Public service is good business

Public service gives a company a point of view by expanding its horizons, its thoughts and its view of the world. People who work in organizations with a public-service spirit will learn that some issues and concerns are more important than others. This leads to a heightened corporate sensitivity as choices and decisions must be made with regularity. This perspective will be useful in all aspects of the company’s existence.

Public service offers many gratifying opportunities to be a positive force for others, whether they are individuals or communities, national or global issues. It makes us realize that we are not in the world alone and our lives are interconnected. People seek to have an impact on broader public issues, recognizing the fundamental value of reaching out to others, not only to maintain and reinforce shared common values, but also to create new initiatives and effect change. Public service provides us the chance to transform the world in varying ways and different degrees, and to use our talents to implement our ideas, values and beliefs. By doing this in concert with other groups and individuals, great accomplishments will surely follow.

In a country that struggles to provide even the most basic of services, people turn to the media for help and hope. This is why networks are also home to foundations, which in turn are home to advocacy projects, making them the largest public-service foundations in the media. One public service-oriented organization is DZMM. No radio station in the country has revolutionized the concept of public service the way DZMM has in the past 25 years. On its 15th anniversary in 1998, it introduced the “Una sa Balita, Una sa Public Service” slogan to show that serving the Filipino public does not stop at delivering outstanding news coverage; it extends to helping citizens desperately in need of attention and assistance.

Ted Failon and Jovit Baldiv

Bill Gates once said, “Show them that a company is applying its expertise to help the poorest, and they will repay that commitment with their own dedication.” But it probably takes more than that. Following DZMM’s public-service orientation, helping the poorest of Filipinos is not the best way to earn people’s trust, goodwill and loyalty, but by servicing them via initiatives that make a real difference in their lives. Businesses can beef up their corporate social responsibility schemes by taking a second look at, if not veering away from, straight-out financial grants and donations, and instead training its sights on implementing innovative programs that promote people empowerment: education, disaster response, environmental protection and healthcare, among others.

DZMM’s flagship public-service program Aksyon Ngayon is a case in point. Established in 1991 and initially anchored by powerhouse broadcast journalists Korina Sanchez and Ted Failon, it was the first of its kind in the history of AM radio in the Philippines. For 18 years, it helped our poor and seemingly hopeless kababayans with their wishes and problems like requests for donations, finding lost possessions and missing loved ones. It is now dubbed Aksyon Ngayon Global Patrol, and is presently anchored by Julius Babao and Kaye Dacer, extending assistance through its Aksyon Ngayon Center that operates eight hours a day on weekdays.

Another trademark DZMM project was born after typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng ravaged Metro Manila and nearby provinces back in 2009. The devastating typhoons brought out the kindness and resourcefulness in most of us, but for DZMM, the calamity pushed it to give a new face to public service. The station launched the Kapamilya Shower Na, a unique project that treated evacuees who had not taken a bath for days to a free 10-minute shower each, supplying them with a free towel, soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, and deodorant. The Kapamilya Shower Na van was a 20-foot container atop a trailer, which contains separate sections for males and females. Each section had six fully tiled cubicles with rain showers and vanity mirrors. This noble and novel venture of DZMM anchor Failon served thousands of people in evacuation areas, and later earned recognition from several award-giving bodies.

DZMM also brought public service to a whole new level when it introduced “Teaching Learning Caring” or TLC, a classroom, library, and clinic on wheels. Inspired by Kapamilya Shower Na, it was introduced in November last year to bring free medical checkups and learning sessions to Ondoy-affected areas to promote health and good values, as well as spark interest in learning among children by bringing identified communities doctors, books, celebrities and anchors who served as teachers and book readers. The highly successful venture is now conducted twice a month in cooperation with ABS-CBN Integrated Public Service, ABS-CBN Foundation Inc., doctor societies, hospitals, publishing houses, and bookstores to bring free medical consultations and educational lectures. Aside from these unique schemes that help the less fortunate, DZMM has mounted hundreds of seminars, mental and medical missions, business and livelihood trainings, and mass baptisms.

