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'Sine'skwela' cast show support for ABS-CBN franchise after online reunion

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Anjo Bagaoisan, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/news/07/09/1.jpg"/><figcaption>&#x27;S.S. Sine&#x27;skwela&#x27; cast members (with Christine Babao&#x27;s hubby Julius) gesture with the show&#x27;s sign for &#x27;Siyensiya&#x27; or science at the end of their online reunion. <em>Courtesy of Icko Gonzalez&#x27;s Facebook</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA - More than 2 decades since headlining one of the most influential Filipino children&#x27;s TV shows in the 1990s, Bok, Anatom, Agatom, Palikpik, and Ugat-Puno looked back at their roots in &quot;Sine&#x27;skwela&quot; and agreed its legacy of teaching never left them through the years. </p><p>While the ABS-CBN educational show has hosted mainstays like Jon Santos, Winnie Cordero, and Giselle Sanchez, the &quot;S.S. Sine&#x27;skwela&quot; crew became the most identified with the show for millennials who grew up watching it.</p><p>It was a very visual association: homegrown costumes and names plus the namesake spaceship which could explore both biological and heavenly bodies.</p><p>Christine Bersola-Babao, who played Anatom, called their group the original &quot;Guardians of the Galaxy&quot; that powered local kids&#x27; imaginations long before the hit Marvel movie. </p><p>But at &quot;Sine&#x27;skwela&#x27;s&quot; core, she recalled, was the desire to make science and technology exciting for its young viewers. </p><div><strong>TRULY FOR KIDS</strong></div><p>Bersola-Babao and four of her co-stars caught up with each other and reminisced about their days on set at a reunion via Zoom streamed live on Facebook in late June. </p><p>With her were Brenan Espartinez, who played Anatom&#x27;s sidekick Agatom; Sheena Ramos, a.k.a. Palikpik; Roobak Valle, a.k.a. Ugat-Puno; and Icko Gonzalez, who played Kuya Bok. </p><p>Their fello cast member Maan Munsayac, a.k.a. Kulitsap, could not join the online reunion because of her work as a nurse in the United States. </p><p>Gonzalez later posted a before-and-now collage of the cast with the hashtag #VoteYesToABSCBN to express support for the embattled network&#x27;s franchise bid. </p><p>In the post, he thanked ABS-CBN for pushing educational television or ETV. </p><p>&quot;One of the best things that happened to our generation, the new gen, and Philippine TV... ETV! Ito ay dahil sa (This was because of) ABS-CBN!&quot; wrote Gonzalez. </p><div><script src="https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v2.5" async="" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/213176142045068/posts/3834017403294239/?sfnsn=mo" data-width="auto"> </div><p>Bersola-Babao, an original &quot;Sine&#x27;skwela&quot; cast member, shared how the late ABS-CBN Foundation chairman Gina Lopez recruited her to join the show. </p><p>&quot;(Sabi niya) masyadong mababa ang grades and performance ng mga kabataan sa Pilipinas pagdating sa science and math. So lagi tayong tail end, laging bagsak,&quot; she said. </p><p>&quot;Dahil mahilig manood ng TV ang mga tao, kailangan ng isang show na maeengganyo silang manood na pambata talaga para tumaas at mag-improve ang grading ng mga kabataan at magkaroon ng love for science. Sabi ko &#x27;Wow ma&#x27;am, I&#x27;m in, susuportahan ko kayo.&#x27;&quot;</p><p>(She said the grades and performance of Filipino children in science and math were very poor. We were always at the tail-end and failing.</p><p>Since people loved to watch TV, she said we needed an engaging show truly for kids that would help improve their grading and nurture in them a love for science. I said &#x27;Wow, ma&#x27;am, I&#x27;m in, I will support you&#x27;.)</p><div><strong>WHERE THEY ARE NOW</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b0oEq90KGfU?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>Bersola-Babao appeared first as a human character before assuming the role of &quot;Anatom&quot;. </p><p>Later becoming a TV morning show and radio host, she ventured into writing children&#x27;s books and handling a financial literacy online program with Chinkee Tan. </p><p>Plus, as a mother, Bersola-Babao home schools her children Antonia (Anya) and Antonio (Nio). </p><p>&quot;The teacher in me never left. I&#x27;m very fortunate and thankful (to) Ma&#x27;am Gina. She saw the teacher in me that&#x27;s why she invited me to be one of the cast of &#x27;Sine&#x27;skwela&#x27; and (we carried that over) and carry on in our lives,&quot; she said. </p><p>Icko Gonzalez is still also at it imparting lessons to children as a director-producer at CBN Asia, where he hosted the kids&#x27; show &quot;Oyayi&quot; that aired on ABS-CBN. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/10/17/16/abs-cbn-to-launch-new-educational-show-oyayi">ABS-CBN to launch new educational show &#x27;Oyayi&#x27;</a></li></ul><p>He also taught theater locally, became a teacher abroad for more than a decade, and now volunteers at kids church in Victory Makati. </p><p>&quot;&#x27;Di na yata matatanggal sa aking pagkatao ang children&#x27;s content (I guess children&#x27;s content will never be separated from who I am),&quot; Gonzalez said. </p><p>&quot;And I&#x27;m grateful to Gina Lopez for instilling the value of really putting premium in taking care of the next generation.