Korina back as top ABS anchor

Veteran broadcast journalist Korina Sanchez will return to the anchor’s chair as main newscaster for ABS-CBN Channel 2’s "Bandila" news program that will air at 10:30 p.m. on weekdays starting July 3.

Maria Ressa, ABS-CBN senior vice president and head of its news and current affairs division, announced yesterday the return of Sanchez to news anchor duties as well as the return to the 10:30 p.m. slot of their late-night TV newscast as part of the network’s reformatting.

Ressa said her main mission is to restore the late-night newscast to its premier time slot, which had been taken over by entertainment programs.

The formal launching ceremony for "Bandila" will be led by Ressa, Gabby Lopez, president and chief executive officer of ABS-CBN, Charo Santos-Concio, executive vice president.

"ABS-CBN will announce a landmark move that has the potential to change the country’s broadcasting landscape," the TV network stated in its press invitation.

Ressa said the launching of "Bandila" is just one of the moves the network is undertaking this year to bring back the late-night newscast to a much earlier time slot from its present 11:30 to midnight airing schedule.

"It’s an act of leadership," said Ressa.

This is why, Ressa explained, the network chose to adopt the name "Bandila" for this news program.

Ressa herself is a veteran broadcast journalist with more than 17 years news experience at Cable News Network (CNN). She was personally recruited by Lopez to join ABS-CBN and given a free hand to reorganize, revamp and reformat the news and current affairs division of the network.

Sanchez will be joined on "Bandila" by fellow veteran ABS-CBN broadcast journalists Henry Omaga-Diaz and Ces Drilon.

The triumvirate of Sanchez, Omaga-Diaz and Drilon will replace the ABS-CBN "Insider" TV newscast currently anchored by former press secretary Ricardo Puno and Drilon.

Sanchez, who writes a regular Sunday column for The Philippine STAR, returns to news anchoring duties at the Lopez-owned TV network almost two years after she left the early evening "TV Patrol" news program.

Aside from "Bandila," Ressa disclosed that Sanchez will also be featured on an as yet untitled news and current affairs program on the ANC News Channel, aired on sister company Skycable TV.

Sanchez will continue her tele-magazine program "Rated K," which also airs on Channel 2 every Sunday, as well as her daily morning radio program from Monday to Friday over ABS-CBN radio station dzMM with fellow broadcaster Ted Failon.

Ressa said "TV Patrol" will continue with the present team led by Failon, Julius Babao and Karen Davila as news anchors who also occasionally report from the field.

With regards to Sanchez’s publicly acknowledged romantic links with Sen. Mar Roxas, Ressa said the feisty news anchor will "inhibit" herself from taking part in the coverage of any report involving the senator.

Ressa said this is in line with the newly issued "ABS-CBN Standards and Ethics Manual," a 110-page black book of the do’s and don’ts imposed on personnel of its news and current affairs division.