''Batibot'' is a

Philippine television Television in the Philippines was introduced in October 1953 upon the first commercial broadcast made by Alto Broadcasting System (now ABS-CBN), making the Philippines the first Southeast Asian country and the second in Asia to do so. Even b ...

educational show produced by the Philippine Children's Television Foundation (PCTF). It debuted in 1984 as the replacement of ''Sesame'', a co-production of PCTV and the

Children's Television Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...

(CTW) from 1983 to 1984.

History

''Sesame'' (1983-1984)

The precursor of ''Batibot'' was ''Sesame'', intended as the Filipino version of the American children's show, ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) and ...

'', which educates preschoolers through dance, song, and role-play educational skills through them. ''Sesame'' was a co-production of the Philippine Children's Television Foundation (PCTF) and the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) with support from the Philippine government. ''Sesame'' aired in 1983 as a bilingual (Filipino and English) program. The series featured two

Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses tele ...

-style characters Pong Pagong and Kiko Matsing. Both characters were inspired from a Filipino

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mor ...

, "

The Monkey and the Turtle The Turtle and the Monkey ( tl, Ang Pagong at ang Matsing or ''Si Pagong at si Matsing'') also known as The Monkey and the Turtle is a Philippine fable. It involves the tortoise outwitting a monkey over a banana tree. The story was popularized by ...

", which was annotated to English by

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered the national h ...

in 1889. Government support ended in 1984 and the co-production arrangement with CTW was cancelled.

''Batibot'' (1985-2002)

PCTF decided to produce its own show titled ''Batibot'' and debuted in February 1985. ''Batibot'' was conceptualized and produced by Feny Delos Angeles-Bautista, a teacher from the Community of Learners Foundation and writer

Rene Villanueva Rene O. Villanueva (September 22, 1954 – December 5, 2007) was a Filipino playwright and author. He is famed for his deep involvement in theater and television and in children's literature, whether it be on television, in books or on stag ...

. Unlike the bilingual (Filipino and English) ''Sesame!'', ''Batibot'' was done entirely in Filipino and featured stories in a Philippine context. An arrangement with CTW was made in order for the characters Pong Pagong and Kiko Matsing to continue their appearance including one human character Kuya Mario. Airing on weekdays with a time slot of 10:30 AM, the series consistently ranked in 1985 among the top 10 daytime shows in the Philippines, outdoing the ratings of ''Sesame!'' and ''

'', which first aired in the country in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and 1 ...

. By February 1989, the producers were experiencing financial constraints which placed uncertainty regarding the future airing of the show. PCTF were in negotiations for an Indonesian version of ''Batibot''; coincidentally, CTW were also in negotiations for an Indonesian version of ''Sesame Street''. Shortly thereafter, CTW informed PCTF of their decision to repossess the characters Pong Pagong and Kiko Matsing. PCTF negotiated with CTW for the continued use of the characters for four more years under a license arrangement. Despite, the extension to use the characters, PCTF decided to phase out their appearances because of the costs. By 1994, the two characters were returned to CTW and were never used again. In 1999, ''Batibot'' was relaunched as ''Batang Batibot'' airing on a Saturday morning timeslot. ''Batibot'' ended its run in 2002.

TV5's ''Batibot'' (2010–2013)

TV5 announced in 2010 that it would revive ''Batibot''. It premiered on November 27, 2010. TV5's version of ''Batibot'' featured a different set of human characters, Ate Maya and Kuya Fidel. Instead of a Monday–Friday broadcast format, the new series was aired on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. The airing of the series lasted until 2013.

Cast and characters

''Batibot'' featured characters portrayed by puppets as well as human characters. Most of the puppets used for the show were locally made. Kiko Matsing and Pong Pagong who were among the main characters of the original ''Batibot'' were owned and crafted by CTW.

''Sesame''

;Human characters *Kuya Mario portrayed by

Junix Inocian Junix Inocian (born Rufino Duran Inocian, Jr.; March 17, 1951 – June 13, 2015) was a Filipino actor and comedian. He starred in various plays, such as '' Miss Saigon'', ''Fiddler on the Roof'', the film version of the Swedish crime novel ''Tatu ...

*Ate Sylvia portrayed by Susan Africa *Luz portrayed by Dessa Quesada *Aling Nena portrayed by Angie Ferro *Mang Lino portrayed by Joe Gruta *Ben portrayed by Tito Quesada ;Puppets * Kiko Matsing performed by Sammy Badon and assisted by Toots Javellana – a monkey * Pong Pagong performed by Deo Noveno – a turtle

''Batibot''

;Human characters *Kuya Mario* portrayed by

*Kuya Bodjie portrayed by

Bodjie Pascua Luisito "Bodjie" Pascua (born March 2, 1955) is a Filipino stage and film & TV actor and former children's television host. He is best known as "Kuya Bodjie" ("Big Brother Bodjie"), the iconic character he portrayed on the children's educational t ...

