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RADIO VERITAS HONORED FOR 20-YEAR SERVICE TO ASIA

Updated: April 18, 1989 05:00 PM GMT
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On its 20th anniversary April 11, Philippine President Corazon Aquino praised Radio Veritas, famed for its role in the 1986 revolt here, for its larger role preaching the Good News to Asia.

"The harvest is rich, but the laborers are so pitifully few," Aquino said of the Catholic station. "And so we recognize the valiant and dedicated men and women of Radio Veritas as they pursue the lonely task of bringing the message of Christ to millions of Asians."

Radio Veritas´ domestic service was set up under the leadership of Cardinal Rufino Santos of Manila and began broadcasting in 1967.

Its overseas service was conceived by the Catholic Bishops of Southeast Asia in 1968 and inaugurated April 11, 1969 by Cardinal Antonio Samore.

Speakers at the anniversary celebration agreed that one of the station´s outstanding achievements was its role in the February 1986 uprising that brought about peaceful change in the Philippines.

"It was Radio Veritas that his eminence, Jaime Cardinal Sin (of Manila) used in imploring the faithful to flock to EDSA (Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue) and bring about people power.

"Even more important, it was Radio Veritas which urged the people to storm heaven for its needs and supplications," she said.

"And from that was born prayer power. People power and prayer power formed a potent, irresistable combination that toppled the dictatorship."

Through its overseas broadcasts, the Philippine experience was shared with the rest of Asia, Cardinal Sin said in his homily at the anniversary Mass.

The cardinal said the station´s broadcasts have been based on a commitment to truth, and have shown "what is possible to those who believe, hope, love and work together in unity and self-forgetfulness."

-- Overseas program manager Harry Gasser told UCA News March 10 the overseas department, which now broadcasts in 15 languages, grew slowly over the years.

"We started with English and then Vietnamese. A few years later we broadcast in Sinhala and then Tamil," Gasser said.

Radio Veritas now also broadcasts in Chinese, Burmese, Karen and Kachin, Bengali, Urdu, Telugu, Korean, Indonesian, Hindi and Japanese. By May the station will be broadcasting to Siberia.

Day-to-day operations are run by a management staff of lay people and Religious led by Auxiliary Bishop Teodoro Buhain of Manila.

The support of the Federation of Asian Bishops´ Conferences (FABC) is crucial to the station´s long-term development, Gasser says.

He said the overseas department initially aimed for 20 languages but stayed at 15 because of "budgetary constraints and differences of opinions among the Asian bishops."

Besides the production staff for different languages, the station depends on production centers based in home countries. Ideally, Gasser says, the bishops should be involved in the centers.

"The Asian bishops are supposed to be the ones who think of the process and content of the program, because, first of all, they know what their listeners need and want," he said.

He said the bishops could also help monitor the station for its content.

"The production centers look around for their personnel based on expressed qualifications," he said.

"They do the productions, plan the program and decide what problems or concerns in their communities or target areas must be addressed."

The production centers produce 60 minute segments of religous, developmental, informational, musical and entertainment programs each week. The segments are sent to the Philippines which schedules their use.

According to Gasser, each segment costs more than US$200 or close to US$900 a month for four hours of programs.

The Indian subcontinental, Indonesian, Chinese and Korean sections have such centers, but, according to Gasser, Japan´s center closed down because their bishop said it could not be maintained.

The Philippine station commissioned someone to do productions in Japan.

The Vietnamese section relies on dispatches sent from a Vietnamese office in Rome which telexes materials to the station.

Gasser says the so-called "silent Churches" are among the station´s priorities, particularly those in China, Vietnam and Burma.

According to Gasser, religous programs such as Masses, prayer and Bible sharing and bishops´ messages cover only 10-20 percent of programing. Most programs are more information and entertainment-oriented.

Except for Vietnamese and Chinese programs, Radio Veritas broadcasts in the different languages 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening.

Broadcasts in Chinese and Vietnamese run three hours a day, an hour and a half in the morning and the same in the evening.

END

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