Horacio "Howie" Gorospe Severino (born July 18, 1961) is a Filipino broadcast journalist, anchor, host, documentarist and podcaster who is currently working in

GMA Network GMA Network (an acronym of its legal name, Global Media Arts and commonly known as GMA) is a Television in the Philippines, Philippine commercial broadcast network, serving as the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network (company), ...

, as consultant of

GMA Integrated News GMA Integrated News (simply known as GMA News; formerly known as RBS News Department, GMA Radio-Television News and GMA Rainbow Satellite News; and later GMA News and Public Affairs) is the news division of the Philippine media company GMA Network ...

, editor-at-large of

GMA News Online GMA Network Inc., commonly known as GMA, is a Philippine media company based in Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. GMA is primarily involved in radio and television broadcasting, with subsidiaries dealing in various media-related ...

, and is best known for hosting

GMA Public Affairs GMA Public Affairs is the public affairs division of the Philippine media conglomerate GMA Network, Inc. that currently produces and airs documentaries, magazine, tv series, films, anthology, infotainment and other public affairs genre progra ...

' documentary program ''

i-Witness ''i-Witness'', formerly ''i-Witness: The GMA Documentaries'' is a Philippine television documentary show broadcast by GMA Network and GMA News TV. Originally hosted by Vicky Morales, Luchi Cruz-Valdes, Mike Enriquez, Cheche Lazaro and Jessi ...

''. Severino is also notable for his works in

Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) is a non-profit media organization specializing in investigative journalism. It is based in Quezon City, Philippines. Established in 1989 by nine Filipino journalists, the organization ...

and '' The Probe Team''. He has worked in print, television, and online media.

Background

Education

He has said he wanted to be a journalist ever since he was in fifth grade. He graduated from

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

with a history degree, ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'', and received his master's degree from

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

in the United Kingdom in Environment, Development, and Policy. As a college student in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in the early 1980s, he got to know

Benigno Aquino Jr. Benigno "Ninoy" Simeón Aquino Jr., (, ; November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983) was a Filipino politician who served as a senator of the Philippines (1967–1972) and governor of the province of Tarlac (1963–1967). Aquino was the husband ...

, then in exile. After Aquino's assassination in 1983, Severino returned home to teach at his alma mater Ateneo de Manila High School, and join the anti-Marcos movement. He was arrested while taking pictures of a police dispersal of a student barricade in front of Ateneo campus on January 28, 1985, the same day as

Lino Brocka Catalino Ortiz Brocka (April 3, 1939 – May 22, 1991) was a Filipino film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and significant filmmakers in the history of Philippine cinema. His filmography often addressed the co ...

and

Behn Cervantes Benjamín Roberto "Behn" Holcombe Cervantes (August 25, 1938 – August 13, 2013) was a Filipino artist and activist. He was highly regarded as a theater pioneer, teacher, and progressive thinker who was detained multiple times during martial l ...

. Severino was detained for eight days in

Fort Bonifacio Fort Andres Bonifacio (formerly Fort William McKinley) is the site of the national headquarters of the Philippine Army (Headquarters Philippine Army or HPA) located in Taguig, Philippines. The camp is named after Andres Bonifacio, the revolutio ...

, which was at the time a dreaded army camp and not yet the high-end commercial and residential hub that it is today.

Career

Severino was a campus journalist at Tufts University for all four years in college. In the Philippines, he began his journalism career as a newspaper reporter and magazine writer in 1988. He became a co-founder of the

(PCIJ) in 1989; established himself as a leading documentary filmmaker; and, in 2009, was named editor-in-chief of GMA News Online,

's news website. He stepped down in 2014 after five years, and was appointed GMA Network's vice president for Professional Development in May 2014. On TV, he was on '' Probe Team'' for four years with

Cheche Lazaro Cecilia "Cheche" Aldaba Lim-Lázaro (born September 8, 1945, in Los Angeles, California), is a Filipino people, Filipino broadcast journalist and the founding President of Probe Productions Inc. as well as an Editor-at-Large of online news we ...

before joining ''

'', now one of the longest-running public affairs programs in the Philippines. He set up the PCIJ's Environment Desk, built credentials as a leading environmental journalist, and worked closely with

Ramon Magsaysay Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. (August 31, 1907 – March 17, 1957) was a Filipino statesman who served as the seventh President of the Philippines, from December 30, 1953, until his death in an 1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash, aircraft disast ...

