“May Bukas Pa Thanksgiving Party”

The town of Bacolor, Pampanga was celebrating its town fiesta with a five-day festivities starting February 7 till February 11. As a result, our tapings for May Bukas Pa during the fiesta were cancelled.

    Instead of the usual text messages from Cath Magdael, Associate Producer advising us on the calltime for our taping, I got a text message from Ms. Hazel Parfan another Associate Producer inviting me to join the May Bukas Pa Thanksgiving Party at the Bagoong Club, 122 Scout Dr. Laczano St. Quezon City last night, February 10, 2009!  I immediately texted back confirming that I will attend the party – my first ever showbiz gathering!

    The text message said that the party will start at 6:00 p.m., but I was already at the party venue at 5:45 p.m. Pinoy Big Brother Winner Ruben Gonzaga was ahead of me. He greeted me as I came out from my car. Ruben was with his two friends from Davao. I joined them near their vehicle. We were exchanging pleasantries on the side street as we were the first to arrive the venue. A few minutes later, we saw Hazel arrived with her two-year old son. We greeted her and told her that we stay outside first. Lito Pimentel arrived next. Lito joined us but a few minutes later, we decided to get inside the Bagoong Club. We were served with iced tea as we got in the resto.

    One after the other, the members of the cast arrived: Rayver Cruz, Ogie Diaz, Victor Basa, Badjie Mortiz, Aloy Norona, Maja Salvador, Tony Manalo, Precious Lara Quigaman, David Chua, Andre Tiangco, Robin Tolentino, Desiree del Valle, Tonton Gutierrez and Dominic Ochoa who arrived riding a motorbike.

     A few minutes later, Director Jojo A. Saguin arrived. In quick succession, the production staff led by Ethel Espiritu, Production Manager and Ms. Cath Magdael, Associate Producer, Ms. Mae Santos, Supervising Producer, Talent Coordinator Angge Lee joined the merriment!

    As the crowd was swelling, I noticed the arrival of our latest sensation – child star Zaijan Jaranilla together with his daddy and lola.

    Ogie Diaz suggested that we request a tv set so we could watch May Bukas Pa. The restaurant staff immediately came out with a TV set. We then started to fall in line for the buffet dinner. The buffet table had Sinagang ng boneless bangus belly sa misu, Sinuglaw (sinugba or inihaw na baboy at kinilaw or raw fish), kare-kare, and lot more dishes with of course bagoong as a main ingredient.

    Finally, the man of the hour, our host and big boss, the over-all in-charge of production – Roldeo T. Endrinal with Julie Anne R. Benitez and company arrived! With them was the scriptwriter – Dindo Perez.  After settling down, Sir Deo had a short talk. Everybody came closer to him to listen to what the boss would say.

    Boss Deo said that the party was the ABS-CBN’s way of expressing thanks to the cast and production staff for our effort to come up with the show even with a very short preparation period. The thanksgiving was appropriate since last Monday, February 9, a week after its aired, the show is already the number 1 nationwide in terms of rating garnering a record high of 38.9%! Another reason to be thankful is the numerous positive feedback including that from parish priests saying that the find the show very inspiring! Finally, boss Deo announced that from the original plan to have the show for only 8 weeks, the management has decided to extend the show to 20 weeks! This means adjustments on the schedules of the major stars who had already been  booked to appear in other shows. This revelation was also reported in today’s TV Patrol news which featured a segment on Zaijan.

    Albert Martinez arrived after the talk of Boss Deo. Direk Jerome Pobocan arrived a little later. Dina Bonnevie was the last to arrive. Jaime Fabregas was not yet at the party when I left.

    As I was already in my car on my way home, I imagined how the extension of the show would definitely change my lifestyle!