By Mortz C. Ortigoza
When I was
asked to do radio commentary, I relished it because I was a radio bug on selected
Filipino political broadcasters especially during the time of the perceptive
Louie Beltran, the humorous Rod Navarro and everything hilarious and vulgar
about what U.S No. 1 shock jock Howard Stern dishes on Sirius Radio and YouTube.
Man, I
loved to talk especially the way former five-time House Speaker Joe de Venecia
and Civil Rights Activist Al Sharpton rabble roused. Their ding-dong gift of
gab I imitated and polished on air with my belief that they could help
proselytize by playing with the emotions of the listeners here and abroad,
thanks to free Face Book Live Feed video where listeners overseas could listen
to my antics.
Even
during my early days in broadcast last July, I saw to it that once in while I
browse on the internet’s manual how broadcasters were governed by their police
body Kapisanan ng Brodkaster ng Pilipinas( KBP).
When Jay
Mendoza, then manager of DZRD Sonshine Radio-Dagupan City who I worked with
asked me last December if I want to take the KBP accreditation examination, I
did not only tell him affirmatively but told him I was too willing to shell out
the seven hundred fifty pesos examination fee when he told me there was a charge for
it.
Son of a
gun, that’s beer money compared to the prestige and benefit I could derive to
be a full-pledge radio broadcaster, I told myself.
Several
days before the D-Day in January 28, I read diligently, twice or thrice, the 40
pages KBP’s Broadcast Code of the Philippines given to me
by the manager.
Why my
sheer determination to master the Code and the complicity of the rules a
broadcaster should master in doing his craft? Geez, it was my sheer fear to botch
and be the butt of ridicules and jokes especially by those who hated my guts on
air.
“Kayabang
yabang kasi, bagsak naman sa KBP!” one of the dilemmas or even nightmares I was
imagining he he.
Some lady
reporters teased me what will I do if I failed the examination while Atong
Remogat, Dennis Mojares, and other radio reporters who were my favorite punch
lines on the air had already hurdled the accreditation examination.
“Siyempre
nakakahiya iyong kinakantiyawan mo pumasa tapos iyong nangangantiyaw bumagsak,” I
told them that caused them to guffaw.
When I and
61 of radio and TV workers who hailed as far as Abra, Ilocos Norte, and Baguio
City took the test held at the function room of the Bureau of Fisheries &
Aquatic Resource (BFAR) in Barangay Bonuan Binloc my first impression was the
more than 200 item questions was tough if one did not diligently read the posers
and get the best answer in a multiple or four options anwers where some seem to be coined to be tricky.
“Halos
magkapareho ang mga sagot naglalaban lang sa isang word thus deceptive,” I told
my self while I was shading the first ten of the more than 200 questions with
my No. 1 Mongol Pencil.
I looked
at the cameramen and technicians of the national television who were on my side
and in front of
me wondering even if they read the Code and how they dealt with the questions
that were analytically challenging like “Will the station or its personnel
communicate by any means, whether on-air or off-air, with the perpetrator of
say hostage taking or victim without coordinating with the police officer in
charge of the crime situation?”.
Some of
the questions there I even used as source when I, as resource speaker lately, told
members of the City Council in Dagupan City who conducted a public hearing on
their pet bill’s Anti –Fake News that they should not harass radio anchor or
reporter airing an unconfirmed news like “bombing” if it is a “Clear and
Present Danger” on the safety of the people. They acquisced on my proposal on Section
5 that says “Unconfirmed reports shall not be aired unless there is an
immediate and urgent need for the public to know about them, such as when the public
needs to be warned of the possibility of an imminent danger. When such reports are
aired, it must be emphasized that they are unconfirmed. 5.b. An unconfirmed
report must be verified as soon as possible. If an unconfirmed report is found to
be false, an announcement saying so must be made.”
I was
smiling as I shaded my answers because the short preparation I had been was
rewarding.
