August 8, 2006 - The following material was originally written-drafted on February of 2004, a week after the news that Ka Kiko finally embarked on his journey to heaven. Early in this Tuesday morning, I retrieved an old e-mail he sent to my first personal e-mail account at Hotmail sometime in 1999.
The e-mail was a personal one and brought back memories. To Ka Kiko, while playing your on-line mahjong or scrabble in heaven, here’s to you and thank you for being a great boss and a great friend.
I'm re-printing a haphazardly written thoughts on Ka Kiko and the conversations we had back then. Below were my lose thoughts and I never edited it, its as raw as the first draft.
I don't know why all of the sudden that e-mail appeared and I am just suspecting that you are making your presence felt. Yeah I still remember, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (Belated actually - July 24th)
Ka Kiks, I didn’t attend your wake, not wanting to see you in that box. Sorry about that. I can’t bear to see you like that.
I just wish we could still have our regular daily merienda-editorial and operations meeting over puto and dinuguan, with arroz caldo at Alex III.
When we were drudging along producing News23, I still see you sitting at the far end of the dump we use to call our “office” at the back of our news set.
We maybe pathetic at that time with our working space but it was all worth it.
Someday, I will still brew our coffee and though we may not be working together on whatever is there in the next life, you don’t need to ask me if I mind fixing coffee for you, or fixing your PC, or hunting down who kept updating the Scrabble dictionary with unknown words or whoever was changing the wallpaper on your desktop.
No need to ask. Anytime and every time. Basta ikaw!
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In Remembrance
Frankie Evangelista never imagined in his entire life that he would become one of the most respected broadcast journalist this country ever had. His life is best described as an experience everybody would love to undergo, it was lifetime that was fulfilling and full of challenges. He would recall that while the 2nd World War was raging, as a young boy his life was limited to the farm fields of Nueva Ecija, only to take a leap later on to a whole new world of broadcast.
Many would still remember Ka Kiko as the man who dished-out sound and eye opening commentaries when he still co-anchored TV Patrol back in the early nineties. The strong and bombastic voice of Noli De Castro; the soft spoken and gentle Mel Tiangco; and the sweet naïve Angelique Lazo were all complimented by the grandfatherly-like wisdom of Ka Kiko everytime he would read the day’s “Pulso”. Ka Kiko was doing commentaries during an era of transition in Philippine politics and everyone listened to whatever he had to say. He was doing an editorial and at the same time letting people understand the implications of whatever was happening and people would often say afterwards, “Oh yeah, I never thought of that.”
When Ka Kiko was close to reaching ABS-CBN’s mandatory age of retirement, he was station manager of radio station DZMM, at a time the station was enjoying one of the highest ratings since it went on the air on July of 1987. Ka Kiko kept a tight ship and made sure that Radyo Patrol kept to its commitment to deliver the real score of the on-going news of the hour. Ka Kiko’s booming voice will always be heard on DZMM challenging government officials to get their acts together over complaints raised and submitted to “Hoy Gising.”
His style of commentaries was done in light jest, poking at whatever decency the erring person might still have. In recent years, Ka Kiko, stayed put on DZMM, gingerly reading the afternoon news and kept doing what he loves the most, broadcasting. Retirement never kept Ka Kiko away from the spotlight, he remained in touch with what was going on. When he retired officially from ABS-CBN as a regular employee, he already had many years of experience and a lot of stories to share.
The Beginnings At MBC
Ka Kiko was originally an anchor person for the Manila Broadcasting Corporation. Ka Kiko remembers those days when KZRH was still broadcasting along a traffic less Taft Avenue near what used to be the Manila Jai-Alai beside Sta. Isabel College. Ka Kiko was the dedicated broadcaster that no flood would ever stop him from reaching the radio station. He once mentioned that he had to push his car and decidedly leave it behind when it was futile to push it out of flood waters. He walked barefooted in the knee high floods just to be on-time. Nowadays, this kind of mentality of being dedicated and being on-time is just a memory of a generation long gone.
