Pinatubo was not too far away, but the explosions came that afternoon from MTRCB board member and highly respected lawyer and child rights advocate Atty. Eric Mallonga.

Mallonga was tandemed with Mikee Cojuangco Jaworski and they were instant hits among the crowd at the Jose Feliciano College in Mabalacat, Pampanga.

From the moment the statuesque lawyer came onstage, he had firm control of the crowd of teachers, parents and students. He worked the audience with the pizzazz of a savvy professor and the bombast of a convincing politician.

He is, however, neither of the two.

Mallonga comes from a family of educators but he has chosen to fork out into education in the streets and in the niggardly paying NGO circuit. This is a far cry from his London education and United Nations affiliation both of which he prefers to hide in his sleeve like a secret badge of distinction. He is best known for pushing for legislation to protect the child from all forms of abuse, one of which is the unheralded, often ignored crippling effects of media on children. His extended stint at the MTRCB is testament to his knowledge ability about the issues surrounding children.

Mallonga is legal adviser to Bantay Bata and he runs an orphanage where he is both padre de familia and big brother to a dozen disenfranchised kids or erstwhile victims of child abuse. The institution, which stands adjacent to his Marikina home, is his payback to the community. Seeing the kids run to him with glee when he arrives to check, literally wrapping their frail arms around his legs, sends the signal that all is right with this world.

Mincing no words when rallying people to don their vests of authority over media, Mallonga dissects for the audience why this and that program do not deserve respect because they demean rather than edify. Using the school stage as his pulpit, and his booming voice as his clarion, Mallonga
explains in simple yet convincing argumentation why TV users need prudence when using the medium. Listening to him is both engaging and arresting; he is constantly on the same page as Anak TV. Both are champions of the Filipino child.

MIKEE CHARMS

Meanwhile, Mikee was her usual composed self, bewitching the crowd with an off the cuff talk about parenthood, media responsibility and her role both as mother and advocate in the television
scheme of things in her family and the community. She gamely posed for fans and showed no fatigue even when young journalists cornered her for an interview. Her having obliged with nary a trace of indifference endeared her to the young wards of the school that they were soon converts to Mikee’s advocacy for responsible television.

Basic Education principal Chuchie Angeles admitted to us that it was the first time the sprawling school just off the Dau exit was staging a community event of this magnitude. She was herself in pins and needles about last minute preparations. Angeles spared nothing in ensuring that the event was staged to the hilt. There were even honor cadets at the entry, and a handsome repast served in true Pampango fashion, much of it concocted at her own kitchen, we hear.

At this writing, Anak TV is headed for Batangas State University for another symposium.