&quot; </p><div><strong>LIFELONG LESSONS</strong></div><p>Roobak Valle, already a theater artist before being cast as tree-man &quot;Ugat-Puno&quot; (or as Bersola-Babao dubbed him, the original &quot;Groot&quot;), put his stage experience to good use in the role. </p><p>When guests found it difficult to deliver scientific names and technical terms, the lines were given to him. </p><p>But it soon went counter to the writers&#x27; initial design for him as an curious character. </p><p>&quot;On the spot me-memorize-in ko rin yun. Tapos eventually sabi ko, &#x27;Teka muna, ang tali-talino ko na,&#x27; di ba dapat tatanga-tanga ako dito?&#x27; So nagbago na character ko noong tumagal na,&quot; he recalled. </p><p>(I would memorize the lines on the spot. Later on, I realized, &#x27;I was already becoming smart, wasn&#x27;t my character originally not? So it changed as the show went on.)</p><p>For a short period, Ugat-Puno was also played by Herbie Go and Ding Lucina.</p><p>After &quot;Sine&#x27;skwela&quot;, Valle taught at children&#x27;s theater workshops and now directs both stage productions and events. </p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/news/07/09/2.jpg"/><figcaption>The &quot;S.S. Sine&#x27;skwela&quot; cast in their costumes. <em>Courtesy of ABS-CBN Foundation</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Younger cast members Sheena Ramos and Brenan Espartinez, meanwhile, recalled their difficulty remembering lines and trying to balance the show with their studies. </p><p>&quot;Parang Grade 2, Grade 3 lang kami noon, nag me-memorize kami ng (pang) Grade 6 or Grade 5. Hindi namin naiintindihan yun. Ang haba talaga, sobrang hirap for us. Tapos ganyan kakapal ang script,&quot; Ramos said. </p><p>(We were only Grade 2 or 3 then, but we were memorizing concepts for Grades 5 or 6. We couldn&#x27;t understand them. It was long and difficult for us. Plus, the scripts were thick.)</p><p>And yet the two kept a foot in media later on. </p><p>Ramos became a registered nurse and then worked for the digital arm of TV5. She is now a digital marketer yet continues to act in commercials, films, and web series. </p><p>Espartinez, whose singing voice graced &quot;Sine&#x27;skwela&quot; and other ABS-CBN educational shows like &quot;Bayani&quot;, pursued a music career. </p><p>He did vocal coaching, backup singing, and is now part of a band named Subprojekt. </p><p>He also streams a video game vlog named after his character &quot;Agatom&quot;. </p><p>The &quot;Sine&#x27;skwela&quot; reunion came after the show began re-airing on ABS-CBN Channel 2 and later on the Kapamilya Channel. </p><p>The show has also been cited as a resource in the push for blended media-assisted learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/life/03/27/20/sineskwela-bayani-hiraya-manawari-return-to-abs-cbn">&#x27;Sineskwela,&#x27; &#x27;Bayani,&#x27; &#x27;Hiraya Manawari&#x27; return to ABS-CBN</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/06/12/20/guide-everything-airing-on-kapamilya-channel-starting-june-13">Guide: Everything airing on Kapamilya Channel starting June 13</a></li></ul><p>In an earlier nostalgic throwback to the show during the quarantine, composer Ryan Cayabyab performed the &quot;Sine&#x27;skwela&quot; theme song at an online concert. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/03/20/20/watch-feel-good-nostalgia-as-ryan-cayabyab-performs-sineskwela-theme-song-in-fb-concert-series">WATCH: Feel-good nostalgia as Ryan Cayabyab performs &#x27;Sineskwela&#x27; theme song in FB concert series</a></li></ul><p>The reunion also featured select &quot;Batang &#x27;90s&quot; who grew up with the show and shared how it influenced their career choices. </p><p>The cast said they are planning a follow-up to their so-called &quot;Zoom&#x27;skwela&quot; that would invite other former &quot;Sine&#x27;skwela&quot; cast members. </p><p>They added they were open to reprising their roles or joining a children&#x27;s show again. #</p><p>Watch the full video of the &quot;S.S. Sine&#x27;skwela&quot; cast reunion below:</p><div><script src="https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v2.5" async="" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=580782075959519&amp;id=213176142045068" data-width="auto"> </div>

<p>More than 2 decades since headlining one of the most influential Filipino children's TV shows in the 1990s, Bok, Anatom, Agatom, Palikpik, and Ugat-Puno looked back at their roots in "Sine'skwela" and agreed its legacy of teaching never left them through the years. </p>

More than 2 decades since headlining one of the most influential Filipino children's TV shows in the 1990s, Bok, Anatom, Agatom, Palikpik, and Ugat-Puno looked back at their roots in "Sine'skwela" and agreed its legacy of teaching never left them through the years.

'Sine'skwela' cast show support for ABS-CBN franchise after online reunion

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'Sine'skwela' cast show support for ABS-CBN franchise after online reunion

Anjo Bagaoisan,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 10, 2020 05:51 AM PHT

Read More:

Sineskwela

Sine'skwela

ABS-CBN

ETV

educational TV

Christine Bersola-Babao

Icko Gonzalez

Brenan Espartinez

Sheena Ramos

Roobak Valle

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