At MBC, he would get the chance to read the news on TV-11 but since everybody back in the early sixties had to do double work, Ka Kiko wouldn’t mind becoming an extra in some of the programs of MBC-TV 11. At a time when pre-recorded or taped comedy or drama was still dependent on very expensive film, programs on TV back then was done live and unedited. Ka Kiko said that during those times, broadcast was “anything goes and everything goes.”
Once he had to play extra as a vampire on one of MBC TV-11’s “Gabi ng Lagim,” and he had a lot of fun chasing frightened townsfolk. Ka Kiko remembers being asked to wear the standard vampire black cape and really high pointy collars, typical for a stereotyped vampire costume and a really thick face powder to make him look dead and of course no one could forget the fangs that vampires are known for. Ka Kiko did his job, and got staked for terrorizing innocent barrio people and that’s where it all ends but a few minutes later, he steps in to the next studio and he had to sit on the anchor’s table and read the 10 o’clock news.
Funny thing Ka Kiko once said, he forgot to take off his fangs and he was actually doing the news wearing a Count Dracula costume. He said that people simply didn’t notice anymore that a few minutes before he lay dying in a previous program after being staked and now the vampire lives again to read the news.
Moving To ABS-CBN
Like everybody, ABS-CBN had this lure of challenge and the need to belong and Ka Kiko was one of those people who joined the network at its peak of broadcast in the mid-sixties. Ka Kiko was not a news person at ABS-CBN before Martial Law, he was a network producer for various entertainment programs. He produced the first ever gag show “Super Laff In” that produced unknown artists back then, with names like Mitch Valdes, June Keithley and Ramon Zamora as the strange looking Hitler rip-off.
Ka Kiko was also into drama production and most memorable to him was producing the ABS-CBN drama series, “Pilar” starring a young and relatively new Pilar Pilapil. Ms. Pilapil was the most refreshing face on Philippine television at that time and was the apple of the eyes of one of the network’s most important celebrity, Dolphy. In this time period, Ka Kiko developed a very close relationship with Dolphy since the later would often watch the taping of “Pilar.”.
There were times when Pilar and Dolphy would be late and Dolphy would be the most apologetic for keeping Pilar Pilapil from coming on time. Ka Kiko had what it take to become known as one of the terrors of the network. He was absolutely demanding from his talents and he would always insist on doing their homework before the camera rolls. Ka Kiko admits that he had a bad temper and could be foul mouthed but he had the heart so endearing that people who used to work for him would always go back and seek his counsel. Ka Kiko demanded only for the best but he made sure he inspired first before he whips up a criticism.
In 1971, Martial Law was imposed and Ka Kiko was one of the thousands of ABS-CBN employees who will find themselves jobless. In 1974, Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation would launch its broadcast operations at P. Guevarra in San Juan, and Ka Kiko for a whole decade would become the lead anchor of the late prime news of IBC along with the Bingo Lacson, the daughter of Manila Mayor Arsenio Lacson.
Ka Kiko appeared on IBC-13 and when it was sports, Ka Kiko was always there during a boxing match or a game of golf, lending his authoritative voice to explain the game. Once in an anecdote, RPN-9 was covering the 1976 Montreal Olympic and he had to travel with a bunch of equipments to Canada with the late Frankie Abao, Jr. Ka Kiko was at the Canadian immigration when they were asked by the immigration official, “Please state your full name and work, reason for coming to Canada?” Ka Kiko said, “Francisco Evangelista, a journalist covering for the Philippine Olympic team.” Then the officer asked Frank Abao and he replied, “Francisco Abao, journalist, covering for the Philippine Olympic team.” Then the immigration officer was so amused and said, “Don’t you people in the Philippines use different names other than Francisco?!”
