Ricardo Villanueva Puno Jr. (January 20, 1946 – February 15, 2022) was a Filipino television public affairs host, media executive, newspaper columnist, and

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

Early life and education

Puno was born in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

on January 20, 1946, a son of former Minister of Justice under the Marcos administration, Ricardo C. Puno and a brother of former Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary, Ronaldo "Ronnie" Puno and former congressman Roberto "Robbie" Puno. Puno held a Bachelor of Arts degree (cum laude) from Ateneo de Manila University (1965), a Bachelor of Laws degree ( cum laude and

salutatorian Salutatorian is an academic title given in Armenia, the Philippines, Canada, Afghanistan and the United States to the second-highest-ranked graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. ...

) from the same University in 1969 and a Master of Laws degree from the

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

Career

Puno was Senior Vice President for News and Current Affairs of

ABS-CBN Corporation ABS-CBN Corporation is a Mass media in the Philippines, Filipino Media conglomerate, media company based in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is the largest entertainment television and film production, Broadcast syndication, progra ...

and Executive Vice President of the

ABS-CBN News Channel The ABS-CBN News Channel, commonly known as ANC, is a 24/7 Philippine pay television news channel. It was launched in 1996 as the first all-news network in English language. The majority of its programs are produced by ABS-CBN News and Curre ...

. On top of that, he wrote articles for his column ''My Viewpoint'' first appearing on ''

The Philippine Star ''The Philippine Star'' (self-styled ''The Philippine STAR'') is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines and the flagship brand of the Philstar Media Group. First published on July 28, 1986, by veteran journalists Betty Go-Belmonte, ...

'' and later ''

The Manila Times ''The Manila Times'' is the oldest extant English-language newspaper in the Philippines. It is published daily by The Manila Times Publishing Corp. (formerly La Vanguardia Publishing Corporation) with editorial and administrative offices at 2/F ...

''. He was the host for a public affairs program, ''Viewpoints'', shown on ANC. He was the senior partner of the Puno and Puno Law Offices, Vice President-General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the nation's flag-carrier, the

Philippine Airlines Philippine Airlines (PAL) is the flag carrier of the Philippines. Headquartered at the Philippine National Bank, PNB Financial Center in Pasay, the airline was founded in 1941 and is the oldest operating commercial airline in Asia. Philippine ...

(1986–1990 and 1978–1983) and a member of the Philippine Panel for International Air Negotiations (1979–1990). He was also a past president of the Manila Overseas Press Club. He was also the former president of Guagua National Colleges in Guagua, Pampanga from 2008 until his retirement in 2012. When President Joseph Estrada assumed power, Puno was appointed Press Secretary and ran unsuccessfully for a Senate seat in the 2001 senatorial race. After this debacle, he returned to the media profession and re-assumed his old position at ABS-CBN, but lost it anew after he chose to anchor the network's reformatted national late-night newscast '' Insider'' with Ces Oreña-Drilon in 2005. However, due to low ratings, the said newscast was canceled in the following year and was replaced by '' Bandila'' which marked the return of Korina Sanchez to the local newscasting scene. (Drilon then joined ''Bandila''.) He then ran unsuccessfully for the lone congressional seat of Muntinlupa in 2007 against Congressman Ruffy Biazon. With Biazon term-limited (he ran for and lost a Senate seat), Puno again contested the seat in the 2010 election against Biazon's father, Rodolfo Biazon, but lost garnering 27% of the vote against Biazon's 46%. In February 2011, he joined AksyonTV and started hosting a weekly political commentary program called ''De Kalibre''. He was the recipient of various awards in the fields of media and law: the 1985 TOYM awardee for Media and a KBP Golden Dove awardee (Best Male Host for Magazine Show, 1999; Ka Doroy Achievement Award, 1993 and the Best Public Affairs Show, 1990). His program, ''Viewpoint'', won the Catholic Mass Media Awards as Best Public Affairs Programs for three consecutive years (1984, 1985 and 1986) and was elevated to the Hall of Fame. His television shows ('' Dong Puno Live'', ''Viewpoint'' & ''Focus'') have also received recognition from the Gawad CCP Para sa Telebisyon and PMPC Star Awards for Television. In March 2014, he joined DWIZ and started hosting a public affairs radio program called "Karambola".

Personal life and death

Puno was married to Clodelsa del Castillo and they have two sons, Ricky (born 1969) and Donnie (born 1970), and nephew Randolf del Castillo (born 1991) lived with him, and three grandchildren, Tana (born 1990), Sandro (born 1996) and Santi (born 2002). In 2015, Puno was reported to be afflicted with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. He died on February 15, 2022, at the age of 76.

Filmography

Film

*'' Juan Tamad at Mister Shooli: Mongolian Barbecue'' (cameo)

Television series

*'' Viewpoint'' (1984–1994; GMA) *''Focus'' (1989; New Vision 9) *'' Business Today'' (1990–1994; GMA) *'' Dong Puno Live'' (1995–2000;

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

) *''Dong Puno Tonight'' (2003;

) *''Insider'' (2005–2006;

) *''Viewpoints'' (2006–2007; ANC) *''Kalibre 41'' (2011; AksyonTV) *''News5 Debates: Hamon sa Pagbabago'' (2011–2013; TV5 and AksyonTV) *''Dong Puno De Kalibre'' (2011–2013; AksyonTV)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puno, Dong 1946 births 2022 deaths Kapampangan people Filipino Roman Catholics Journalists from Manila People from Muntinlupa Ateneo de Manila University alumni Harvard Law School alumni 20th-century Filipino businesspeople 20th-century Filipino lawyers Estrada administration cabinet members ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs people ABS-CBN people GMA Network (company) people GMA Integrated News and Public Affairs people News5 people People with Parkinson's disease Secretaries of the Presidential Communications Office Nationalist People's Coalition politicians Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino politicians