CIAO, GRAZIE, BUONA SERA.

Like grace notes, these Italian words enliven text messages and phone calls to a weekly Filipino radio program that airs from Rome. The senders and callers are Filipinos, most of them blue-collar and domestic workers in Italy.

The radio program is Radio Pilipino sa Roma (RPR) on 97.50 FM airing every Monday from 10 to 11 p.m. over Radio Meridiano 12.

The program has been on air for 18 years, hopping from one radio station to another until it found a secure home in Radio Meridiano 12 owned by the Salesian Fathers.

Fr. Cesario Sixto Y. Sanedrin, Fr. Sanny to his friends in social action in the Philippines and in Italy, is one of the familiar voices on RPR. Although his main job is with the Vatican office of Caritas (the Catholic Church?s international social welfare agency), radio work has added more meaning to Fr. Sanny?s stay in the Eternal City.

?RPR is not a church program,? Fr. Sanny, 57, told the Inquirer. ?It is just a program of and for Pinoys. It is run and managed by three overseas Filipino workers, namely, Cora San Jose from Navotas, Augusto Cruz from Tanay, and myself, a migrant worker in the Vatican. The three of us do it as a service to our fellow OFWs. Wala kaming bayad. Abonado pa kami kung kinulang ang bayad sa radio station.? (We don?t receive any pay. We even advance our money if there?s not enough to pay the radio station.)

RPR started on Nov. 4, 1989 under the auspices of Liga Italo-Filippine Emigrati (LIFE) at Radio Citta Aperta owned by the Communist Party in Italy. The founders were Cora Sim of LIFE, Manny Dasig who was a broadcaster in Dagupan City before he became an OFW, and Cora San Jose. Fr. Sanny, who had broadcast experience back in his diocese, joined shortly after RPR started.

He recalled: ?The air time then was free and we didn?t have to pay the radio station. Three years later we had to move out when management tried to influence and dictate on the program content.?

Freedom is not free

RPR found another station, the Radio Radicale 2 owned by the Radical Party of Italy. ?Because it had a nationwide frequency we were listened to all over Italy, from Milan down to Reggio Calabria.? RPR enjoyed freedom from interference by the owners. But this freedom was not for free.

Fr. Sanny said they were able to get PCI Bank, which opened a branch in Rome at that time, to sponsor the program. ?RPR did a lot to promote PCI Bank Express Padala and made it the No. 1 remittance center in Italy.? (PCIB later merged with Equitable. It is now Banco de Oro.)

A management change in Radio Radicale 2 six years ago caused another move for RPR. ?We were told to move out per instruction of the new owner. We found out that the new policy was ?for Italians only.? No migrants. So we had to search for another station.?

The search brought RPR to the Salesians? Radio Meridiano 12. Air time was not free and charges were higher than in the previous station. Fr. Sanny said RPR was able to get Philcargo Freight Services to be one of the sponsors.

?Philcargo is owned by OFWs Pol and Evelyn Reyes who started off as domestic helpers and later ventured into the cargo business. Now and then we get one or short-time sponsors. Our latest sponsor is the Philippine Labor Office-OWWA-Pag-ibig-SSS combined group. We also do some fund-raising. Generous people chip in. We have the Friends of RPR that supports us in many ways.?

Four years after RPR started the RPR co-founder Many Dasig moved to Milan and was replaced by Jessie Ramirez who, Fr. Sanny said, became councilor in Rome and was replaced by Jeffry Jordan. Victor Cocoy Vicente, a former child actor in Italy, also joined. Augusto Cruz joined last year when Jordan resigned because of conflicting work schedules.

Fr. Sanny described RPR as a public service and variety show. The language used is Taglish (Tagalog-English mix) or Tagalog-Italian a.k.a. Tagliano.

?We only play OPM (original Pilipino music), nothing else,? Fr. Sanny said. ?May mga OPM na pinasikat namin dito among the Pinoys. (There were OPM that became hits among the Pinoys here, thanks to us.) The format is simple ? introductions, Philippine news, discussion of burning issues in the Philippines. That?s why I am a regular reader of the Inquirer online. We have information and announcements from the Labor Office of the Philippine embassy. We discuss Italian legislations related to migrant issues such as documentation, direct hiring, taxes, social security.?

RPR laffs

Fr. Sanny and his RPR barkada have amusing stories to tell about the calls and text messages they get during the program. Many of these have been transcribed and compiled. Fr. Sanny called them ?RPR Laffs.? A sample:

RPR: First time mo bang tumawag? (Is this the first time you called?)

Caller: Nakatawag na ako kanina. Pero sabi niyo hold your line. Biglang nawala. Nabitawan ko yata yung linya! (I managed to call a while ago. But you said hold the line. It suddenly disappeared. I think I dropped the line!)

RPR: Buti nakatawag ka uli. (Good thing you called again.)

Caller: Kaya nga ho hawak-hawak ko na itong cord. (That?s why I?m hanging on to this cord.)