ARNOLD CLAVO'S RISE TO FAME

Arnold Clavio: Tondo’s prized dishwasher

BY JOEL M. SY EGCO Assignments Editor

EVERY Filipino household knows his name. He has a distinct face that goes with an equally distinct voice, delivering timely newscasts and sharp commentaries from sunrise to sundown. Considered to be among his network’s jewels, this hardworking news anchor, whose wits are admired by many, practically goes to work earlier and returns home later than most of his company’s employees.

“I am like a security guard: I have very little time to sleep. I usually go home past midnight and return to work at dawn for Unang Hirit,” said Arnold “Igan” Clavio, who hosts many of GMA network’s television and radio programs.

Igan, as many of his colleagues in the media and hordes of fans call him, has immense reserves of energy that he even spends his free time for charity. In between his hectic work schedules, he still attends to the Igan Foundation that he formed years ago to help the needy and those who have less in everything.

“My biggest challenge is how to change people’s lives, especially the poor because I was once like them. I grew up in Tondo in a house owned by a relative. Even food was a problem for my family then. As a broadcast journalist, I believe my duty is not just to inform or educate the public. It is not just all talk. The real challenge is how I could personally make the difference in people’s lives,” Clavio declared, recalling how difficult it was for his father to make ends meet and to see his son go through college.

Far from the improved socio-economic status he now enjoys, the broadcaster used to wear old school uniforms while taking up journalism at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). Years prior to graduation, his father lost his job and the young Arnold faced the prospects of dropping out from college.

However, he never entertained the thought and went out of his way to sustain his studies.

“When my father went jobless, I applied for work at the Roxas Boulevard branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken [now KFC]. I was called in and I took the opportunity. When I arrived at the branch, I was in my best attire. There, I was issued my brown uniform and cap. That was the day when I officialy became a working student,” Clavio related.
“Then I was assigned as busboy and waiter. The hardest part of all was when I was assigned to wash the dishes. I was a dishwasher and utility man rolled into one. I made sure that the utensils, plates, the sink and even the floor are clean. I never complained because I needed the job,” he said.

In school, he became the laughing stock of some of his classmates because his uniform “smelled [of] chiken.”

“Arnold Dishwashernegger” was how some would mock him. The alias was a take-off from action star Arnold Schwarzeneger, whose films at the time were all box-office hits.

“I ignored the taunts. I was very good at washing the dishes because I used three sets of water with varying temperatures. Hot water easily washes off grease,” Clavio said.

Sacret job
Despite the ridicule, he managed to keep his dishwashing job a secret from his father until the secret was given away by a mashed potato. “They became curious when I frequently gave my grandmother [a] mashed potato which I personally prepared at the branch.”

But his fledgling career as a dishwasher did not last long. He lost his job when he was declared absent without official leave after he joined the EDSA Revolution in February 1986. For his failure to report that day, he got fired.

“I pleaded and explained that I was not able to inform the branch that I would be absent because there was an ongoing revolt,” Clavio said, adding that his pleas went for naught.

“But I was glad I lost that job a month before graduation. At that time, my main concern was to finish my course,” he added.

It was at Kentucky Fried Chicken where he first developed his journalistic instincts. One evening, a group of people came in. They looked very familiar to him. As the guests were chatting, Clavio’s curiosity was bolstered when he came to realize that the group were the same National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) election canvassers who walked out from the Cultural Center of the Philippines allegedly after being told to twist the results of the snap elections in favor of then President Ferdinand Marcos.

Clavio remembered the walkout and the fact that he actually met the election canvassers led him to ask questions and to search for answers. He himself became a Namfrel volunteer only to resign from the group later over some disagreements with Namfrel officials.
The news anchor maintained that it was his job at the fastfood restaurant where he developed his skills in relating to people from all walks of life. There, he met the kindest and the meanest customers.

During his first day on the job, a satisfied customer sent him a rose in gratitude.

But he will never forget the night when a group of rowdy guests ganged up on him, ridiculed and embarrassed him in front of other guests. One even went to see him at the pantry, dangled his car keys and told Clavio, “Do you know what this is? This is a car key and you don’t have one. You’re nothing.”

Clavio admits that the encounter made a deep impression on his thoughts and feelings, so deep that until today, he remembers each word that the guest uttered. He said the incident fired up his desire to succeed. Now, he fancies sports cars and sport utility vehicles that his handsome salary as a top-caliber broadcast journalist could buy.

