In a letter to Jon Melegrito, Communications Director of NaFFAA, the ABC Senior Vice President of Diversity, Mr. Robert Mendez, agreed to explore a program that might help increase opportunities for Filipinos at ABC. This was in response to my PerryScope article, "Desperate Housewives' Wake Up Call to Filipinos," which Mr. Melegrito forwarded to Mr. Mendez.
In my PerryScope article I proposed a win-win solution to the imbroglio created by the September 30, 2007, episode of "Desperate Housewives" in which a character said, "Okay, before we go any further, can I check those diplomas? Because I would just like to make sure they are not from a med school in the Philippines." Instead of a lawsuit and boycott which have been suggested by many community leaders, I recommended that we should instead be proactive -- not reactive -- and put together an agenda that would give long-term benefits to our community such as jobs, education and other initiatives. I indicated that we should convince ABC to open employment opportunities to Filipino-Americans at all levels -- actors, directors, producers, newscasters, and executives at ABC and its affiliates.
Mr. Mendez's letter said, "You asked about the possibility of exploring a program that might help to increase opportunities for Filipinos at ABC. I am wondering whether you might be interested in helping to organize a meeting in Washington, DC, where my staff and I can meet with Filipinos who are interested in pursuing careers in television and want access to direct information about our many talent development programs. It would be a wonderful opportunity for ABC to deepen the talent pool with candidates from the Filipino community." The complete text of Mr. Mendez's letter can be downloaded below.
Mr. Melegrito sent me an email and said, "ABC listened to the points you raised in your column and here are the results: a) written confirmation that ABC has deleted the ugly scene from the DH Sept. 30 episode, b) a long-term relationship with the FilAm community that will open doors to Filipino Americans and enable them access to positions in ABC as writers, directors, producers, including an internship & training program. We expect implementation of this special outreach program within 3-4 months as a demonstration of ABC's commitment." The complete text of Mr. Melegrito's email is reprinted below.
The name of the game is "win-win" and that's what have been achieved. Both the Filipino community and ABC would benefit from it. It would give Filipinos a presence in one of the major networks in the United States. And the benefits would be long-lasting and irreversible because once Filipino talents are used in ABC programming the other networks would follow.
All the best,
Perry Diaz
Editor, BALITA USA