Broadcaster Harry Gasser and his wife, actress Flora Gasser, in a December 2013 file photo. (Paul Mata/TV5)
With the arrests of Jose Mari Velez and Bong Lapira shortly after the declaration of Martial Law, Harry Gasser became the de facto news anchor of an era.
Harry Gasser was the news anchor of RPN-9’s “NewsWatch” during the Martial Law era and remained with the network until the 1990s. He also had stints with Radio Veritas as news manager and ABS-CBN as anchor of “TV Patrol Cebu”.
Last Thursday, Gasser succumbed to complications from a stroke he had suffered six days prior. He was 76. His remains lie in state at St. Peter’s Chapel along Commonwealth Avenue where it will be cremated on Monday, April 7.
Aside from a statement released by Sen. Loren Legarda that pays tribute to her former broadcast news colleague, other contemporaries of Gasser also recalled their fond memories of the man.
“Harry was a pioneer in news broadcasting. He was almost iconic for RPN-9 during its heyday. I think that network was best appreciated when Harry was there handling the anchoring job. He was unbeatable,” veteran broadcast news producer Ed Finlan told InterAksyon.
“He was never filled with himself and treated his job as any ordinary job but didn’t realize that he was in fact setting the barometer for news broadcasting. He made sure his diction was perfect and that he was at his couture best. But the best Harry was the one you chatted with off-camera and, yes, even drank with. The charm of this man was contagious and the laughter would ring out for all and WITH all. I never knew him to put another down. He always had a good word for everyone.”
Fellow journalist and former congressman Teddy Boy Locsin tweeted that Gasser was “a journalist who kept his integrity and dignity when the only news was what the government said and did.”
“So young, how sad; and why wasn’t he kept on the news? At least he spoke a civilized language,” Locsin added in a separate tweet.
“RIP Harry Gasser. The iconic anchor of Newswatch brought class to news presenting. I will miss his impeccable English and deep calm voice,” international news anchor Rico Hizon of BBC News posted on Twitter.
ABS-CBN news anchor Julius Babao, who presented Gasser with a Lifetime Achievement award given by the Philippine Movie Press Club, considered him a childhood hero and called him the “Walter Cronkite of the Philippines”.
“I grew up watching him do the newscast on RPN 9. Our TV was always glued to NewsWatch. Whenever we hear his voice, it was our cue that our meal was already on the table. He is an inspiration not only to me, but to the people who knew him. We worked with him and grew up watching him on TV,” he added in another tweet.
Most of Gasser’s fans also put up the Facebook page, Harry Gasser Appreciation Society, in 2011 where they noted the no-nonsense matter in which he delivered the news.
“When TV news was sober. When it was all about the news, and not the sensation. When looks did not matter (ok, there was Cathy Veloso Santillan, but he chose to go home every night to Flora Gasser). He was the prime mediator for martial law babies of what was happening to the world. Celebrating Harry Gasser is celebrating your childhood, the way it was, the way it is,” went the site’s very first post.
With his authoritative baritone voice and his famous closing remarks of “That’s the way it is” and “A peaceful night ahead of us”, Gasser was a calming presence in what was considered by many as a turbulent period in the country’s history.
In recent years, Gasser’s health declined and the family became more dependent on his wife, Flora, to make ends meet. Now 82, Mrs. Gasser was a guest on TV5’s “Face The People” last December where she admitted to having difficulty landing parts on film and TV because directors told her she couldn’t deliver her lines anymore.
In addition to her few acting gigs, Mrs. Gasser admitted to finding other ways to raise funds, including selling and dried fish which she offered to the studio audience during the show. As part of its desire to help her and her family have a meaningful Christmas, the people behind “Face The People” surprised Mrs. Gasser with presents for her and her family.
Colleagues, fans pay tribute to news anchor Harry Gasser
Source: InterAksyon.com (April 04, 2014 at 10:35PM)
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