KENNETH PORIO | the blog

Posible ba gayod ya man intiende y man habla Chabacano, mas quien Davaoeño yo?  After many weeks following the Zamboanga crisis, and watching TV Patrol Chavacano , one of their regional news programs produced by ABS-CBN, it seems I now would be able to understand the context of what has been said in each report, simply because I begun to figure out the grammatical structure of the Spanish-based creole. I don't know, but it seems I have this sort of inherent talent to pick context clues in languages that I am not familiar about. The languages of the Philippines are sort of close to each other, plus some of their words loaned from Spanish (owing to 300 years of Spanish rule) that it just needs your keen eyes and ears to learn what any local news reporter meant. Now after a few months on exposing myself to Chavacano news reports, I begun to pick up phrases like if someone died ( "con un persona el ya muri despues..." ), there is rain ( "...quien cay aguacero ...

 Maria Ressa , outgoing ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs chief, was featured in a special episode of ANC's STORYLINE . The stories that shaped her, from her childhood, her education at Princeton University, her stint at the Probe Team, her career at CNN, and her leadership in ABS-CBN News. I watched this episode on ABS-CBN while I was staying in a relative's house in rural Panabo City. I tweeted that whole evening about the powerful messages Ressa has shared in that special. She is beyond compare when she relayed this statement, to quote: I am a journalist... I am also a Filipino. Another quote, relating to the August 28 hostage crisis: Women have more balls than men .  That's to relate women currently leading TV news organizations in the country, namely Maria Ressa in ABS-CBN, Jessica Soho of GMA and Luchi Cruz-Valdez in TV5. Enjoy watching the 3-part video on YouTube. Feature in this blog is the first part of the special. KENNETH