It was just a couple of days ago when Miro and I were talking about Mike Enriquez. He had been on medical leave for months and, being the media geeks that we are, we were talking the inevitable transition 24 Oras has to make when he passes.
When it launched in 2004, the newscast was GMA's big bid to becoming a strong player in television news. And it worked, edging off TV Patrol World in the ratings for a good few years. Mike, who started his career as a radio DJ, and already had a successful career in management, was roped into reading the news out of necessity - but quickly became a trusted name, known both for his authority and having just the right amount of street smarts in his style. It was these qualities that helped GMA become competitive in the evening news space - and yes, I know there's a lot to point out when it comes to news in the Philippines - for the next twenty years.
When he took medical leave to undergo a heart operation, and again to undergo a kidney transplant, one couldn't help but think about the future. Surely those who tended to watch GMA thought about how their evening news would feel like without the guy who delivered the news for so long. You don't really see that sort of longevity here. So, Miro and I were talking about that inevitable transition, parts of which were already in place. The titles have changed, and Emil Sumangil was pretty much a permanent replacement, standing alongside Mel Tiangco, who launched the newscast with Mike, and Vicky Morales, who was his on-air partner in late nights, first on GMA Network News and then on Saksi.
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"Wow, 2010 pa pala last chat natin dito."
So began my chat with Krizzie.
To be fair, the point is not that we haven't talked in a while. We're not really in the same circles, so it wasn't really something that bothered me. What was surprising was that I was chatting with her - after thirteen years, a wedding and a kid - because I was going to give her an adobo recipe.
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It's a quarter to seven. The laptop is on the coffee table. I am seated on the sofa. An old episode (sorry, classic episode) of MythBusters found somewhere online is playing on the television. I am trying to write something on the blog. A familiar situation, surely, considering I've written a lot about trying to write. You would know this, right? You're still following this, right?
But this isn't what I was supposed to write about.
Now, thankfully, what I wanted to write about is still in my head. So far. I think it'll hold, because my social media feeds still yields triggers - I mean, writing triggers, not the other kind. And yes, the thing about me being too busy these days is true, which is why I was looking forward to this little break, to sitting down and getting all those thoughts into this screen.
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