Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

"I believe it is important for Filipinos to cherish and preserve our Filipino heritage even as we work on assimilating to the American culture,"  - Gel Santos Relos

She still cannot sing the Star-Spangled Banner. Every time she tries, her eyes well up in tears and she would remember how much she misses singing Lupang Hinirang.

"Yes, I miss the Philippines and I will always be proud of my being Filipino" she told Asian Journal.

Veteran broadcast journalist Gel Santos Relos has always been a patriotic Pinoy. This was showcased throughout her twenty-year career in Manila as a multi-awarded TV and radio personality.

With just the titles of her various toprated ABS-CBN programs in the Philippines such as Tatak Pilipino, Pulso, and Hoy Gising, it is obvious that her aim was to capture the pulse and the heartbeat of Filipinos. It was her goal to showcase everything that is Pinoy.

Prior to her long media career, Gel was an instructor in Broadcast Communication at the University of the Philippines where she also graduated with honors. The school is recognized as a bastion of academic excellence and nationalist thought, where love of country and pride in being Filipino is paramount.

Thus, when Gel moved to the United States with her family in 2001, her difficulties were far more complicated than most Filipinos.

While others were concerned about learning how to talk with an American accent or trying to live without household help, Gel was going through an internal struggle. In her mind, she was trying to resolve how it would be possible to continue loving her motherland, the Philippines, and accept her new home, the United States.

Still, Gel tried to immerse herself in her new world. She became the marketing director of a health care facility in New Jersey for a year. When the family moved to the West coast, she became a licensed realtor in California, serving a mostly Filipino clientele.

The chance to live in different coasts was due to the job of Gel’s husband, Dr. Rene Relos, who was completing his surgical residency that time. It was actually her husband’s career as well as a special visa Gel received from the US government that brought the couple and their four children to the country in 2001.

That time, Gel was granted permanent resident status in the US as an "alien with extraordinary ability." The government grants this achievementbased opportunity to live in the US to certain individuals who have documented proof -like awards and citations- who are at the very top of their field.

It was when her family moved to the West Coast that Gel was able to renew her ties with ABS-CBN which produces, among others, Citizen Pinoy and Balitang America. These programs are shown on The Filipino Channel (TFC) and seen by subscribers all over North America.

It is her work at TFC that helped her resolve the internal struggle that has been nagging at her since her move to the US.

And it is precisely this struggle that is also constantly motivating her to help Filipinos "navigate their new life in America " through her work.

When Gel and her family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from the East Coast in 2005, she was offered a job to co-anchor Citizen Pinoy with lawyer Michael J. Gurfinkel. The TV show brings information and public service on matters pertaining to US immigration laws. Its mission is to bring Pinoy families together, Gel noted.

In 2007, Gel also became the news anchor of Balitang America, TFC’s 30-minute news program that airs Mondays through Fridays. The show is a valuable resource of Filipinos in the US and Canada for news stories, events, special reports and in-depth interviews.

In 2009, Gel received the honor of being one of the "100 Most Influential Filipina Women in America " from the Filipina Women’s Network because of her work at TFC.