TV5’s ‘Aksyon Bisaya’ folds up

CEBU, Philippines - After five years of “Labaw sa balita, aksyon!,” TV5’s Cebu broadcast “Aksyon Bisaya” aired its final episode yesterday.

The program’s news manager Titus Borromeo said that management decided to cease producing the show so that the Kapatid network can sustain its other operations.

Borromeo clarified that the reporters of “Aksyon Bisaya” remain employed by the station as they will still be tapped to feed news from Cebu province to TV5’s national broadcast.

He added that they were informed only yesterday by the Manila office that that day would be their last broadcast. The same fate fell on “Aksyon Dabaw,” the Davao counterpart of “Aksyon Bisaya.”

Borromeo shared that some of their loyal viewers went as far as calling up their station and were crying when it was confirmed to them that indeed the social media posts about Aksyon Bisaya’s demise were true.

Anchors Glenn Anthony Soco and Georgia Herrera thanked viewers during the last part of yesterday’s episode.

Aksyon Bisaya’s light news segment and Radyo Singko anchor JP Lao (of Word of the Gay fame) expressed gratitude to those who tuned in and appreciated their program.

“I hope, mga Kapatid, nga kung asa ko dalhon sa bag-ong hugna sa akong kinabuhi, inyoha gihapon ko’ng suportahan sama sa inyong pagsuporta nako dinhi sa TV5,” Lao wrote in a Facebook post.

“Above all, thank you TV5 for trusting me this big. What a wonderful experience it has been. It’s time to move on to conquer new battles and scale new heights.”

With lawyer-radioman Atty. Ruphil Fernandez Bañoc and former reporter Darlanne Sino Cruz as its pioneer anchors, “Aksyon Bisaya” entered the game in July 2011 as a third player in Cebu’s local news broadcast scene, which for the longest time had only been a two-way battle between ABS-CBN Cebu’s “TV Patrol Central Visayas” and GMA-7 Cebu’s “Balitang Bisdak.”

To complement their entry, TV5 upgraded the company’s facilities by building a new transmission site in Mount Busay and renovated their old, 700 square meters studio. They had also applied for higher frequencies in an effort to blanket the province with top-quality signals.

In April 2013, Bañoc and Cruz were replaced as anchors by Atty. Frank Malilong, Jr. and Herrera since Bañoc’s position as station manager and commentator of DYHP’s Radio Mindanao Network posed a conflict to TV5’s radio affiliate Radyo Singko, while Cruz wanted to focus on running her own business.

Malilong later vacated the post, and the male anchor spot was given to Soco. VAB (FREEMAN)