, the former House deputy speaker for Luzon was instrumental in convincing then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to issue Excective Order 120 declaring Masbate as Rodeo Capital of the Philippines.

We caught the ladies’ bull lassoing event, which turned out to be quite exciting, with the locals and tourists that packed the arena cheering on the cowgirls. A feria atmosphere pervaded the grounds outside the arena, with open-air bars and grills accomodating customers that, nearly to a man, wore all sorts of cowboy hats. Straddling a fence were a couple of leather saddles being peddled for anywhere between P7,000 and P12,000.

We wished we could have stayed on and watched more of the rodeo contests, but it had been a full day, as it was, and chair Toto, Bobby and I could only sign up for an overnight stay. The rest would still conduct one more day of meetings, with local media and the LRC. They would also enjoy the perks of a remote beach and white sandbar outing.

Later we learned from Maloli that the rodeo fest had wound up most successfully, with cowboys and cowgirls from all over our archipelago enjoying the experience and the national competition.

The winners were as follows. For the Professional categories: Load carrying — Rancho Cuervo Verde of Masbate; Bullwhip herding — BSI Busuanga; Cattle Lassoing Tie-down (on foot) — Masbate Brahmanz of ML Ranch; Steer wrestling from horseback tie-down — CDO Horsemen; Casting down — CDO Horsemen; Carambola (2 men) — BAI Masbate; Carambola (4 men) — BAI Masbate; and Bull riding — Libona Team B of Bukidnon. Declared as Rodeo King was Kumar Braga of the Libona Team B, the Over- Team Champion, with CDO Horsemen placing 2nd and BAI Masbate placing 3rd.

For the School category, Women division: Load carrying — Xavier University; Bullwhip herding — Central Bicol State University of Agriculture; Cattle lassoing tie-down (on foot) — Central Luzon State University; Steer lassoing from horseback tie-down — Debesmscat; Casting down — CBSUA; Carambola (2 women) — Central Mindanao Unversity; and Carambola (4 women) — Visayas State Unversity. Rodeo Queen was Whorel Young Trazona of CMU, with Benguet State University winding up as Overall Tam Champion, Visayas State University in 2nd place, and CMU placing 3rd.

I hope to make it again to Masbate next year to take in more of the Rodeo Masbateño, but even before that, I swear I have to go back for more than just an overnighter, the better to do the beaches and sandbars, with or without a ten-gallon hat.