“The trend of ‘agentic AI’ has taken off, with bots handling computer tasks by themselves and businesses trimming ranks of human workers as a result”
IN 2011, I began to scan through my TV dial upon setting my feet here in Manila. I was a probinsyano whose viewing habits ranged from the regional TV Patrol to the primetime newscasts on channels 2 and 7.
It was close to my sleeping time when I stumbled upon a program clothed in blue, with a globe as its enduring icon, done fully in English. A lady in her early 60s was reading an item, though I forgot what it was, yet in a way that gravitated my attention.
I stuck through the show until the end as she alone uttered the words “Philippines, thank you and good night. Mabuhay.”
That, probably, formed my fascination with “The World Tonight,” shown at 10 o’clock or so in the evening. A news program with less of the noise you’d get to hear on dinnertime (or even in other late night) programs, it featured Tina Monzon-Palma as its face, a role she had held solely for two years at that time.
She read on politics and business — or maybe not at all. I focused too much on the style and tone, probably because I was eight and did not care too much about the news.
I, however, took note of Tina, the presenter, who at that time was already a force in broadcast journalism.
She was trained upon the auspices of German nuns at the Benedictine-run Saint Scholastica’s College in Manila in the practice of honing her voice and diction. These skills were utilized by her job as a radio announcer for the stations owned by The Manila Times.
While women were slowly gaining ground on radio, men kept their construct as the authority figures on the small screen with the likes of Bong Lapira and Jose Mari Velez.
And then, Martial Law was enforced. The press, now dominated by Marcos and company, began to rebuild its ranks. But a station gave her the opportunity to try and be its face.
Tina applied for a newscasting job at the Republic Broadcasting System, a fledgling network along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue in Quezon City. She anchored the seven o’clock newSscast, as mandated by the government at that time, which was aptly named “News at Seven.”
She held that role until she transferred to the late nights, a slot she also led through the “11:30 Report”.
Her life with GMA 7 made her a household name for viewers. She was responsible for highlighting the growing dissent towards Marcos’ rule. She provided counterweight to another personality over at the government-owned Channel 4.
Above all, she helped prove that women broadcasters were not the ones to mess with by the men that surrounded them.
I have yet to meet Tina in real life. I might get flaked for saying this, but I am a fan of her work as a newscaster. She proved that you didn’t need to be noisy and loud for you to be heard by your audience. In fact, she was the antithesis to anyone who currently fronts the dinnertime news.
She was not calm, but she was in control. She was in command of the stories she read on the air, owing that experience alone to her training in speech. She feared no one in her capacity to deliver the headlines, yet she knew when and how to hold herself accountable to her errors (remember the Maureen Hultman incident?). Somehow, I got the impression of her as someone who took her role too seriously despite not being a trained journalist who came from the annals of the beat system.
I have yet to see anyone who could follow her style and pace in delivering the news (or perhaps, a sitting senator’s sister could come close).
But Tina Monzon Palma was a product of her own time where substance ruled over style. And yes, it is something worthy enough to look back to and learn her ways again.
(The writer is a correspondent for Manila Standard, covering the education and health beats. For comments on this piece, please write to him at ngrolando2003@yahoo.com.)
