Jiggy Manicad, Manila Philippines
Jiggy Manicad (Rodrigo Defeo Manicad Jr) is a broadcast journalist. He was born in San Pablo City, Laguna on 15 November 1974. His parents are Rodrigo Manicad Sr and Luzviminda Defeo Manicad, both from San Pablo. His wife, Maria Nicola Pulumbarit Manicad, is a film and TV director and multimedia producer with whom he has two daughters. He completed a bachelor of arts in communication Arts at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in Laguna, 1994. He obtained a postgraduate course in international broadcast journalism from Cardiff University in Wales and completed his practicum at the British Broadcasting Corporation in Norwich, England, 2004. He holds the position of news producer and reporter for GMA Network.
After graduating from UPLB, Manicad first worked as assistant editor in a publication of the International Rice Research Institute. Months later, he applied to be a production assistant and driver in GMA’s radio station, DZBB, but was not accepted. He started working as a writer in the public affairs magazine Magandang Gabi, Bayan (Good Evening, Nation), ABS-CBN, hosted by Noli de Castro, but left the show after only a few weeks on the job for a simple reason: the network was far from the bus stop where he got off from his daily ride from Laguna. He immediately went back to GMA, was interviewed by Jessica Soho, and accepted as a beat reporter and writer for the night shift of GMA Balita (GMA News). He has since then risen from the ranks, joined the team of other news programs of GMA, such as i-Witness, Brigada Siete (News Brigade at Seven), and GMA Balita (GMA News), and covered risky beats that tested his mettle as a young reporter.
Two of the most memorable news coverage during the early years of his career were the chaotic march to Malacañan on 1 May 2001 of supporters of then President Joseph Estrada during which he injured his head after having been hit by a rock while reporting on-cam; and the rescue of Chinese kidnap victim Dominga Chu in Pasay City in 2004, which was related to the kidnap-slay case of business executive Betty Chua Sy in late 2003. He covered stories that made marks in the history of Philippine television. International assignments included the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Jalalabad in Eastern Afghanistan, 2001; the war in Iraq, 2003; the funeral of former US president Ronald Reagan, 2004; the Filipino hostage crisis in Iraq and Dubai, 2004; the Al-Qaeda bombing of London, 2005; the Hezbollah-Israel war, 2006; the Filipino exodus report in Syria/Lebanon, 2006; the first Filipino attempt to climb the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, 2006; the inauguration of Barack Obama, 2009; the Haiti earthquake coverage, 2010; and the canonization of St Pedro Calungsod during which he anchored live from the Vatican, 2012. Some local assignments included the exclusive surrender in Zamboanga City of Buhari Jamiri, one of the suspects in the beheading of 10 marines in Basilan, 2007; the coverage of Marine Corporal Angelo Abeto’s story, which raised discussions on the military’s incapacity to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield, 2008; the remarkable documentation of the miserable situation of the residents of Fuga Island, 2008; the plight of overseas Filipino workers in Malaysia doubling as drug couriers, 2010s; the surrender of Comelec official Lintang Bedol, who was linked to the controversial 12-0 Maguindanao senatorial elections, 2011; and supertyphoon Yolanda’s devastation of Leyte that caught him and his team in the path of the storm, 2013.
His investigative documentaries in Reporter’s Notebook always hit a raw nerve with their expose of the many ills in society. Examples are “Batang Hit Man” (Child Hit Man), 2006, on child assassins ensnared in clan wars in Abra province; “Gatilyo” (Trigger of a Gun), 2007, about the illegal arms trade; “Pulong Diablo” (Evil Island), 2007, describing the criminality in an impoverished island on a river in Manila; and “Puslit Droga” (Drug Smuggling), 2011, on the illegal drug trail from Luzon to Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro.
His works were recognized by international award-giving groups. “Sa Pusod ng Iraq (In the Navel of Iraq), his war coverage in Baghdad together with Mike Enriquez and Howie Severino, won the Silver Screen Award at the 37th US International Film and Video Festival, 2004. His news coverage in 24 Oras of the encounter and death of Marine Corporal Angelo Abeto against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Basilan won the World Gold Medal at the New York Film and TV Festival, 2008. GMA’s coverage, of which Manicad is a part, of supertyphoon Yolanda in 2013 won for the network its fourth George Foster Peabody Award, 2014. His documentaries in Reporter’s Notebook won several awards. “Giyera sa Lebanon” (War in Lebanon), about how Filipinos cope with the crisis in Lebanon, won Best Current Affairs Program at the Asian Television Awards, 2008. “Pinays for Export: The Asian Sex Trafficking Trail,” about traffickers sneaking Filipinas into neighboring Asian countries, won the World Bronze Medal for Best Public Affairs Program at the New York Festivals, 2009. “Lunok Droga” (Swallowed Drugs), about international drug smuggling syndicates employing Filipinos as drug mules, won the Silver Screen Award for Best Documentary / Social Issues at the US International Film and Video Festival, 2009.
For his work in journalism, Manicad was chosen as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines, 2012. He was also one of the three first awardees of the Metrobank Journalists of the Year, 2013
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