This Facebook page has rare footages of Regine Velasquez, ‘80s PBA, and vintage T.V. commercials

The collection of Jojo Bailon, the administrator of the Facebook page View on the 3rd, includes a wide range of materials, from the arrival of Pope John Paul II to the trailer of the comedy film 'Bagets 2.' Photo by JL JAVIER

In the ‘90s, a boy was part of a commercial by the Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corporation (PAGCOR) that was taped in a public elementary school in Cavite. The boy died due to dengue a couple of years after the commercial aired.

The boy’s family had been searching for a copy of the PAGCOR footage for years. The brother of this boy came across View on the 3rd, a Facebook page that shares old and new T.V. show clips, commercials, photographs, CDs, laser discs, and VHS tapes, featuring foreign and local celebrities and personalities, among many others. The brother then asked Jojo Bailon, the administrator of the page, if he had stumbled upon the PAGCOR video.

Bailon says that he told them he’ll try his best but could not guarantee to find it among the stacks of tapes that he has. “Eksacto mismo, ‘yun ang unang lumabas,” he says, recalling that he randomly selected a tape, played it, and luckily got it on the first try. He told the family, that the mom of the boy started crying, and Bailon says this was one of the more memorable engagements he’s had since starting the page.

Where it all started

Bailon attributes his collection back to his grandfather’s affinity for music. He says his grandfather grew up a poor man but eventually made his fortune by traveling from Laguna to Bicol and vice versa to trade goods.

“Yumaman [ang] lolo [ko] so he built a big house. We still have that house. It's over a hundred years old na in Laguna, in Cabuyao,” he shares. “What he did was he bought one band. In Laguna kasi, it's called musikero.”

Jojo Bailon, a timepieces specialist at Salcedo Auctions, is the administrator of View on the 3rd, a Facebook page that shares old and new T.V. show clips, commercials, photographs, CDs, laser discs, and VHS tapes, featuring foreign and local celebrities and personalities, among many others. Photo by JL JAVIER 

His lolo didn’t go to church, but instead, would look at the sky, meditate, and have the band play him songs every Sunday. His dad would also accompany his lolo to travel all the way to Manila to watch an opera at the Manila Metropolitan Theatre. Eventually, his dad allowed a music room in their house in Manila, and this fondness for music and performances was naturally passed on to the young Bailon.

He shares that, while growing up, his bonding time with his dad would typically be in their music room, which was filled with expensive equipment — from amplifiers to turntables. “He taught me how to listen to music,” Bailon says.

When the Betamax was first available to the market in the ‘70s, his dad was in on the trend right away. They also had equipment that boosted the signal to have better quality videos. Some of the recordings his dad ranged from the premiere of the noontime variety show “Eat... Bulaga!” on July 30, 1979, the arrival of Pope John Paul II in 1981, the assassination of former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. to the movie trailer of 1985 comedy film “Bagets 2.”

“He's a very busy man eh,” says Bailon of his dad. “He would record shows kasi you can put the timer eh and then he will watch them Saturday night and then the whole of Sunday the shows that he missed that's why we have those tapes.

Jojo Bailon's collection of the Eraserheads CDs. Among the bunch, he says that "Maskara" is the rarest find as it is not commercially available. Photo by JL JAVIER

From Betamax to social media

When Bailon started working, he also picked up the habit of recording shows he liked; his favorite being “Ryan Ryan Musikahan,” a late-night musical show led by musician and composer Ryan Cayabyab that aired weekly from 1988 to 1995 on ABS-CBN. He continued to record and collect for his own pleasure.

(However, it also includes the recordings such as the Weekly Family Appointment with El Shaddai from 1992 to 2020, GMA's papal visit coverage "The Pope in Manila" in 1995 and "Ang People's Pope sa Pilipinas" in 2015, EWTN's "The International Rosary" in 1986 and "The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy" in 1996 shot at the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception at Eden Hill, also another version produced by Apostolate of Family Consecration with Jim Cowan and Vinny and Erin Flynn, the 2007 Nakhon Ratchasima Southeast Asian Games coverage "A Time for Heroes" on NBN (now PTV), Bench "Uncut: A Bolder Look at the Future" denim and underwear show last July 2, 2010 at the Araneta Coliseum and 25th anniversary denim and underwear show "Bench Universe" last September 13 and 14, 2012 at the Mall of Asia Arena, the best of Enchong Dee including "My Girl," Your Song presents: "My Only Hope" and "Boystown," "Katorse," "Tanging Yaman," "Magkaribal," "Maria La del Barrio, "Ina, Kapatid, Anak," "Muling Buksan ang Puso" and "A Love to Last.")

To recall, Mr. Dee's projects were recorded in VHS format using Sony 6-Head Hi-Fi AV Stereo.

 

 

 

 

By this time, Bailon wants to see El Shaddai leader Bro. Mike Z. Velarde, because he told me "I saw him on TV during the playback."

Bro. Mike Z. Velarde, servant-leader of El Shaddai DWXI-PPFI would deliver the healing message during the Tuesday and Saturday family appointment with El Shaddai.

Vinny and Erin Flynn, the father and daughter tandem along with Jim Cowan singing the AFC version of the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

The most recent was the display of the old PLDT-DPC Metro Manila telephone directory in an Ikea bookcase when the official flagship telephone directory was first published in 1958 (combined volume era) to the present (1977-1983, 1995 and 2014-present triple-volume era, 1984-1994 double-volume era and 1996-2013 four-volume era), it arranged by decade and year. From 1995 to 2013, the yellow pages separated two books known as "Household & Business" and "Commercial & Industrial", and since 1996 the white pages have been separated into two books known as "Government & Business Listings" and "Residential Listings". It will preserve the cover and pages of their telephone books, and it cannot be burned.

 

 

 

 

His dad passed away in 2004, and his mom told him to get his dad’s collection just a few years ago. With his and his dad’s massive collection combined in one place, he felt he needed a place to dump all the photos and video files that they’ve accumulated over the years.

Three years ago, he took to Facebook to use it as a sort of cloud storage, just so when family and friends ask him about a particular video file, he could digitize the tape by putting it inside a DVD recorder, burning it into a DVD, insert it in his computer, converting it to MP4, uploading to Facebook, and sending the Facebook link to his family or friends.

Bailon also inherited most of his dad's music and video equipment, which he still uses up to this day. He also still needs some of the equipment, such as the DVD recorder, to digitize the tapes. Photo by JL JAVIER

However, a complete stranger liked the page.

“Sabi ko shit, nahanap,” he recalls. “Sabi ko, ‘Can you please not share it?’ Sabi niya, ‘Why?’ Sabi ko, ‘It's only a place where I want to put my … it's like a cloud or something diba? Eh siguro hindi niya natiis, shinare niya.”

The page started to get a steady stream of followers since then. Now, it has over 11,000 followers, and one of the videos (“Rated K” episode featuring Erich Gonzales who had just won “Star Circle Quest” in 2005 at the time of airing) reached more than 1.5 million views. This, he says, was an exception since most of the videos that would gain a lot of views and engagement would be either a station ID, a commercial, an El Shaddai gathering, anything Regine Velasquez, or a PBA game of the past (as in circa Atoy Co and Alvin Patrimonio).

“I don't digitize everything,” he clarifies. “I still have the tape kasi for me, the tape is still the best storage media. Can you imagine? Forty years and it's still working.”