Tag Archives: Tulfo brothers

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In Memory of News5

The death of News5 is all but finalized.

On Friday, November 3, TV5 management announced the cancellation of ‘Aksyon sa Umaga’, ‘Aksyon News Alert’ and ‘Aksyon Tonite’ to make way for the newly-rebranded ESPN5 block that will go full swing in December. The only newscasts retained by the network are ‘Aksyon sa Tanghali’ and ‘Aksyon Prime’.

The cancellation of these three programs marked the latest in a saga of changes that deepened News5’s problems. Whether it is the loss of several talents, questionable programming decisions, lack of resources or signal concerns, News5’s issues only served to undermine its abilities as a news-gathering force.

There is no need to discuss what went wrong as this blog already discussed in detail the many problems that News5 faced (and the potential solutions that would have helped). Instead, this article will look back at News5’s contributions during its storied but tenuous run.

News5 started the ‘news on FM radio’ revolution when they launched Radyo5 92.3 News FM back in 2010. A few months after, AksyonTV was born, and at the time, it was the only 24/7 all-Filipino language news channel on free TV.

They also went into a partnership with Bloomberg LP in 2015 and launched Bloomberg TV Philippines, the first Filipino business news channel. Other contributions by the network include News5 Digital, then the only online news channel in the country, and News5 newscasts produced in high definition.

Some of the Philippines’ most talented journalists also made News5 their home. These include current PCOO secretary Martin Andanar, the late Amelyn Veloso, the Tulfo brothers (Ben, Raffy and Erwin), Cheryl Cosim, Ed Lingao, Jove Francisco and former DOT spokesperson Cherie Mercado among others.

Finally, News5 did produce some quality programs of their own. Aside from the ‘Aksyon’ newscasts, some of News5’s award-winning shows include ‘T3’, ‘History with Lourd de Veyra’, ‘Kaya’ and ‘Alagang Kapatid’.

Overall, despite all the problems they have faced, News5 still tried its best to keep up with its more superior counterparts in ABS-CBN and GMA. Still, its inevitable demise has viewers thinking what might have been had they smartly made moves to benefit both the technical and the economical aspect of the organization.

Now that Chot Reyes is about to turn TV5 into an S+A clone (for lack of a better term), the promising organization that is News5 is all but a distant memory. The newscasts may keep it alive, but for all intents and purposes, this organization’s days are numbered.

Thanks for all the memories, News5. You’ll be sorely missed.

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entertainment, news, Philippines, public affairs, television

Tony Calvento: The Original ‘Imbestigador’

Tony Calvento, best known as a columnist and host of the ABS-CBN crime series ‘Calvento Files’, passed away yesterday. (Photo credit: Tony Calvento Facebook Page)

Gus Abelgas, the Tulfo brothers and Mike Enriquez were not the first Filipino hosts to showcase gruesome murder cases on television.

Before they came into the viewers’ consciousness, there was Tony Calvento and his ‘Calvento Files’. The program aired on ABS-CBN from 1995-98, during which it popularized the crime docudrama genre on Philippine television.

On Monday, October 9, Calvento passed away from multiple organ failure, his family announced. Funeral services will take place from October 10-13, after which his remains will be cremated on October 14.

Calvento enjoyed a distinguished journalism career. He rose to fame as a columnist for the People’s Journal, before gaining even greater recognition as the host of ‘Calvento Files’ in the mid-1990s.

Most of the stories on ‘Calvento Files’ were adopted from his column on People’s Journal titled ‘Hotline’. Although its run on ABS-CBN was short, it managed to earn a number of accolades, most notably the 1999 New York Film Festival for best docudrama.

‘Calvento Files’ was also adopted into a film produced by Star Cinema in 1997. The film, which was directed by Michael de Mesa and Laurenti Dyogi, featured a screenplay by Ricky Lee with some input from Calvento himself.

After the show ended, Calvento moved over to Pilipino Star Ngayon, naming his column after the aforementioned ABS-CBN program. He remained with the Star Group until his passing.

Individually, Calvento won numerous awards for his journalistic work and his role in crime investigation. And his influence as host of ‘Calvento Files’ was then passed on to other shows that were based on his docudrama style.

Today, the Calvento legacy was passed on to his son Sonny Calvento. The younger Calvento made his presence felt as director of ‘Nabubulok’, which entered the Cinemalaya film festival in August of this year and whose story was influenced by the elder Calvento’s crime stories in his columns.

Tony Calvento may be gone physically, but spiritually his legacy will live on. May his soul rest in peace.

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entertainment, Philippines, television

Bonggang Bongbong Returns

After a few months’ hibernation, Bonggang Bongbong (Michael V) returned for another round of ‘crime fighting’. Three new ‘cases’ were shown on Bubble Gang‘s ‘Sumbong Sumbong kay Bonggang Bongbong’ that drew the ire of the titular host.

The first case was a group conversation between three people, one of whom was wearing headphones. The latter ignored the conversation and instead continued to listen haphazardly to the music from his headphones. The second case featured a group of people attempting to do a jump shot photograph. After two tries, the photographer was unsuccessful in creating a perfect jump shot photo. The third case involved a woman awkwardly walking in high heels while waiting for her appointment. In all three cases, the suspect was struck by a gavel that surprised observers.

The character of Bonggang Bongbong is a parody based on the Tulfo brothers Ramon, Ben, Raffy and Erwin. The title ‘Sumbong Sumbong’ is directly inspired from Ramon’s ‘Isumbong Mo Kay Tulfo’ radio program, while Bonggang Bongbong’s use of shades is an obvious reference to Ben’s trademark glasses. And his voice seems like a mix of Raffy and Erwin’s. The character was brought attention on Ben’s ‘Bitag Live’ program on Aksyon TV and the brothers’ ‘T3: Reload‘ program on TV5. However, Bonggang Bongbong was not the only character parody of the Tulfos. TV5’s ‘Lokomoko‘ once featured a parody of T3 called ‘T3: Paload’ which was also mentioned on the former.

For some reason I enjoy Michael V’s portrayal of Bonggang Bongbong. I thought the character appears serious and focused, not to mentioned the exaggerated mannerisms. And the scene where suspects were struck by a gavel was really amusing, though at times annoying. The sketch is a perfect foil to the serious nature of crime-fighting programs. If you need a humorous take on crime-fighting, then this is it.

If you missed last night’s segment click this video below.

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