Robi Domingo, one of the country’s finest television hosts, is taking a step outside his comfort zone as he anchors the three-part Keeping the Faith documentary about Japan’s hidden Christians on ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel.
Known for his playful and wacky style as host of various entertainment and reality programs in ABS-CBN, Robi gets to showcase his serious side and versatility in Keeping the Faith, which airs on the country’s leading English all-news cable channel on Dec. 28, and Jan. 11, 2018 at 8 p.m..
In this three-part travelogue, Robi tells the story of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the name of God. He gets to visit to the ancient sites where the original Christians congregated to pray and worship and get to know about the Kakure Kirishitans (Hidden Christians) who went underground to practice their religion in secret.
Robi, who also hosted the Lakwatsero travel documentaries on ABS-CBN previously, said this project came at the right time in his life. “After everything that happened in my life this year, I really needed to hold on to God. It is in this trip that I became closer to Him,” he said.
He added his experience learning about the lives of Christians in their nine-day shoot reminded him of the movie Eat Pray Love, which is about faith in your God and in oneself.
“I really felt it was impossible to do that documentary in nine days but the team is so good and there’s this power which made that all happen. There were instances that a shoot wouldn’t push through because of the weather, or snow wouldn’t fall in the mountains, but there was divine intervention that happened,” he shared.
Overall, the Pinoy Big Brother alumnus said his experience doing the documentary taught him that the more you go out of your comfort zone, the more you get to know about yourself. “You get to be immersed in different situations wherein you would not just question yourself, not just your life, but everyone’s existence. It’s not right to compare your life to another man’s life, and your place to another man’s place, but it all boils down to that ‘Wow’ feeling that everything became possible because of this one being who created everything,” he explained.
Robi said the documentary would also appeal to travel bugs and millennials because of the scenic places and great food in Japan that it showcases. “Filipinos love to travel, especially the millennials. If they watch the docu they would have a feel that they are travelling with me in that whole experience.”