Monday, May 19, 2008 ‘Fr. Giovanni’ as teleserye By Sam Costanilla Spotlight
SOMEONE who claims to be a San Fernando town resident e-mailed her reaction to our article here about the First Sikoy-Sikoy festival of the locality. Last Monday, I wrote that the festival was a successful event despite the lack of cooperation from the vice mayor and councilors who happen to be the political opponents of Hon. Lakambini Reluya, the town’s first woman mayor. Our e-mailer (mrpitalo@yahoo.com) asked: “What’s your basis in saying that the Sikoy-Sikoy festival was successful when it was only the mayor that organized it and none of the other leaders supported her?”
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MY answer: True, the vice mayor and the councilors didn’t support the woman mayor — but all San Fernandohanons did. I think that’s what matters most.
After all, town and city festivals, as espoused by Gov. Gwen Garcia, are for everybody—not for a few politicians.
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AS the emcee of that historic event, being its very first staging, I noticed that all those that came to the church plaza to witness the festival were very enthusiastic and warm in expressing their support for Mayor Reluya. I admire the mayor for her courage, guts, will and determination in pushing for the First Sikoy-Sikoy festival despite the odds courtesy of her political detractors. The governor’s presence and speech in the festival should boost the morale of the mayor and her staff in institutionalizing the festival as a yearly undertaking.
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ON the other hand, it is our wish that the vice mayor and his councilors would now stop politicking for the sake of the town’s progress as well as the upliftment of its cultural standing. Okay, they may be coming from opposing political factions but when it comes to cultural events in the town, particularly its Sikoy-Sikoy festival, they should work as one. Do we have to remind them that festivals and other cultural activities are apolitical events?
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IF you are a certified Nat King Cole fan, like me, I’m sure you will be happy to know that some technical geniuses in Manila were able to clearly record our idol’s golden voice when he sang Dahil Sa ‘Yo during a concert at the Araneta Coliseum in 1961. That’s 47 years ago, so we can already consider it a rare recording, a collector’s item. Yes, it’s on www.youtube.com.
Trouble is, it’s only an audio— no video of him singing. But there are nice still photos of our idol during the entire song. Hear him on YouTube.
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REMEMBER “Fr. Giovanni” the radio drama? I can no longer recall the year when this Fermin Gomez soap opera became a household hit but I’m so sure that this radio drama was everybody’s favorite afternoon treat not only in Cebu but the entire Visayas and Mindanao.
Well, I have good news for those that used to listen to it. The soap opera about a priest’s struggle to ward off rebels that threaten his parish will soon be aired—as a teleserye—over Cebu Catholic Television Network channel 47 or Skycable 56.
Gomez himself is playing the title role aside from directing it. I’ll give you the date of its debut airing as soon as the television station management gives me the green light.
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THIS frustrated politician here is as poor as a rat now that her millionaire boyfriend left her after getting reports that she is a drug dependent. The woman failed in her bid to become mayor of a neighboring city. Life, indeed, is like a spinning wheel—what goes up must come down.
