Charo Santos-Concio: She came, took the stage, captivated the community

Charo Santos-Concio receives an Appreciation Award from the United Mindoro International. Photos by Boyet Loverita

Jesting exchange between Charo and Juliet (at right): ‘Fighting’ over Piolo Pascual?

By Cristina DC Pastor

She delivered her speech entirely in Tagalog. Her voice was gentle, her demeanor graceful.

But ABS-CBN President and CEO Charo Santos Concio spoke powerfully when she urged Filipinos in the U.S. to continue to assert their “ethnic pride” and their sense of “pagka-Pilipino.”

It is “easy to get lost, to be invisible” as Filipinos find their way in the American culture with a new accent, new way of dressing, or new lifestyle, she said. It is important, she stressed, to assert the essence of “pagka-Pilipino” so that it is not lost in the process of assimilation as Filipinos begin to “resemble the dominant culture.”

Santos-Concio spoke before a welcome reception in her honor hosted by the United Mindoro International, a regional club led by Juliet Payabyab of Queens. Santos-Concio grew up in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro with her parents and five siblings and spent her elementary school years there.

She blew into town to chair the 43rd International Emmy Awards Gala at the New York Hilton on November 23. The International Emmys is the foreign equivalent of the popular Emmy Awards in the U.S., which recognizes excellence in television shows produced outside of the United States. It has members from 500 media companies from about 60 countries, according to its website.

Two days before the International Emmys Gala, she addressed fellow Mindorenos in a warm welcome, and rallied them to support their home province as it aspires to become an eco-tourism destination.

She harked back to the “simple life” growing up in Mindoro. This was before she became a beauty queen, later a movie actress and producer, and now a powerful and influential personality in broadcast television. She governs behind the cameras, and rules as well in front as her highly rated TV drama “Maalaala Mo Kaya” on air for nearly 25 years.

“I won’t turn my back on the simple life in the province,” she said, “with fresh air and no pollution, fresh and healthy food, and (growing up in) a happy family.”

She said her initiation into television was through the noontime show called “Stop, Look and Listen.” She was a fan. “I would line up to watch the entertainment show called ‘Stop Look and Listen.’ Do you remember that show? Do you remember Jeane Young? Are we all of the same age here?” The audience erupted into laughter.

She called on fellow Mindorenos to be proud of their province and to educate the American people about Mindoro. The province is the Philippines’ seventh largest island out of more than 7,000 islands, known for its farming industry. It is home to the diminutive buffalo known as the ‘tamaraw,’ said to be an endangered species. As an eco-tourism site, the province is proud of its lush fruit orchards and how water rafting can be promoted as recreational sport.

“It is good to give back to our hometown, where we all come from,” she said.

Prominent Mindoreno in New York Juliet Payabyab said she is proud to come from the same neighborhood of Ilaya as the “accomplished and respected” Santos-Concio.

“Charo was a friend back then and has remained one (over the years),” said Payabyab. “She finds the time to attend our annual Calapeno Ball usually held in Las Vegas.”

Consul General Mario de Leon Jr. said Santos-Concio represents the breed of high-achieving Filipino women who continue to break the glass ceiling. “Or is it the bamboo ceiling,” he asked in levity.

He commended The Filipino Channel, the international unit of ABS-CBN, for recognizing the shifting Filipino American demographics where second-generation FilAms are now equal in number to first-generation immigrants.

“We have a very young FilAm population,” he said, “and TFC recognizes that (change).”

With Consul General Mario de Leon Jr., his wife Eleanor de Leon, United Mindoro International President Juliet Payabyab (all seated) and members of the Fil-Am Press Club of New York (all standing)