*Ate Sienna portrayed by Sienna Olaso *Kuya Ching portrayed by Ching Arellano *Kuya Dwight portrayed by Dwight Gaston *Ate Isay portrayed by Isay Alvarez-Seña *Mang Mokyo portrayed by Soliman Cruz *Popoy portrayed by Alvin Froy Alemania *Ate Jojie portrayed by Adriana Agcaoili *Rap Rap portrayed by Rafael Mallanes *Ate Celia portrayed by Sheila Noreen Lopez Gamo *Kuya Mola portrayed by Gerry Sanga ;Puppets *Kiko Matsing* performed by Sammy Badon and assisted by Toots Javellana *Pong Pagong* performed by Deo Noveno *Irma Daldal - very talkative TV field reporter *Koko Kwik-Kwak – a bird character inspired from the

Philippine Eagle The Philippine eagle (''Pithecophaga jefferyi''), also known as the monkey-eating eagle or great Philippine eagle, is a critically endangered species of eagle of the family Accipitridae which is endemic to forests in the Philippines. It has b ...

, based from

Big Bird Big Bird is a The Muppets, Muppet character designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love for the long-running children's television show ''Sesame Street''. An eight-foot two-inch (249 cm) tall bright yellow Anthropomorphism, anthropomo ...

of ''

'' *Manang Bola – a forgetful fortuneteller *Kapitan Basa – a character who has a magic book which he uses to answer questions from children *Sitsiritsit and AlibangBang – a curious duo of space aliens *Ningning and Gingging– characters based from

Ernie Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to: People * Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive * Ernie Adams (disambiguation) * Ernie Afaganis (bor ...

and Bert of ''

'' *Kuya Derms (inspired by

German Moreno German Molina Moreno (; October 4, 1933 – January 8, 2016), also known as Kuya Germs ( or ) and dubbed as "The Master Showman", was a Filipino television host, presenter, actor, comedian, talent manager, producer, writer, and director. Early ...

aka "Kuya Germs") - a TV-host for ''Negoshowbiz'' (parody of ''NegoSiyete'' GMA-7) *Noli de Casio (inspired by

Noli de Castro Manuel Leuterio de Castro Jr. (; born July 6, 1949), professionally known as Noli de Castro, is a Filipino journalist, news anchor and politician who served as the 12th vice president of the Philippines from 2004 until 2010, under President ...

) - a News anchor for ''Magandang Araw Bayan'' (parody of ''

Magandang Gabi, Bayan ''Magandang Gabi... Bayan'' () named after the signature open and closing lines of Noli de Castro, was a Philippine news magazine program which aired on ABS-CBN. It premiered on August 21, 1988, and ended on December 31, 2005. History The pr ...

'' ABS-CBN 2) *Angelique Baso (inspired by Angelique Lazo) - a TV-host for ''Balitang Bituin'' (parody of "Star News" segment of ''

TV Patrol ''TV Patrol'' is a Philippine television newscast produced by ABS-CBN News. It premiered on March 2, 1987, at the former ABS-CBN television network, replacing ''Balita Ngayon''. ''TV Patrol'' is the flagship national newscast of the network a ...

'' ABS-CBN 2) *The Byaps-Byaps * – from ''Sesame''

''Batibot'' (2010)

;Human characters *Kuya Fidel portrayed by Abner Delina *Ate Maya portrayed by Kakki Teodoro ;Puppets *Irma Daldal* *Koko Kwik-Kwak* *Manang Bola* *Kapitan Basa* *Sitsiritsit* and AlibangBang* *Ningning* and Gingging* *Tarsi - a

tarsier Tarsiers ( ) are haplorhine primates of the family Tarsiidae, which is itself the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes. Although the group was once more widespread, all of its species living today are found in Maritime Southe ...

* – from the original ''Batibot''

Spin-offs

''Batibot'' has its own spin-off program ''Koko Kwik Kwak'' (named after a bird character), which also aired on GMA Network from 1999 to 2002 every weekday mornings.

Mobile app

On August 14, 2015,

Smart Communications Smart Communications Inc., commonly referred to as Smart (and officially stylized/ self-styled as SMART), is a wholly owned wireless communications and digital services subsidiary of PLDT Inc., a telecommunications and digital services provi ...

launched a mobile app for Android devices based on the show. Smart together with the Community of Learners Foundation commissioned OrangeFix to develop the app. The development of the app content costed around . The ''Batibot'' app is specifically targeted to children from kindergarten to Grade 3. It is aligned with the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

's kindergarten curriculum and is in Filipino. An

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

version of the app was released on July 5, 2017.

References

External links

* {{ABS-CBN Franchised Formats TV5 (Philippine TV network) original programming 1984 Philippine television series debuts 2003 Philippine television series endings 2010 Philippine television series debuts 2013 Philippine television series endings ABS-CBN original programming Filipino-language television shows GMA Network original programming People's Television Network original programming Philippine animated television series Philippine children's television series Philippine television series based on American television series Philippine television shows featuring puppetry Puppetry in the Philippines Radio Philippines Network original programming Sesame Street international co-productions Television series about monkeys Television series about turtles