The Show That Inspires Filipinos

A show about giving back to the community

I never would have thought that we would have gone this far.  From our humble beginnings in 2011, our hardworking and dedicated production team had continuously worked tirelessly to find inspiring kababayans and bring their stories to you.  I am very thankful that despite the many challenges we had continued to face, we are still able to survive and complete the 13 episodes for this latest season.

 For Season 3, which premieres on October 13 and runs for 13 weeks on GMA Pinoy TV, we are fortunate  to have been given the opportunity to interview another batch of inspiring stories of   Filipinos from different industries and walks of life.

Some of the successful Pinoys we interviewed in the entertainment, media, and creative industry include:

• Stand-up comic Rex Navarrete (based in Seattle, WA) talking about breaking the glass ceiling
• Veteran Philippine TV and Stage actor Bernardo Bernardowho now resides in LA and has been very active with community project;
• Freska Griarte (Daly City, CA), Bay Area FM Radio personality, talks about her fight with breast cancer
• Tony Cabrera, host of ABC’s “On the Red Carpet”
• Choreographer and business owners Johnny Veloso (Union City, CA) and Francisco Gella (Chino Hills, CA)
• Fashion Designer and KTLA Fashion Correspondent Alexis Monsanto (Beverly Hills, CA)
• Francisco Tanseco, a former UK resident, talks about  his activitism and the love of art
• Whilce Portacio, of San Diego, CA, is a comic book writer and artist whose notable works include X-Men, Iron Man, The Punisher
• Rhoda Lopez, a multi-awarded stage actress from Perth, Western Australia
• Ben Pimentel, notable San Francisco-based journalist and writer

We’ve also interviewed Filipinos who are successful as entrepreneurs and business professionals. These include:

• Cora Tellez (Oakland, CA) , CEO of Sterling HSA
• Husband and wife entpreneurs, Art & Yolly Pamintuan (Cerritos, CA), who started their laboratory business and expanded to restaurant and home care facilities
• Barry Picazo, Bay Area’s popular restaurateur
• Winston Damarillo (Manhattan Beach, CA), serial entrepreneur who had created several technology companies

• Catherine Peterson (Los Altos, CA), current president of Phildev and a successful corporate executive who worked her way up in several Fortune 500 companies
• Exequiel Robles, the down-to-earth founder and owner of Sta Lucia Realty, one of the Philippine’s biggest real estage company; currently based in Manila
• Rey Banatao (Santa Monica, CA), CEO of Entropy Resins, talks about the importance of Science and Technology; as a side-story we have a short feature on the Banatao Scholarship Program which  helps Filipino students pursue courses in Science and Technology

We also have some special episodes we are bringing to you such as our interview in Manila with Jonathan Yabut, winner of the popular TV Show “Apprentice Asia”  ; a talk with some FIl-Ams who are currently playing in the UAAP tournament giving their advice to those aspiring to play basketball in the Philippines.

Finally,  we had produced for you what I believe to be one of the most impactful stories and that is  about the Million People March in Manila which happened in August 2013 in Luneta. This protest was attended by several hundreds of thousands of Filipinos, rallying agains the Pork Barrel scam which involved key political figures in the Philippines. Power ng Pinoy is proud to have been instrumental in making this protest happen and we will tell you how it happened.

My hope is that we will be able to sustain our show to help our community by bringing stories of  Filipinos and their journey; people who continue to dream and never stopped dreaming. Our show is not just a show, it is an advocacy. That is why we also continue to be involved in various community events to promote the Philippine culture, provide opportunities for upcoming artists, connect people through media, and become a venue by which people can give back to the community.

The Power ng Pinoy Show airs every Sunday at 7pm starting October 13 on GMA Pinoy TV and can be seen within US and Canada as well as other parts of the world; it also re-airs in Crossings TV which can be seen in San Francisco, Seattle, Fresno, Sacramento, New York/New Jersey, Chicago, and coming soon in LA. It is a production of Prowave Media, LLC, a 100% Pinoy-owned Media production company which was founded by yours truly in 2007.   As evidence of our great work, the Power ng Pinoy show had received multiple awards from Telly Awards, Hermes Awards, and Plaridel Awards for technical and creative excellence.

 To all the supporters of our show (including Manila Mail which provides us space for this regular column), thank you very much and we dedicate all these efforts to you our fellow kababayans. Mabuhay ang Pilipino, ‘Yan ang Power ng Pinoy!

(The author is the Executive Producer of the Power ng Pinoy Show and Founder of Prowave Media,LLC. You can contact him at arnold.pedrigal@gmail.com. Please visit the Power ng Pinoy page at www.powerngpinoy.tv or like at facebook.com/powerngpinoy)

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