Pointblank with Ces Drilon

News reporting can be addictive. Ask any journalist worth his salt and Ces Drilon, who vows to continue being a reporter even if she starts anchoring Pointblank, touted by ABS-CBN as the "last word in news" on ANC, SkyCable Channel 21 starting May 7, 11 p.m.

There’s nothing more exciting than being out there in the field, climbing the EDSA Shrine on the second day of EDSA III to interview personalities at the forefront of the event and getting harassed by Erap loyalists angry at media. Nothing like being right where the action is.

The human drama unfolding right before her eyes can alternately move, shock and touch Ces up to now.

"I was shocked at the sheer number of Erap supporters I saw," she recalls her latest brush with history.

This wasn’t her first close encounter with defining moments in our country’s roller coaster story. Ces was assigned as junior feature reporter in Channel 4 to cover the then opposition group headed by former President Cory Aquino during Ferdinand Marcos’ time.

It was then that Ces, a fresh graduate of Communications Research from UP outscooped her peers by coming up with the story of then rebel leader Gringo Honasan’s arrest.

It was an interesting time to be in, especially for broadcast journalists like her. When Ces moved to Channel 2 in the ’90s, she covered the Senate beat, while doing special reports for ABS-CBN’s late-night newscast The World Tonight for four years.

And then came one of many turning points in her life. Channel 2 news management wanted to strengthen the business news segment. So they got Ces to handle a three-minute business news for The World Tonight while Angelo Castro and now Sen. Loren Legarda as anchors.

This was the time when the economy was in a slump and the perceptive Ces saw the need to put up a show that would empower ordinary people in entrepreneurship. Usapang Business was born at a time no network thought of putting up a program of its kind.

The late-night magazine show attracted a loyal following, especially among small businessmen who wanted to start something on their own.

But Ces felt she had to broaden herself and branch out to general interest topics. Thus, she came up with Pipol, now one of the highest-rating shows on ABS-CBN. Ces continues to host the late night show to this day.

It’s been 16 solid years of broadcast journalism for Ces, and she refuses to rest on her laurels. True, she felt "like resigning" when Karen Davila got prime anchoring assignments.

But Ces refused to wallow in self-pity, shrugging off this development as "management prerogative."

Besides, before Ces could think of anything drastic, the offer to do Pointblank came.

The chance to do a solo show on the cable channel was too good to resist. First, it is a veritable key to reaching a more discriminating audience. There are no ratings to worry about, no lingering doubts about whether what you’re saying will make sense to the masa or not.

The 30-minute show will see Ces digging deeper into social issues and stories as they unfold from day to day (the show runs Monday to Friday).

Ces is also excited about the prospect of broadening her audience to cover the AB crowd via Pointblank. As it is, she already has a captive audience in the CDE class, thanks to Pipol.

Still, the adventure doesn’t stop there for Ces, just because ABS is giving her the comfortable job of an anchor for Pointblank. Ces still wants to go out there, in the thick of things, to conduct her dream interviews with Danding Cojuangco and Lucio Tan.

She longs for the day when she can make a cable TV version of her Usapang Business but is realistic enough to know this will require a lot of financing.

Meanwhile, Ces has rolled her sleeves, watching more talk shows to measure up to the networks expectations of her.