More than an advocacy, a crusade, and a crime investigative media program, Bitag (translated in English as ‘trap’) is all these and more. Helmed by award-winning crime fighting personality Ben Tulfo, the heart of his cause belongs to the ordinary citizens and sometimes unwary victims praying for justice and relief from their crime-related dilemmas.
Before it found its soul as a crusade, Bitag kicked off silently on mainstream TV on September 14, 2002. It also never went long until its peers – both locally and internationally – trumpeted the arrival of the show that soon changed the face of investigative crime journalism in the Philippines.
When it started, the program’s first episode was aired at local television station Associated Broadcasting Co. or ABC-5 (now TV5). Its banner shouts: real reality television. True to this mantra, Bitag is fervent in crime fighting without an ounce of pretentiousness evident in most packaged, network-directed productions.
The popularity of the program and its host shot up as fast as people started to notice the brave, no-non-sense and in-your-face approach of the crime fighting program. Although Bitag stayed for only one year at ABC-5, it moved to IBC. Then in 2004, it opened its live program at UNTV 37, which now airs from Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Now that it is more than a television program, Bitag’s unwavering commitment to public service is one of its best assets absent from any program or advocacy that imitate its brand of crime-fighting. As the crusade reels off one life-changing milestone to the next, the respect it earns increases also.
There is no sweeter ode to its success than earning the respect it deserves. Bitag obtains full cooperation and support from civilians and the crime fighting professionals who work with Ben Tulfo, the host. Even government officials and corporate bigwigs pay due respect to the programs unwavering commitment and seriousness in its advocacy.
For every Bitag episode, perfection and smooth tactical and fastidious procedural operations are put highly in order to solve but not exploit problems of people for revenue’s sake. Now nearing its first ten years in service, Bitag is not only respected, feared and copied. As a program, it earns lauds and raves even from the staunchest of its detractors.
