"Tol" Raffy: A Man for the People

           

After the Interview
Raffy Tulfo (left) & Bernice Labad (right)

  “To be able to help, to be able to make people happy. I make a point that when they go home, they go home laughing because I am able to give them the assistance that that they are expecting.”

                Shaking hands and nervous jitters are just a few of the things that you would feel before interviewing this man. His reputation precedes him. Broadcasted in the media as straight forward harsh and cruel are some of the things at the top of the list of reasons to be anxious although that all changed when a smiling man entered the door of the conference room.

                Mr. Raffy Tulfo is 1/3 of the Tulfo Brothers. The trio is known for there shows such as T3: Enforced and Isumbong mo Kay Tulfo. Tulfo is currently one of the anchors on Aksyon TV and a radio personality with his weekday radio show Wanted sa Radyo with co-anchor Niña Taduran.

                Tulfo sat down on the chair across mine and said “Why don’t you sit here?” pointing to the chair next tom him with a smile.

                “So let’s get started,” he continued.

                Puerto Prinsesa City, Palawan was the starting point of Tulfo’s career during the late 80s as a radio announcer followed by being a news jocky in Isabella for anFM radio station. After his stay in the United States, his serious career in the media started. He became a columnist in Abante and soon came his radio program Wanted sa Radyo.

“And the rest was history,” he said.

Today, he is well known as Tol Raffy, leading the segment on Wanted investigating cases of abuse, dishonesty and exploitation.

It was his eldest brother, Ramo Tulfo, “Kuya Mon” as Tulfo would call him, who had the strongest influence on him to start a career in meida.  Among the 10 Tulfo siblings, four are in the media – Erwin, Ben, Raffy and Ramon.

“Pero matulunging talaga ako kaya siguro gusto ko talaga pumasok sa media,” Tulfo explained.

                Many people see him as a man who presses on the accused people to force the truth out of them. Naghahamon din siya na makipagaway to those who truly won’t say anything.

                When asked why he needs to act the way he does, he says he must handle “those types of people that way to be able to get the answers and the truth.”

        “I have people counting on me to get the truth,” he firmly asserted.

                As a part of his everyday ritual, Tulfo makes sure he asks for guidance for his job as a media man.

                “Going to my work from my house, I get into my car, and I pray. I always make it a point that I pray for to protect me, since I get so many death threats, to protect my family and of course for enlightenment me with the things that I do and to help. “

“Pamasa talaga ako!”

Tulfo was really one for the people, a man for the masses. As a columnist for Abante, he did not have one style of writing. He would write about anything because “pamasa talaga ako”. He writes about anything just as long as it is for the masses.

With the reputation that precedes him, people will most definitely wonder how her deals with people; his work ethic as people might say. And he said “To be able to help, to be able to make people happy. I make a point that when they go home, they go home laughing because I am able to give them the assistance that that they are expecting.”

An answer nobody would have expected this man to answer. A man who shouts a people, who bring people to jail and threatens people to fight with him. This man was most definitely not the same man as we see on our television screens.  

As time passed, questions and answers were exchanged. The man sitting on the couch in front of me wasn’t the man people who saw on television. He was smiling and answering all questions with ease.

When encountering people whether they be fans or someone who dislikes him, “I make sure I deal with them with a smile.” Tulfo believes that when it comes to the masses, you must be able to deal with them a smile. A person in the media especially television personalities must not be ignorant or snobs to their fans.

 “I take pictures with them, and smile," he explained.

Towards the end of the interview, the nervous jitters were gone. N o more shaking hands and nervous butterflies. There was nothing to fear with this man because what came across in that interview is that he was a man who wanted to help the people. He was a man for the people.