But I
panicked when questions filled with words like “cowcatcher” and a “hitch-hikers”
“What is the minute’s limit of a commercial load for FM in Metro Manila and the
province? “ Channel, source, gesture?” were asked in the
middle and later part of the questionairres.
Son of a
gun, wala ito sa manual na binigay sa akin,” the eyes of this non journalism or
mass communication graduate widened. Pssst, I finished my B.A and M.A on
government a far cry about the nuances of a microphone and stinger button.
As the
proctor told us that we have 20 minutes left for the examination that started
at 2 pm and ended at 5pm, I looked at my left side and saw four of us left
whose faces were still glued at the questionnaire.
I was left
behind because I returned to those questions that I did not have privilege to
have the manual like “In case there is a brownout at your radio station and the
power returned after three hours, where would you get your official time.
Answers could either be: A) KBP, B) Pag-Asa, C) Station’s wallclock D) None of
the answer. At first I chose KBP, but I erased my pencil shade on its box when
I analyzed, yes Virginia I did common sense evaluation, that it should be “B)
Pag Asa” because I saw everyday on TV that Pag-Asa announced what time the
sunlight strikes.
But other
questions like “compensating spot”, “primary and secondary signals, I did not know them from Adam.
I left the
room like an idiot and downed.
With the
more than 200 questions and with 35 items I believed I answered incorrectly, I
felt threatened about my passing chances despite one has to pass it by getting
only 60 percent of the correct answers.
My boast to my wife and kids that I would top
the test went awry, I told myself.
“How was
the examination?” radio collegues at 981kHz DZRD Sonshine Radio asked me.
“I fear I
failed it, I did not have the manual on many questions there that asked about
FM stations, the terminologies, the number of advertisement allowed by FM in
Manila and the province, and Whatchamacallit,” I told them.
Many were
surprised about my humility. They missed the patent braggadocio they saw on me
as my funny trademark.
“Pa humble
ka Mortz, baka bumagsak ka at least alam nila na ikaw mismo nag sabi na
babagsak,” I told my self on that defense mechanism whenever other media men
posed the same question.
Two
Fridays ago I saw at Face Book some newbie lady radio reporters crowing they
passed the KBP with posts like” Full pledge radio reporter na kami” below the
document that came from KBP.
I called
one of them and asked if she saw my name. The answer was negative.
When I
entered the radio station last Monday, those who teased me if in case I would
not pass, had naughty look at their faces telling me “blow out ka na!”
“Walang
problema diyan, naka ready na iyong pera na pambayad ni misis sa kuryente
gastusin natin sa blow out,” I told them and asked to show me the copy of the
result. They told me it was still with the KBP Chairman Mark Gemson Espinosa.
“I felt I
failed the examination,” I told them again.
“You
should be positive, tell that you felt you could pass the test,” my tandem
Harold Barcelona, that I used to tease and who laughed on my antics on air just
like the laughing stinger button.
I just
told everydbody I failed because I detested Harold and his taunt if I really
failed the examination.
The
following Tuesday morning, Ilet Breguera entered the radio booth during our commercial
break and told me to treat the radio staff because I passed.
I felt
relief and even imagining that I would be happy even if I could get the 60
percent passing score.
“Anyway,
all of us who passed including the No. 1 and the cellar dweller have the same
identical I.D cards as KBP passer,” I told myself.
I told
Ilet again to produce the paper as evidence I hurdled so I could shell out the
treat monies I supposed to pay for the electric bill.
After our
one hour commentary program, Benjie, a reporter there, told me I landed on the
Top Ten of the test.
Roger
Codnita the manager furnished me a photocopy of the result from top to bottom
of all the examinees.
I saw my
name on the No. 10 and told the people there that I felt bad that I have no
manual to read on those 35 questions I squandered otherwise I dominated the
examination he he.
“Nagyayabang
ka na naman Mortz!” Ilet cried while Harold and other shook their heads because the
distinct bragadacio of Mortz Ortigoza had been awakened.
(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and
articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)