During that time, he was also doing commercial endorsements, lending his voice and character. The last commercial he ever did was in 1994 with “Hoy Gising” anchor Ted Failon, an endorsement for a rhum. Some who were couch potatoes in the 80s will remember and can still see the endorsement for R.A. Homevision, a video rental store who used promo clips of movies in the late seventies to the eighties to endorse its services. The loud booming voice of Ka Kiko was used in that commercial and surprisingly, it still runs on some television station. He once kidded, he did that sappy commercial for free and after more than ten years, he still hasn’t gotten paid when they still use the material over and over again.
Ka Kiko: The Family Man
Mr. Evangelista loved his family, his wife and children so much. He valued their company and for what they have achieved. He spent his years at Project 8, in a nice sixties style bungalow and has since called it for more than 30 years as his home, his refuge. Beneath the stern and strict character of Ka Kiko, he was a loving father and husband.
Many times he would travel overseas and he would always take his wife out to see the world together. Twice he recalled that he had no escape from being recognized. A news and magazine vendor outside Phoenix, Arizona approached him and asked if he was Frankie Evangelista, he was surprised to see a Filipina migrant in the desert of Arizona selling newspapers.
In Rome while traveling with his wife, inside the cramp bus in one of Rome’s famous summers, Ka Kiko was again approached by a woman and said, “Ah it is you, you’re Frankie Evangelista, yeah you’re the one.” Ka Kiko would be so amused with it and sigh in resignation that either he is too recognizable or there are simply too many Filipinos around the world.
He got his answer a few years later when he was on a short trip to Alaska, a man in a boat approached him and shouted, “Hey you’re Pinoy! Hey! It’s Frankie Evangelista, the one on TV!” As my news manager, we were thrown in together in an uneasy situation. I was handling operations of the fledgling News 23 back then and though our working style was still not in sync, we eventually ironed things out and I earned the trust of the man.
While producing a series of boxing matches, we were like a pariah when we asked for studio space and we were limited in terms of budget. As the sports producer, among the many hats I wore, I wanted something unique and hip, not the type of boxing coverages seen on the other networks. Ka Kiko, without saying anything was worried because the night before broadcast, we didn’t have a studio or a set that would accommodate what I planned.
The next day on an early call time, he walked in surprised and satisfied that in a matter of four hours we delivered. He looked at me and his smile was all that matter. From there on, there was respect from someone I look up to as a mentor.
Memories spent with Ka Kiko are things that could break someone into tears, experiences and encounters that could never be exchanged forever, sharing lunches at the back of the set of News 23 in an improvised “office,” times when Ka Kiko will ask me if I had my coffee before editorial meetings, a sign, a gentle wish from if he could have coffee too.
When we moved from the ABS-CBN Broadcast Center, the only possession he ever kept as an employee was a three drawer steel cabinet which he lugged around. He kept almost everything there and for him, as long as his cabinet with rollers was around, that’s his office. In 1997, during his Nth birthday, Ka Kiko’s “family” was with the 15 production staff and 8 editorial staff of News 23.
Unknowingly, the staff decided to break protocol and give Ka Kiko a 5-minute tribute during the newscast of the flagship news program of Studio 23. Programming Director Leo Katigbak almost fell of his chair when News 23 turned into a “Maalala Mo Kayo,” but conceded afterwards and just warned to send an advance notice, something like a day before and not 5 minutes to airtime. Even before “Maalala Mo Kayo” started doing tributes and life stories, News 23 did its on dig on its endearing anchor and News Manager.
The staff put everything on a hold and surprised Ka Kiko with a tribute that would be seven years ahead of a time he faces his biggest health challenge. The man everyone knew who does straight face news was in tears afterwards most especially when a phone patch was made to his wife who was in the United States for a vacation.
Seven years later, Ka Kiko faces the greatest battle in his life. A few years back when he retired officially he fought for his life after a bout with meningitis and survived. No matter what ever happened, he dedicated his entire life to the Virgin Mary, he always kept a rosary in his pocket and he would always go to Baclaran to say his thanks. Today, he may not have survived this bout but he would surely be coming home to heaven where he could start dishing out once again his commentaries.
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