'Tata' Respicio was 'Sullivan of his time'

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

By the time "Filipino Fiesta" finished its 32-year run on television, the program's creator and host, Faustino A. Respicio, had completed 2,000 shows. Advertiser library photo • 1963

Faustino A. Respicio, the veteran broadcaster known in the Filipino community as "Tata" Respicio, died Tuesday at the age of 96.

Respicio, instrumental in showcasing the performing arts and personalities of his Filipino peers, would have been 97 today.

"He was the Ed Sullivan of his time," said Emme Tomingbang, who appeared on Respicio's "Filipino Fiesta" TV show when she was a pre-teen and also performed on the show with her rock band when she was a teenager. "His was the predecessor of those stardom shows, though he mostly featured Filipino performers. It was the longest-running show ... and one with the Filipino immigrants in mind."

Respicio was the creator, producer, director and host of "Filipino Fiesta," which originated on KULA-TV (now KITV-4) and switched to KONA-TV (now KHON-2), where it aired from 1954 to 1986. Respicio chalked up 2,000 shows by the time he said his "adios" in August 1986.

In addition to his affiliation with Hawai'i's longest-running television show, Respicio logged five decades on radio where "Fiesta" originated. It was a show that targeted lonely Filipino bachelors who came to work at Hawai'i's sugar plantations without their families.

"He (filled) a need," said Tomingbang. "And he was my inspiration for television, along with my father, who earlier did a similar show."

The program provided comfort, communication, communion and entertainment to Filipino immigrants, she said.

Katherine Bustillos, director of finance at KHON, knew Respicio in his heyday. "He will be missed by the Filipino community," she said. "He was a very nice, hard-working person who loved what he did. And he always had his wife bring a delicious bundt cake (to the station)."

His TV crews often had difficulty understanding him — the show was a blend of Ilocano and English — but his trademark "Take it!," signifying action to focus cameras on his performing guests, became a signature.

Respicio worked tirelessly to keep the Filipino cultural identity alive in the Islands. During World War II, he was appointed chairman of the Filipino War Bond Drive, and he used his airtime influence to raise more than $2 million in war bonds over a three-month period, a remarkable achievement considering plantation workers earned 99 cents a day at the time.

He first met his wife, Rosalina, while selling bonds at Hilo Sugar Plantation. They met up again in 1952 and were married a year later.

Besides radio-TV work, he was a public relations officer for American Security Bank for 27 years, a published author, and a reporter.

Respicio arrived in Hawai'i in 1931 from his native Laoag City in the province of Ilocos Norte in the Philippines. He joined his father, who earlier immigrated to the Islands to work at the O'ahu Sugar plantation, and to eventually continue his law studies begun at the University of the Philippines. Because it was the Depression, he was unable to move on to a Mainland law school, so he instead joined the sales team at an insurance agency.

As a creative outlet, Respicio wrote two love stories, "Andoy" and "Love Letters," published in Ilocano and English. His writing skills also led him to work as a reporter for the Philippine News Tribune.

"I don't regret not being able to go to law school," he once said. "There are too many lawyers already. But there is only one 'Filipino Fiesta.'"

Besides his wife, survivors include a nephew, Johnny Respicio; and a niece, Josephine Respicio.

Funeral services are pending.