BBC anchor Rico Hizon tackles truth in the age of fake news

MANILA, Philippines — Rico Hizon’s day starts at 3 a.m. An hour later he’s in the newsroom in Singapore, ready to deliver the day’s news to the viewers of BBC World News.

The multi-awarded broadcast journalist anchors BBC’s morning shows “Asia Business Report” and “Newsday.” He is the network’s “Face of Asia” and is the only Filipino news anchor at the BBC.

“It’s a lot of pressure, but I love it. I love my job,” he tells STARweek. “When I face the cameras, I’m just myself. Happy, positive, excited. Even though I’ve been doing this job for the past 22 years internationally, whenever I sit on my anchor’s chair, I feel like I’m waving the Filipino flag all the time to our 450 million viewers worldwide. I’m really proud.”

Despite – or because he has been – living overseas for the past 22 years, Hizon has gained a deep pride in being Filipino. Since he left the country in 1995 to join CNBC Business News and until now at the BBC, Hizon says, “Everyone always asks me where I’m from, where I’m educated, why do I speak good English, why do I handle myself very well.”

To these queries, he replies: “I was born, raised, bred in the Philippines. The best education is in the country and the best English speakers in Asia are in the Philippines – and I’m not the only one. There are many of us in the Philippines. There’s a very deep bench of talent that you can find in the country.”

Hizon adds, “I just love everything and anything that is Filipino. Especially after living out of the country for 22 years. I get to spread the good about the Filipino and the beauty of our country.”

Behind the camera, Hizon loves all things Filipino – from basketball, to film, to soap operas, to OPM and art. “I love watching love stories,” he says of his guilty pleasure when it comes to Filipino movies.

A Communication Arts and Business graduate from De La Salle University, Hizon lists Lino Brocka, Mike de Leon and Ishmael Bernal among his favorite directors. He’s looking forward to seeing De Leon’s upcoming film, Citizen Jake, starring a fellow news reporter, Atom Araullo. “If Atom can do it, then most probably I can also come out in a movie! Why not?” Hizon quips.

In fact, acting was a career path Hizon once considered. An aspiring singer, he would join singing competitions in school during his high school and college years.

During summer from third year high school until second year college, Hizon recalls working part time as a crew member in a famous fast food restaurant. “I wanted to earn my own money. I didn’t want to be dependent on my parents for my allowance.”

He used his earnings to build his record collection – and now has dozens of boxes filled with classic vinyl records.

Hizon was also part of musical productions of Repertory Philippines. “I thought that was also a direction I could take – acting and singing,” he confesses. However, he found it difficult to balance his then budding news career and rehearsals.

“What really made me realize that I had to pick just one career was when I met an accident in ’93 after a rehearsal,” he shares. “I survived and it was like a second life to me. At that time, I was just so exhausted. I was working 20 hours a day. So I had to make a decision: do I want to become a good journalist? Or do I want to become a good actor or stage performer? So I decided that my line is really to be in broadcast journalism.”

That, however, wasn’t the end of acting for Hizon. Years later, in 2016, being an international broadcaster landed him – at least his voice – a role in a Hollywood film. At the beginning of the thriller I.T., star Pierce Brosnan listens to the news on the radio – voiced by no other than Rico Hizon.

Hizon says he got his best training working at GMA-7 for seven years. “I was able to assimilate in the environment very quickly because here in the Philippines, I was trained to write, handle the camera, present, report, drive the news car, make coffee.”

The veteran broadcast journalist started out as a production assistant with Uncle Bob’s Lucky Seven Club. He remembers printing scripts, making coffee, buying food, among other tasks. Though there were no opportunities open to join the news department at that time, Hizon set himself apart from other assistants, honing his writing skills, learning to edit and handle the camera and drive the news van.

Eventually, he was able to join the team of Viewpoint, hosted by Dong Puno, who became Hizon’s mentor. It was Puno who taught Hizon his interview style and how to look natural and comfortable in front of the camera.

In 1991, Hizon joined the program Business Today, as a co-anchor to Puno, together with Vicky Morales. One fateful day – only a month or two into the new program – a flood left Puno stranded and unable to make it to the studio. Hizon was asked to take over. It was his first step to becoming the main news anchor of his own program.

When Hizon became part of CNBC Business News in Hong Kong in 1995, he recalls, “They were looking for home-bred business and financial journalists in the region. It was easy to import Asian faces from the UK and the US, but they wanted somebody from the region.” He moved to Singapore and joined BBC World News in 2002 and has been there for 15 years. Hizon says, “I never get bored. I’ve been doing the morning programs for the past 26 years.”

He adds, “When I was in grade school, I wanted to become a reporter. Until now, I’m still living out my dream… Not everyone gets the opportunity to be where I am. I always thank God for the blessings, I thank my father Jose and my late mother Leonor, and I thank my wife Melannie and son Migo for their support because I wake up early in the morning. Not everybody gets the opportunity of a lifetime to live their dream.”

One of the best parts of the job, according to Hizon, is meeting the movers and shakers in business, finance and show business. “Everyday I learn. I never stop learning.”

His long, high-profile list of interviewees reflects how far he has come in his career as a journalist.

He has interviewed Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy, Air Asia’s Tony Fernandes, Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson, billionaire Warren Buffet, former US president Bill Clinton, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohammad, Nobel Prize Laureate Mohammad Yunus, former Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yughoyohono, former Philippine presidents Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III.

In sports, he has interviewed Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe, football world champion Pele, NBA superstars Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Grant Hill, David Robinson; top women golfers Michelle Wie and Lorena Ochoa; Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson, plus David Beckham and Rio Ferdinand.

In entertainment, Jamie Foxx, Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield, Michelle Yeoh, K-Pop phenomenon PSY, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Journey’s Arnel Pineda, Lea Salonga, Charice, David Foster, photographers Steve McCurry and Annie Leibovitz, internet sensations Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza also known as Aldub, among many others.

It was also Hizon who reported from Leyte for BBC when Typhoon Yolanda devastated the country in 2013. “It was very emotional to be there, to be with the people who were affected by this devastating typhoon,” he says.

In the age of information technology, Hizon wishes to interview innovators like Mark Zuckerberg in the future. As a basketball fan, he says it would be a thrill to interview Stephen Curry.

To be a journalist in the time of Trump, Duterte and issues of fake news both locally and internationally, Hizon says, “It’s exciting times. Now there’s a lot more news to talk about.”

He remains committed to delivering balanced news to his viewers. “If it’s the opposition, we have to grill them. If it’s the administration, we have to grill them as well. Everyone is given the same treatment.”

He adds, “You have to go to the news organization that tells you the truth – and not fake news. Instead of sharing all of these tweets from news sources that are not known to many people, just go to the news source that will give you fair and balanced, accurate news.”

Hizon laments, “People don’t read anymore. They just read the headlines and then they believe already everything. You can’t listen to just gossip and hearsay. Before sharing, find out if it’s the truth.”

Meanwhile, he urges Filipinos to remain proud. “There are Filipinos everywhere – and not in just one sector of business… We really have spread our wings.”

But he believes it’s the Filipino’s sense of bayanihan that will set us apart. “Do things as one people, as one country.”