Growing up in Brunei, my childhood memories of watching TV were mostly of the popular children’s show Sesame Street. However, whenever we would go home to the Philippines for vacation, I would occasionally hear my cousins talk about Batibot, which was based on Sesame Street.

Batibot, which means “small, but strong and robust” in English, was actually called Sesame! when it first premiered on Philippine TV in 1984, and was eventually renamed Batibot a few years later. When it was still called Sesame! it used both Filipino and English as the means of communication, but once it became Batibot, it was entirely in Filipino.

The show would go on to be one of, if not the most, popular Filipino children’s TV show, going off the air only in 1998, when cable channels such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney Channel became popular. Now, Batibot is back to help Filipino parents and teachers foster a love for learning and discovery in children.

Airing every Saturday at 8.30am on TV5, the show aims to be a “response to the growing need for an intelligent educational show,” according to Roberto Barreiro, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the station. “While TV5 continues to deliver child-friendly programs, it’s high time that we supplement the child’s growth with a children’s program generations of Filipinos have grown up with,” he adds.