TAPE had promised TVJ shares

Following a detailed revelation on Tuesday on how “Eat Bulaga” producers, TAPE Inc., dishonestly secured the trademark for Philippine TV’s longest-running program, former Senate President Tito Sotto of the iconic comic trio Tito, Vic and Joey disclosed another deception by its owners, the Jalosjos family of politicians.

He recalled how in 1979, the three of them struggled to keep “Eat Bulaga” on air for an entire year in their commitment to bring joy to Filipino families.

“It was only a year later — when Eat Bulaga was already making money — that TAPE, Inc. was organized to produce the show,” Tito Sen. began.

TVJ Productions Inc. is now an official co-owner of ‘Eat Bulaga’ together with TV5 and MediaQuest. 

“When we asked them, how about the entire year we worked for without a salary? It was only fair to ask that since it was all our effort from the start that made ‘Eat Bulaga’ what it was by then. You know what they told us” They said, ‘Ah, don’t worry about it, we’ll just give you share in TAPE, Inc.”

Of course, as everyone knows by now, no such shares were officially appointed to the show’s creators, and only now, almost 45 years later, that TVJ painfully discovered it was all a lie.

“Our word was our word, and we left everything else [in the business side of the show] with them,” he said, rounding up. “But now, with Media Quest, TV5 and the MVP Group of Companies, we will be more hands-on with the program. Because no matter what they say, TVJ is ‘Eat Bulaga’ and ‘Eat Bulaga’ is TVJ.”

The decades-long deception and the souring of relationships between TVJ and the Jalosjoses all came to a shocking crescendo on May 30 when TVJ was barred from appearing on “Eat Bulaga” without earlier notice. Earlier in the year, Tuviera was forced to retire from the company, and the Jalosjoses began making changes to the show, which didn’t fall well with pioneer creators.

Lesson learned, the showbiz veterans finally decided to put up their own production company, TVJ Productions Inc., which is now an official co-owner of the program together with TV5 and MediaQuest. Therefore, the talents are co-owners of the phenomenon they built after over four decades.

Meanwhile, contrary to the buzz earlier Tuesday, suggesting that TV5 “bumped off” “It’s Showtime” with the return of TVJ and the Legitimate Dabarkds beginning July 1, TV5 President Guido Zaballero clarified that the ABS-CBN noontime show was not deliberately displaced because its block-timer contract is actually expiring on June 30.

Zaballero delivered his statement in the same media conference where Manuel Pangilinan — chairman of the MVP Group of Companies and principal of TV5 and Media Quest Inc. — announced the network’s official welcome for TVJ to the “Kapatid Family.”

“By coincidence, their contract as a block timer with us is already ending, and we respect the decision they made to go with GTV,” Zaballero added. GTV is GMA Network’s second free TV channel.

He further clarified, “ABS-CBN continues to be our content partner, specifically on our prime time block.”

TV5 has been carrying multiple ABS-CBN shows since the latter lost its free-to-air franchise for some time now.

MVP, for his part, said that while the displacement of “It’s Showtime” was not deliberate, he believes serendipity played a role in the timing of the program’s end of contract with TVJ’s situation.

“This is a consequential event for TV5, and we are really grateful to [TVJ] for now being part of the Kapatid family. We look forward to a long partnership… with this iconic phenomenon that deserves a home simply because it is loved by Filipinos,” the business magnate stated.