Isang makabagbag-damdaming mensahe ang isinulat ni Jessica Soho bilang pagbibigay-pugay at pag-alala sa kaniyang katrabaho at kaibigan na si Mike Enriquez, na pumanaw noong Agosto 29.

Sa isang Facebook post na inilabas ng official page ng Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho nitong Biyernes, Setyembre 1, ibinahagi ni Soho na halos 30 taon din niyang nakatrabaho si Enriquez, na tinatawag nila sa pangalang “Booma.”

“Truth be told, in all of the almost 30 years I’ve worked with Booma or Mike Enriquez to the public, I was not accustomed to him being nice to me,” kuwento ni Soho.

“Even in the early days when I’d volunteer to put his makeup on kapag wala siyang makeup artist. Or even if I’d make him not-so-sweet macaroni salads for Christmas. In fact, he never smiled at me or greeted me even if our paths crossed often in our little newsroom– during the 10 years that I was running it, and he was our primetime news anchor,” aniya.

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Sa tuwing nagkakadaupang-palad daw sina Soho at Enriquez ay laging abala silang dalawa sa trabaho.

“That’s why it felt strange when he was all of a sudden cheerful and bright as he teased me about wearing sneakers with my Filipiniana dress, in between commercial gaps for our Eleksyon 2022 hosting duties. He said I reminded him of the working women who also wore sneakers on their way to work in New York,” pagbabalik-tanaw pa ni Soho.

Ang naturang magandang tagpo ang huli na umanong face-to-face encounter nilang dalawa.

“Maybe that was his way of leaving a sweet memory - then, I was simply a colleague, not a newsroom boss. And he was simply Booma,” saad ni Soho.

Ayon pa kay Soho, mula nang makatrabaho niya si Enriquez noong 1990s, nakita raw niya kung gaano ito kahusay, mula sa radio show nito noon sa DZBB, maging noong irekomenda niya ito bilang isa sa mga TV anchor sa election coverage noong 1995–ang unang TV appearance ni Enriquez.

“I was a witness to his grumpy side at work, as he was focused on preparing for the news. But all that could easily change in the company of our camera and remote crew, when he was just one of the boys,” ani Soho.

Inilarawan din ng mamamahayag sa kaniyang mensahe kung gaano umano ka-”kengkoy” si Enriquez bilang katrabaho at kaibigan.

“It drove me and our producers crazy that he was stubborn about revising his lead-ins for the newscast. He insisted on using ‘Estados Unidos’ instead of the more conversational “America” and the years just had to be spelled out as ‘taong mil nuwebe syentos nubenta’y otso’ instead of just 1998,” kuwento ni Soho.

“He liked the studio a chilly 20 degrees centigrade which was perfect for his suits but not for Mel Tiangco in her dresses who liked the thermostat set at 24. I refereed and set it at a compromise of 22. But when the newscast is done and we did good, I'd cue the staff to cheer ‘Pizza! Pizza!’

Mabilis siyang dumukot ng wallet! Madali siyang lapitan,” saad pa niya.

Isa pa raw sa masasayang alaala nila kasama si Enriquez pagdating sa newsroom ay ang pagiging makulit nito at mahilig sa pagkain ng mani.

Kuwento ni Soho, patago pa raw noon kung kumain si Enriquez ng mani sa studio dahil pinagbabawalan siyang kumain nito upang hindi maubo kapag nagbasa na ng balita.

“One time that he coughed badly on-air, recalled one of our former production assistants, ‘Pinasabihan ko raw siya na uminom ng tubig,’ to which he retorted ‘Sabihin mo kay Jessica, ayoko dahil ayokong mag-CR’,” pagbabalik-tanaw ni Soho.

“It got to a point when I had to investigate who supplied him with the peanuts. The culprits: Manang Zeny, his makeup artist, Pia Guanio (our showbiz news reader at that time) and even one of our reporters- the late Cesar Apolinario,” saad pa niya.

Bukod sa magagandang karanasan, ani Soho, mayroon daw isang alaala kasama si Enriquez na hinding hindi niya malilimutan.

“It was his first day at work after his bypass and I dropped in on him, before the pandemic hit, in his office in the old GMA building with its dark woody interiors."

“For a change, we did not talk about work, but about life in general and his health. He said he felt horrible in the mornings and that every time he coughed, it felt like dying. I told him he’d live and showed him a smiling photo of my dad as proof of life, after a bypass! That gave him immediate relief and hope, he said and he thanked me for it,” kuwento niya.

“It is hard to write about Booma in the past tense. I will always miss him- the grumpy, peanut-chewing-coughing Booma, our hard-headed and set-in-his-ways news anchor, the Booma of that little newsroom that was so much a part of our lives.

The newsroom will never be the same again,” saad pa ni Soho.

Pumanaw si Enriquez noong Martes, Agosto 29, sa edad na 71. Kinumpirma ito ng kaniyang co-anchor na si Mel Tiangco sa 24 Oras noong Martes ng gabi.

MAKI-BALITA: Veteran journalist Mike Enriquez, pumanaw na

Sa pahintulot naman ng kaniyang pamilya, magkakaroon umano ng pagkakataon ang mga tagahanga at nagmamahal sa batikang mamamahayag na ipagdiwang ang kaniyang legasiya at masilayan ang kaniyang mga labi nitong Sabado, Setyembre 2.