Reporter's Notebook

Reporter's Notebook is an investigative news magazine television show in the Philippines hosted by senior reporters Jiggy Manicad and Maki Pulido. It is broadcast every Thursday evenings on GMA Network.

Jiggy Manicad
Rodrigo “Jiggy" Manicad is a Filipino television news producer/reporter and 24 Oras Weekend and News TV QRT anchor. Through his eleven years in the media, he has covered stories of national and international relevance.

His stories include insurgency and extremism in Mindanao, disasters and the illegal arms trade. In 2004, he was awarded the British Chevening Scholarship Award. He then took a postgraduate course in International Broadcast Journalism at Cardiff University in Wales. He was chosen from 800 applicant-journalists from all over the country. As part of the program, he had his practicum at the BBC in Norwich, England. He is also an awardee of Ten Outstanding Young Men for 2012 for journalism.

Maki Pulido
Maria Judea “Maki" Pulido became a household name when viewers watched her run across Malacaňang (the official residence of the Presidential Family) to her camera crew to deliver an exclusive update on the Estrada family behind palace gates. At the close of the Subic rape trial in December 2006, Pulido reported the latest on the convicted US Marine as he was brought to the detention center, amid pressure from the American’s security escorts.A former host of the television program I-Witness, her stories cover issues such as child labor, human rights, corruption and the latest political events. Her report on Filipinos who illegally enter Malaysia through the country’s “Backdoor" won the Silver Screen Award at the 2005 US International Film and Video Festivals. Two of her stories, “Batang Kargador" (Child Haulers) and “Sex Slaves", were finalists at the New York Film Festivals.

Rhea Santos
Rhea Santos is an award-winning broadcast journalist and newscaster in the Philippines. She formerly co-presents Q's flagship newscast, News on Q, and is the co-host of GMA's morning show Unang Hirit. She replaced previous host Maki Pulido after the latter filed her candidacy for the Philippine congress in November 2009.

Batang Kalakal
The documentary "Batang Kalakal" tells the story of 11-year-old Liza Asnan. Despite an empty stomach, she wades through the murky, garbage-strewn river every day to scavenge for plastic and tin cans to sell at the junk shop. She is determined to continue going to school, though her classmates laugh at her because her shoes are filled with holes and her mother says they cannot afford to send her next year. The documentary was also broadcast on Sine Totoo, another GMA Network documentary program, but with interviews of Maki Pulido and gold-medal winning producer Joseph Laban.

Engkuwentro
"Engkuwentro" is about the day of July 10, 2007, when Jun Veneracion and his crew were caught in the midst of a seven-hour firefight between MILF rebels and the military in Basilan. Fourteen soldiers were killed - ten of them beheaded. The documentary captures the moments when, at the peak of the battle, the marines struggled with mortar shells that failed to fire. The documentary was produced by Pima Arizala.

Pinoy Exodus sa Lebanon
The documentary "Pinoy Exodus sa Lebanon" documents the plight of Filipinos in Lebanon in the week when Israeli forces began bombing the Hezbollah in 2007. Reporter Jiggy Manicad with cameraman Tenten Bautista discovered that there were more than 30,000 Filipinos caught in the war zone. He met domestic helpers with broken limbs who had had to jump from their employers’ balconies and out of windows in order to escape from the war. Many more are still unable to leave. In one poignant scene from the episode, a woman locked up in her employer’s house drops a note from her veranda addressed to Filipino government officials, asking for help so she may be released.

Pinays for Export
In "Pinays for Export", Maki Pulido and Jiggy Manicad with award-winning documentary producers Derick Cabrido and Michael del Rosario trace the path of trafficked women from the Philippines to neighboring Asian countries. The coverage results in an actual rescue. From the pier in Zamboanga City, Maki and her team take the route that traffickers allegedly use to sneak women into Sabah, Malaysia, to force them into prostitution while Jiggy and his team take the human trafficking route by air - from the airport in Manila to Hong Kong and Macau.

Diskriminasyon
“Diskriminasyon" or Discrimination reported by Maki Pulido produced by Ma. Juzzara Simbulan looks at the situation of Philippine public schools, which can be a place to grow, learn and play, but also a place where children first learn how cruel the world can be.

Batang Kargador
In “Batang Kargador", Maki Pulido documents children carrying cement sacks at the Bacolod City pier. Not only is the job backbreaking, they also risk contracting respiratory diseases because they inhale the cement. The documentary's producer Anj Guidaya-Atienza, explained in an interview by Sine Totoo host Howie Severino that saving these children is not as easy as simply asking them to stop working.