Decade measured in TV
Facebook friend and former TV Producer Nona Cueva a.k.a. “Winona Writer” said in a status post (and several Tweets she said “no one picked up”) that media was busy producing year-enders and forgot to do decade-enders. Agree.
So sans the short sightedness on 2009, I now take stock of the millennium based on times I was glued on TV:
DEBUGGING THE MILLENIUM BUG. On New Years Eve 2000 my eyes were not trained skyward for fireworks, but on a PC in an anxious countdown. A computer date glitch called “Millennium bug” was about to destroy world order. That didn’t happen.
EDSA SEQUEL. We ousted Erap for a new president via street polls in 2001, the dawning of the age of Glory. Since then, it had been a decade of unabated scandal and astonishing corruption topped by the Hello Garci DVD circa 2005; the 728-million peso Fertilizer fund scam of 2004; the overpriced Macapagal highway; the NAIA 3-PIATCO row which sent German blood pressure off the charts; and the botched 329-million dollar ZTE-NBN deal in 2008. It is unthinkable perpetrators got off scot free.
REBELS FROM WITHIN. The same presidency was plagued with hotel-based rebellion i.e. Oakwood Mutiny of 2003 and Manila Peninsula siege 2007. With persistent coup rumors PGMA tested the waters for state of emergency in 2006 and mini Martial Law in Maguindanao to quell rebellion by her Ampatuan unfriends.
REBELS FROM WITHOUT. The decade was an enterprising time for the Abu Sayyaf which raked in millions from kidnapping tourists in Sipadan, Malaysia in 2000, and Dos Palmas in 2001.
They also bombed Superferry 14 in 2004 and took ABS CBN’s Ces Drilon in 2008 as with the other soldiers, missionaries, teachers, farmers and other helpless civilians that they kidnapped and occasionally beheaded.
Their big city counterparts bombed LRT trains, buses in Metro Manila or public markets and airport waiting sheds down south, claiming casualties here and there.
CIRCUS OF AN ELECTION. The decade marked one of the most sensational Philippine elections—- top billed by Gloria Arroyo (who promised not to run) and Fernando Poe Jr., whose death (blamed by some on stress due to poll fraud) earned PGMA the ire of… the movie-viewing public.
We saw Raul Roco bowing out of the presidential race due to cancer and Eddie Villanueva proving that men of God can ably run an earthly campaign. Not to be left out were nuisance Ely Pamatong who protested an Arroyo victory with a spike attack on EDSA, and Eddie Gil who landed short-lived movie stardom— next best thing to the presidency.
In 2009, Filipinos mourned the passing of Democracy icon Cory Aquino and revived people power colors, setting the tone for another circus of an election in 2010.
Some days changed the world
The September 11, 2001 attacks were so compelling that one could remember where he was when it happened. I was at SM parking tuned to the car radio as planes went for the WTC towers. That attack was fully televised as the world watched 2,973 people die, live.
A NEW KIND OF WAR. Terrorism paved the way for President George W. Bush’s “War on Terror”. He sent troops to Iraq in 2003 to bully Saddam Hussein, and more troops to Afghanistan to search for Al Qaeda idol Osama Bin Laden. The war made Bush unpopular, sending clamors for change in America. The growing Bush dislike catapulted Barrack Obama into the top White House post, ushering in the first Black Presidency of this lifetime.
GLOBAL CASH WOES. A home mortgage crisis rocked the US in 2007, the start of a global financial meltdown. Stock markets crashed as well as banks. Among its lasting effects were joblessness, bankruptcy and far-reaching recession.
PANDEMICS C/O FARM ANIMALS. The H5N1 virus a.k.a. bird flu made several appearances within the decade, claiming lives as it reemerged in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
The H1N1 or swine Flu on the other hand killed thousands worldwide in 2008 and 2009, while Mad Cow disease hunted down livestock.
THE ERA OF CLIMATE CHANGE. Fiercer natural calamities courtesy of climate change brought floods killing multitudes across the globe. Not even the US with its sophisticated weather facilities predicted the outcome of Katrina which in 2005 submerged New Orleans and Louisiana.
Earthquakes killed thousands in China, Pakistan and India while in 2004 the Indian Ocean Tsunami killed at least 200,000 in Asia and Africa.
In the Philippines Reming and Milenyo in 2006, Frank in 2008 and Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009 washed away lives and livelihood. Frank even brought down Princess of the Stars.
There go my top 10 picks from a decade of watching TV. What have you seen in the last 10 years?
