Video: Wowowee for Filipino Soldiers

Wowowee is currently still in a mess about the "scam controversy" however, in a good move by the Wowowee and ABS-CBN staff, our brave and ill-treated soldiers are given a time of day in a popular show. The family of the slain soldiers in Basilan were also present. These videos are incomplete, but an Inquirer article found below tells the story what happened in the show with our heroes, and yes it was a touching episode and in the middle of it, Willie asked Joey De Leon for forgiveness. Peace! Kababayans, mabuhay tayong lahat! Please include our Soldiers and Muslim brothers in your prayers.

More inside.Thanks to roadbursting for this video.

tanjoseph2003 thank you.
And here's an article by Inquirer about the special episode.
BATTLE-HARDENED SOLDIERS WERE reduced to tears Saturday on national television after the popular “Wowowee” show of ABS-CBN staged an emotional tribute for their comrades who were killed in Sulu and Basilan.

Around 400 soldiers were invited to Saturday’s show and participated in the games, according to Armed Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro.

But he said over 500 soldiers from the Army, Air Force, Marines, and Navy came along. Also invited were families of Marine soldiers who were slain in an ambush in Basilan last July 10, where 14 soldiers died, 10 of them beheaded. The family members brought along pictures of their fallen loved ones.

“Before the show, I told them we will just have fun and enjoy ourselves,” Bacarro said.

But the show turned emotional when producers showed video images of soldiers in battle.

The show became touching when Revillame called on stage a mother, later identified as Susanita Eleazar, whose son Arjorin was killed in Basilan.

Inteviewed by Revillame, Susanita recounted that she last talked to her son before he was deployed to Basilan. She said she never really said goodbye to Anjorin, who would have turned 25 years old on Oct. 1, and asked Revillame if she could do that through a song on the show.

She sang her own adaptation of Eva Eugenio’s “Ano Ang Gagawin Kapag Wala Ka Na” dedicating it to her son and also as her personal tribute to the soldiers.

Eleazar’s rendition reduced to tears the soldiers and their families who were in the studio.

“The soldiers started crying, the staff of the show started crying. Even Willie cried. I didn’t want to look at my seatmates because I was afraid the tears would come down,” Bacarro said. Nonetheless, he was caught on camera wiping away some tears.

“Walang matibay dun. (No one was tough enough for that.) We all had a heavy feeling,” said Maj. Demy Zagala, the military’s deputy spokesperson who came with Bacarro.

Zagala said the show reminded him of his days in combat. “When you are out there, you don’t really grasp what your relatives feel when you die in the trenches. But today I saw how the relatives react when soldiers die.”

Visibly touched by Eleazar’s song, Revillame also used the occasion to reach out to Joey de Leon, host of rival “Eat Bulaga” and who had engaged Revillame in a recent word war. He sang the song, replacing the lyrics with his own words for De Leon.

“Magbati na tayo aking kaibigan/
Pasensya ka na, nadala ng emosyon/
ikaw pa rin inspirasyon/ ikaw ang tunay na institusyon/Eat Bulaga ang tunay na number one,” went Revillame’s song.

Later, Revillame sang his own tribute to soldiers with a song composed by Vehnee Saturno that spoke of love and unity while images of soldiers in battle flashed on the screen.

Again, tears flowed.

“I can empathize with the families. I had soldiers under my command die and it is hard to tell their families. Then as now, I feel their load and their pain,” Bacarro said later.
Alcuin Papa
Inquirer