First of all, I want to congratulate Katherine Ann Corteza of Itaewon Global Center for being chosen as the Bayaning Pilipino Awardee for South Korea. I have only met her on a few occasions but I have a positive impression of the lady. I nominated Ms. Gennie Kim of Multicultural Broadcasting for the same awards and she was chosen as one of the finalists. As her nominator, I hoped that she would be chosen.
When I learned of the results last July 5th, I partly blamed myself that I might not have done enough to show how much she deserves the recognition. From what I know, I was the only one among the nominators who wasn’t interviewed when the representative from Ugat Foundation was here. I just had to express my disappointment on my Facebook wall. I learned that night that Katherine Ann Corteza won and I sent her a private message of congratulations. And then I didn’t think about the awards again.
Fast forward to the evening of August 7th, my nominee Gennie Kim started receiving congratulatory messages from her friends in the Philippines. They told her that she was on TV Patrol as one of the winners of the Bayaning Pilipino Awards. Perplexed, she watched the news broadcast on TFC.TV (That’s also where I watch ABS-CBN shows). At around 3am, she sent a short clip of the news broadcast and what I saw shook me. And then I laughed at the blooper.
It took me a whole day to realize that this is not a simple blooper. In the news broadcast, the video presentation for Gennie Kim was shown and it also showed Katherine Ann Corteza receiving her award. She was referred to as a “counselor” who translated Korean laws for OFWs. It is a short clip but it showed some irregularity.
I was not at the awards night so I wouldn’t know if the same video was shown during that time. It looked like it was, then I wonder if the organizers corrected it. It raises a few questions: Was there a mix-up? When did it happen? Why would they say that Katherine Ann Corteza is a counselor when she is, in fact, THE director of the Itaewon Global Center? Who made the error?
Here are screenshots of the video clip shown on ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol.
In the video, Gennie Kim is shown at her Sunday volunteer work at the Korea Port Training Institute in Incheon. She is seen checking attendance and talking to the EPS workers participating in the program. The last screen capture shows Katherine Ann Corteza receiving her award.
Last June 5th, representatives of the Ugat Foundation and ABS-CBN were in Korea to award the finalists of Bayaning Pilipino Korea. Star Magic talent Jessy Mendiola hosted the affair while “Tawag ng Tanghalan” champion Noven Belleza entertained the audience. I was at the event since I nominated Gennie Kim and I saw all the video presentations for all the finalists. I honestly thought that every one of them deserves to win.
After watching the clip of last Monday’s TV Patrol, I wonder why they were not as careful with their news as they should have been. Others who saw the video suggested that there might have been a deliberate mix-up. I wouldn’t know but I feel bad for both Gennie Kim and Katherine Ann Corteza as it is embarrassing both ways. (Gennie said she felt shy when she was receiving all the congratulatory messages when she didn’t win. I could only imagine how Katherine felt seeing the video of Gennie instead of hers on the screen.) The Bayaning Pilipino Awards wasn’t as diligent as they should have in their presentation and it has brought a bit of confusion and doubt at their credibility. TV Patrol and the Bayaning Pilipino Awards need to rectify this, no matter how small it may seem to some, if they claim to be in the service of truth.
Some may accuse me of being a bitter loser ~ but I just really can’t keep quiet when I see something is amiss. To present Gennie Kim’s video for Katherine Ann Corteza is simply wrong.