“I am what they call the Beemer type of guy,” he said, alluding to his fetish for a British-made luxury car. “But these cars are loaned,” he added with a laugh.

On a more serious note, however, Clavio said that he was now very thankful to that anonymous customer. He said that he wanted to see the customer again but never had the chance.

If they met, he said that this is what he would tell that old customer: “Thank you very much for making me seek out the best in me. Thank you for teaching me how imortant it is for anyone to aim for success and for showing me how painful it is to be maligned and embarassed for being poor. That way, I learned that I should not be like you and that I should strive. That I should share my blessings instead of looking down at others for not having what I possess.”

Clavio’s real break came in 1986 when a few months after graduation. dwIZ, then a sister company of dzRH, announced that it had an opening for newswriters, newscasters and radio announcers. He recalled that it was veteran radioman Ron Macatangay who made the announcement.

“I wasted no time and scheduled an audition. Because Joe Taruc was already a big name in the industry and the company itself, I mimicked him in my audition report. I was hired,” he said.

His first job was to translate English broadsheet news articles into Filipino—still a bit far from his dream of becoming a newscaster. He said that he developed his love for radio, specifically the AM band, because his grandmother was an avid AM radio listener.

“I usually listened to Rey Langit, Caloy Castro, [Rafael] Paeng Yabut and Joe Taruc,” Clavio said.

Then in 1998, Bobby Guanzon, who is among Clavio’s earliest friends in media, transferred to dzBB. Not long after, he said that he was asked by Guanzon to join him there. GMA-dzBB has been Clavio’s home network since he joined. He remembered how difficult it was for him to explain to Joe Taruc his reason for leaving.

“I was more comfortable with Bobby back then because we were already friends for quite [some] time. Also, Joe wanted to transfer me to the House of Representatives. My beat then was the Senate. Then, I told Joe that have already given my word to BB [Guanzon] and that I can not take it back,” Clavio narrated.

For a while, he did voiceovers for the station until he was noticed by GMA Network executives Marissa Flores and Jessica Soho. His name and voice was becoming popular but not everyone knew how he looked like.

Later, Clavio was asked to join the weekly program Brigada Siete and was eventually pulled out by Miguel “Mike” Enriquez from the Senate to host his first daily radio show, Double A sa Dobol B, alongside Ali Sotto.
In 2001, the two began writing columns for The Manila Times.

“Everything started from Brigada Siete. It was followed by Unang Hirit, Saksi, Emergency and now, Tonight with Arnold Clavio. I am, up to now, very thankful to GMA Network for trusting me and for giving me all these opportunities,” the veteran newscaster said.

Unlike others who may claim to have secrets for success, Clavio claimed that he has none and that only diligence and hard work were his tools in crafting the dishwasher in him into a well-loved and admired broadcast journalist.

“If there’s an opportunity, grab it. If you are offered work, no matter how difficult that job could be, take it,” he advised.

“In the first place, being offered such means you are trusted and that they believe you can d the job very well. Who knows? It could be a step toward something better. I accepted positions then that required that I don’t sleep. I took them,” Clavio added.

Humility and love for dignity are his greatest assets. The television journalist said that his father raised him in the belief that nobody should complain about anything that they lacked and to refrain from asking too much favors.

“I feel happy whenever I meet my former colleagues in the beat. I treat them the way I did when I was with them. Success should not bloat our egos. Also, I always make it a point to help people who are in dire need because, as I said, I was desperate too. I wasn’t raised with a silver spoon in my mouth. But what I had were golden rules from my parents that went into my ears and [into] my heart. I may have lacked luxury as a young man but my dad taught me how to value dignity,” Clavio said.

He remembers Ka Paeng Yabut’s advice during one of their meetings.

This advice reverberates in his mind, he said, whenever there were “temptations.”

“He told me, Arnold, never sell your soul.”

Clavio claimed that he never regretted any decision he made, especially joining media. Poverty, he said, was what fueled his ambition to become exactly what he is right now.

“If my life was better back then, I would never have turned into what I am. Hardships make one hard, tough. [These] did it to me,” he added.

Asked if there remains a “soft” spot in him that these hardships failed to harden, Clavio curtly replied, “It is my concern for the poor.”