‘Probe Team’ focuses spotlight on Saipan

Filipinos on Saipan will be in the spotlight beginning this month, as award-winning television program [I]The Probe Team[/I] embarks on a series of episodes featuring life on the island.

Cheche Lazaro, one of the most respected broadcast journalists in the Philippines and founding president of [I]The Probe Team[/I], has been on island with three of her crewmembers since Tuesday to gather stories on Saipan and the local Filipino community.

Some of the people interviewed were businessman Jess Yumul, restaurant owner Julie Cunanan, and an Elvis Presley impersonator providing passenger entertainment in a local cruise ship.

In an interview Thursday night, Lazaro said she hopes to inspire Filipinos by telling stories of their countrymen who have done well in a foreign land.

“I think the point we’re trying to make is that Filipinos really work hard. They work hard to make themselves better. Our objective is to make Filipinos proud of who they are and to show how the Filipino spirit is alive and well,” Lazaro said.

The island itself, with its pristine environment and historical significance, will have its share of the spotlight.

[I]Probe Team[/I] supervising producer Celery Aganon believes that Filipinos can easily relate to Saipan’s experience during the war years, given their historical similarities.

For Lazaro, being able to pursue the war tales from Saipan is like coming full circle; it is a culmination of a story that has been on her mind since she first saw the Marpi war memorials in 1998.

“I was here for one day only. I saw Banzai Cliff, Suicide Cliff. That was about it, as far as my recollection goes. But what stuck to my mind were the war stories,” she said.

On a lighter side, [I]The Probe Team[/I] also sets out to provide the Filipino television audience with a glimpse of Saipan as a shooting location for the immensely popular Asian drama programs, known in the Philippines as telenovelas.

“I like the simplicity and the straightforwardness of the stories here. I also appreciate the fact that, even among the locals that we interviewed, there’s a very heightened awareness about the environment, and preserving heritage and culture. As Filipinos, we have so much to learn from others who preserve their heritage, who preserve their cultural sites, who take care of their environment. It’s really all that you have left in the end,” said Lazaro, who will head back to the Philippines today.

[I]The Probe Team[/I]’s episodes on Saipan are expected to air on ABS-CBN and The Filipino Channel on a staggered basis, beginning later this December.
[I] The Probe Team[/I] is the first investigative newsmagazine for television in the Philippines that has won local, as well as international, recognition.

According to [I]The Probe Team[/I]’s website, Lazaro’s awards include the Ikawalong Gawad CCP (1995); KBP Best Female Public Affairs Host (for I-Witness in 2001, The Probe Team 1993, and Cheche Lazaro Presents in 2001); Star Awards’ Best News Magazine Show Host by the Star Awards (1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001); KBP Golden Dove Awards’ Ka Doroy Broadcaster of the Year (1997); the University of the Philippines’ Alumni Association Professional Awards in Mass Communication (1991); Girl Scout of the Philippines’s Golden Jubilee Citation in Broadcast Media (1990); the Rotary Club of Manila’s TV Journalist of the Year (1988); and one of Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) for Broadcast Journalism (1988).

Lazaro was a recipient of the Ninoy Aquino Fellowship for Professional Development given by the U.S. government (1994) and the Barsam Visiting Fellow of Trinity College (1994). She was chosen by the provincial government of Bulacan as the 2003 Dangal ng Lipi Awardee para sa Sining at Kultura and the Heritage Foundation’s 1997 Most Outstanding Daughter of Malolos.

Lazaro’s report on the Filipina comfort women was chosen Silver World Medalist in the 2001 New York Film Festival (television documentary and information program on social issues/current events category). [I]The Probe Team[/I] had also been previously awarded the bronze medal (1992) and named finalist for best documentary (1999).

Lazaro graduated from the University of the Philippines with a bachelor’s degree in speech and drama. She obtained her master’s degree in radio-television at the University of Michigan and master’s degree in children’s theater at the University of Washington.