The people behind DZMM sure know how to upgrade the medium of radio to adapt to the modern times. In 2007, it launched TeleRadyo, the first station in the country to introduce the format, which allowed viewers to hear but as well as see their favorite anchors. One of TeleRadyo’s early shining moments was the Glorietta shopping complex explosion in 2007. Heavy equipment and logistics got in the way of breaking news coverage for news outlets, but DZMM broke the news and released the first footage of the location by using 3G technology. It received video feeds via a 3G mobile phone and was also picked up by Channel 2 and ANC.

DZMM also modernized the seemingly outdated medium to reach out to larger, younger, and tech-savvy audiences by making use of Twitter (@dzmmteleradyo), Facebook, and its website, Dzmm.com.ph. And because of its undisputed leadership in breaking news coverage and public service, it reaped rewards by continuously leading the AM radio ratings race in Metro Manila and all over the country.

Celebrating Success

This year, DZMM celebrates 25 years, and as a fitting tribute to its pioneering and public service legacy, it recently staged “DZMM SilveRadyo: The Concert,” an event that showcased the talents of the station’s anchors, reporters and management. The jam-packed Smart-Araneta Coliseum crowd of avid DZMM listeners and TeleRadyo viewers watched and cheered their favorite personalities, who did not disappoint the fans. Stellar performances by kapamilya celebrities like Gary Valenciano, Christian Bautista, Angeline Quinto, Jed Madela, Karylle, Gab Valenciano, Melai Cantiveros and Kiray brought the house down, but it was the all-out performances of the reporters and anchors that made the event memorable.

It was refreshing to see the country’s most respected news anchors unleash their entertainment side. Anchors Winnie Cordero, Jiñg Castaneda, Maresciel Yao, Ariel Ureta, Joe D’ Mango, Cory Quirino, Atty. Claire Castro, Henry Omaga-Diaz, Bro. Jun “Dr. Love” Banaag, and station manager Marah Capuyan tore up the dance floor with their suave ballroom dancing moves, while Jasmin Romero, Niña Corpuz, Bernadette Sembrano, Kaye Dacer, and Ruby Tayag belted out romantic OPM songs. Male anchors Alex Santos and Vic Lima serenaded the spectators with the season’s most requested Christmas songs, while head of ABS-CBN’s Manila Radio Division, Peter Musngi, did a mean duet of jazz standards with Rachel Alejandro.

The power tandem of Dos Por Dos’s Anthony Taberna and Gerry Baja sang nationalistic rock OPM songs with Randy Santiago, as a montage of photos tracing the history of DZMM played in the background. It brought back memories of veteran news anchors, the station’s relief operations, previous public service announcements and memorable newscasts and coverage. The last performance was reserved for Failon, who had a vocal showdown with Pilipinas Got Talent winner Jovit Baldivino. They sang rock love song classics that elicited loud cheers from the audience.

Continuing Conversation

For all its failings and contradictions, it’s still surprising how the public would give up on their leaders and their government, but pin their highest hopes and expectations on the media. When systems fail, when institutions falter, when democratic processes like the elections become a joke or a ring tone, or when people are put in helpless situations brought by weather disturbances like Sendong, Filipinos call their few remaining allies ang mga kaibigan nilang taga-media na handang magbigay ng serbisyo publiko. In such situations, media are called to serve even when their own resources are tight and to act with a pure courage that is sometimes hard to find. To look beyond their own commercial interests, even in the hardest of times, and deliver public service. And to do the right thing.

Media, like ABS-CBN, DZMM or the The Philippine STAR, are accountable. Not because the viewers, listeners or readers are a powerful lot who can decide with their remotes or their hands. But because the men and women behind them are also Filipinos who want a bright future for their children, a world at peace, for there to be justice, and for the people in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City, Dumaguete and other areas of devastation to be all right. How do we make that all happen? This is a conversation we always have now in ABS-CBN, and I’m sure it’s a conversation that takes place in many office corridors around the country, and in government offices and schools — wherever you have people who care and do public service. It’s a conversation that must continue.

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E-mail bongosorio@yahoo.com or bong_osorio@abs-cbn.com for comments, questions or suggestions. Thank you for communicating.