What the Government Can Learn from Eat Bulaga’s Success

33 years, 3 tv networks, dozens of awards, 2 records in Philippine TV (longest running noontime show and first tv show to be franchised by another country – Eat Bulaga Indonesia), millions of entertained viewers daily, that’s Eat Bulaga for you.

From its humble beginnings, nobody expected not even the TVJ trio that they would come this far. They started out as mere nobodies and clashing head on with the then popular noontime show, the defunct “StudentCanteen”, it’s quite unbelievable how Eat Bulaga becomes the iconic show that it is today. You are not a Filipino if you haven’t watched Eat Bulaga.

Will buy this one as an advance Christmas gift to self :)

There’s not much secret to their success. Their hard work, creativity and adaptability are being shown on national tv 6 times a week all year long. It’s not actually what they do but how they execute their show that makes it rise above the rest.

And with this rich and long history of Eat Bulaga, there’s just much knowledge and lessons for everyone to learn. Even our government, if they’ll observe closely how Eat Bulaga conduct their show, if they apply some of them to their processes then success will also be within reach.

1.  The genuine concern they are showing to the viewers and being in touch with realities in life is one of the unique characters Eat Bulaga has been showing in the past decades. They always reach out to people to get the feel of what they really need and want. While doing it, we’ll never see them exploit their situation. Whenever a contestant tries to gain the pity of the viewers by sharing their “sad stories” and personal drama, EB brushes it off by doing something comical, gives the prizes and encourages them to work harder/finish their studies/start a business with the prize they received. Unlike with most politicians and other tv shows where photo ops with the poverty stricken masses while portraying their “concern” as part of their publicity is the usual thing.

2.  We can also see diversity in EB contests. They have segments for males (Mr. Pogi), Females (She’s got the look) and in betweens (Super Sireyna). Even for kids (That’s my boy and Little Ms. Philippines), extra sized ladies (Feeling Sexy) and for the not-so-good looking but very confident males (Feeling Pogi), Eat Bulaga also have them. They give everyone their chances but maintaining the balance that nobody can have everything . They do not discriminate whether you belong to the poorest of the poor, within the middle working class or even if you’re from a well off background. Eat Bulaga gives everyong the chance to win. We all deserve to win free-money right? This should be the mindset of the government with their legislations of bills. Just like the saying “The law must apply to all, otherwise none at all”.

Trivia regarding the "EAT BULAGA" title from the Henyo

3.  One specific idea that I like is with the “Bossing Savings”. This is a part of the “All for Juan, Juan for All” segment where Jose, Wally and Paolo give the winner a savings account. The amount is not disclosed to the viewers. They instruct the winner how to withdraw and that they should also try to save money with it. And at the end of the year and they were able to save and grow the money with their account, Eat Bulaga will give them an additional gift. This should be how the CCT or Conditional Cash Transfer program of the Aquino Admin be done. They should not just dole out cash to the needy but monitor and encourage them to grow this fund. They can provide further incentives (maybe a free government service or tax exemption) to those who made a living from the funds they receive thru CCT.

4.  Another important attribute we can observe is that the hosts act naturally. Especially the trio; Tito, Vic and Joey who never wear make ups in the show ever since, are always very candid in their hosting. They speak out their minds and they are very strict on game rules. And that kind of character commands respect. Hope our government does the same.

Though, Eat Bulaga is not perfect. They have their share of embarrassing moments, blunders and errors. And they were honest enough to accept all of these and then act on it rather than blaming others. There were host suspensions, public apologies, etc. But behind all these mistakes, the people are still behind them. And if only we have government acting like this, I just can’t imagine how the majority of the people cannot support it at all.