ABS-CBN's new noontime show Pilipinas, Win na Win! is being tagged as "the bagong mukha ng saya at pag-asa (the new face of fun and hope)."

During its pilot episode aired last Saturday, July 31, host Kris Aquino told viewers here and abroad: "Let's look forward to... maghangad na tayo, sampung taon. Let's look forward to ten years."

PAST NOONTIME SHOWS. Pilipinas, Win na Win! (PWW) is one of the noontime shows launched by ABS-CBN over the years.


Channel 2 used to be the home of the long-running noontime show Eat Bulaga!, which was pioneered by comic trio Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon. It started airing on ABS-CBN on February 1989 until it moved to GMA-7 in January 1995.

As a result, the APO Hiking Society was tapped to host the week-long show, 'Sang Linggo nAPO Sila, which was a spin-off of their Sunday variety show Sa Linggo nAPO Sila. Danny Javier, Jim Paredes and Buboy Garovillo hosted the said program until it stopped airing on 1998.


An ensemble of hosts was tapped for MTB, which ran for several years on the Kapamilya Network. It started out as Magandang Tanghali Bayan in November 1998 until it was reformatted and became known as Masayang Tanghali Bayan in February 2003. Its main hosts were Randy Santiago, Willie Revillame and John Estrada. The trio were no longer part of the spin-off called MTB: Ang Saya Saya, which aired for a year, from February 2004 until February 2005.


Wowowee, which was led by its main host Willie Revillame, lasted for almost five years on ABS-CBN. It started airing on February 5, 2005 and bade farewell last July 30, 2010.

NEW TANDEM. ABS-CBN's current noontime show, Pilipinas, Win na Win! is now led by hosts Kris Aquino and Robin Padilla together with Mariel Rodriguez, Valerie Concepcion and Pokwang. 

The July 31 pilot episode opened with a montage of Kapamilya stars proclaiming their support for the new show. There was a festive Mardi Gras mood on the set while the Black Eyed Peas' upbeat song "I Gotta Feeling" was played in the background.

Mariel, Valerie and Pokwang came onstage and danced before Robin entered with his declaration: "It's nice to be back." The action star even attempted to do a stunt by jumping off and doing a front roll.

Kris then entered and announced that she's here to stay. All of the hosts performed the show's theme song, with matching arm movements.

PASA-LOBO. Unknown to the audience, some of the balloons that were handed to them contained printouts of the PWW logo. Kris asked those present in the studio to pass the yellow balloons to their seatmates. On her signal, the balloons were popped and only ten persons with the printouts could join the game called "Ping Pong Pang."

Pokwang and Kris then facilitated the game, which is similar to "Hep, Hep Hooray" of Wowowee.

When Pokwang places the mic in front of the first contestant, he or she must shout "Ping" and cross his arms. When it goes to the second contestant, s/he shouts "Pong" and places hands on the thighs. The third contestant who shouts "Pang" must raise his/her arms up. The faster it gets, the more confusing it becomes for the contestant to do the next movement.

Kris briefly interviewed one of the contestants, a shy girl whose voice was hardly heard by the audience. "May pamilya ka ba?" Kris asked.

"Opo, meron po," the girl answered meekly.

"Bakit parang hindi ka sigurado?"

The girl answered louder this time, "Siguradong, sigurado po."

"Bagong hiwalay ka din ba?" said Kris with a smile. (The TV host-actress is currently seeking the nullification of her marriage to James Yap.)

Kris and Pokwang gamely joined the remaining two contestants to see if they could keep up with the hand movements. Kris ended up making a mistake and ousted herself from the game. Cleo from Intramuros won the game and went home with Php 15,000 from the sponsor of the segment.

STAR-STUDDED PILOT EPISODE. A lot of Kapamilya stars took part in the pilot episode of Pilipinas, Win na Win!


One of them, Piolo Pascual, could not escape the probing questions of Kris. The former host of The Buzz asked the matinee idol: "Kamusta love life mo, Papa P?"

Piolo answered, "Steady naman."

Kris commented, "Steady is better than wala. Maganda ang steady, relax lang. Mariel, sinasabi ko sa iyo, pag kalmado, 'yan ang tatagal."

To this, Mariel asked Kris directly: "Ikaw? Kalmado ka ba ngayon?"

Kris said with a laugh: "Hindi. Ask me again next year."

Pinoy rock legend Pepe Smith did a medley of songs from the Juan Dela Cruz band with Robin Padilla. They started off with the sentimental rock ballad "Himig Natin" and then they revved up with "Balong Malalim."

Cristine Reyes also did a risqué dance number and promoted her upcoming primetime show Martha Cecilia's Kristine.

Child wonders Xyriel Manabat and Zaijian Jaranilla sang a medley with Queenie Padilla and Ejay Falcon. Christian Bautista partnered with Karylle and Juris and Duncan Ramos joined them as well. Martin Nievera also participated in the song number.


The Buzz hosts Boy Abunda, KC Concepcion and Charlene Gonzales surprised everyone with their dance number. After this major production number, Kris prodded KC to sing a few lines of the song, "It Must Have Been Love." There was a hush as the daughter of Sharon Cuneta sang the lines.