awardee Sheila Coronel. He still produces environmental documentaries for ''i-Witness'' and often appears on television riding his mountain bike. Online, he was the first blogger on GMA's web platforms. His journalistic exploration of emerging media culminated in 2009 with his appointment as GMA Network's vice president for Multimedia Journalism and his subsequent assignment to helm GMA News Online. As GMA News Online's editor-in-chief, Severino and his team pioneered in the Philippines the use of

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...

for disaster coverage,

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

for breaking news, and crowdsourcing for news gathering. Along with fellow ''i-Witness'' documentarist

Kara David Kara Patria Constantino David-Cancio (; born September 12, 1973) is a Filipino journalist, host, professor, and educational administrator. She is known because of investigative and multi-awarded documentaries in ''i-Witness''. These documentar ...

, Severino was the anchor of

GMA News TV GMA News TV (GNTV; visually rendered in uppercase in its logo) is a 24-hour Philippine-based international pay television channel owned by Citynet Network Marketing and Productions Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of GMA Network Inc. It was ...

's morning newscast '' News to Go'' in 2011, until its conclusion in 2019. He also hosted his own podcast ''The Howie Severino Podcast'', which was produced by

GMA News and Public Affairs GMA Integrated News (simply known as GMA News; formerly known as RBS News Department, GMA Radio-Television News and GMA Rainbow Satellite News; and later GMA News and Public Affairs) is the news division of the Philippine media company GMA Networ ...

. Following the split of GMA News and Public Affairs in 2022, Severino became the consultant of now-rebranded news division

, while he remained in

to continue making documentaries in ''i-Witness''.

Personal life

Severino's parents are Ambassador Rodolfo Severino Jr., former secretary-general of the

Association of Southeast Asian Nations The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 Sovereign state, states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its ...

(ASEAN) from 1998 to 2002, and Tati Gorospe Severino. a former schoolteacher and administrator. Severino is married to Ipat Luna, an environmental lawyer and TOYM awardee, with whom he has a son, Alon Roberto. In 2012, Alon, 10, was named Best Child Performer by the Aliw Awards for his role in Totong Hilot, a full-length play staged in the Cultural Center of the Philippines during the Virgin Labfest. On April 7, 2020, it was revealed that Severino was the country's 2828th

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

patient during the

COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines The COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , there have been reported cases, and reported deaths, the fift ...

. He later recovered from the coronavirus after being in the hospital for eleven days. A special ''

'' documentary about his experience as a COVID-positive patient; entitled ''Ako si Patient 2828'', aired on GMA on April 18, 2020.

Awards and citations

Severino is one of the Philippines' most awarded journalists. His awards include: *Neil Davis-Bill Latch Memorial Award given to one young Asia-Pacific journalist, 1991 *CMMA best newspaper reporter, 1991 *Jaime V Ongpin Grand Prize, Investigative reporting, 1996 *Four-time winner of Rotary Club of Manila's Journalist of the Year awards *Three-time winner of UPLB's Gandingan awards (Best Documentarist) *Titus Brandsma Award for Leadership in Journalism, 2009 *PUP's Mabini Award for Media *PUP's MARINGAL NA PANTAS award for contributions to historical studies, 2012 *PHL Medical Association's Rizal award for documentaries on Rizal *Adamson's first Adamson Univ. Media Award, 2011 *La Sallian Scholarum Award for Best TV feature for youth, 2005 In 2007, Severino was inducted into the Rotary Club of Manila's Journalism Hall of Fame after he was named

Broadcast Journalist Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

of the Year twice and Investigative Journalist of the Year twice. In October 2007, GMA Network released ''Ten Years of Howie Severino'', a DVD compilation of ten of his most notable documentaries. Included on the DVD was ''Huling Hala-bira'', a documentary about a family living under the railroad tracks in Pandacan, Manila, which won second prize that same year in a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

-sponsored international broadcast competition. In a 2009 trust survey conducted by ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

'' magazine, Severino was sixth on a list of most trusted Filipinos. ''People Asia Magazine'', in its June–July 2012 issue, named Severino one of that year's "Men Who Matter".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Severino, Horacio G 1961 births Living people Filipino educators Filipino activists Ateneo de Manila University alumni Alumni of the University of Sussex Journalists from Manila GMA Integrated News and Public Affairs people GMA Network (company) executives GMA Network (company) people Filipino television journalists Filipino podcasters