Two for the weekend news

MANILA, Philippines - Election mania is everywhere. You see it in controversies that blow up right on the face of politicos’ faces. You see it in the series of debates, the never-ending political jingles, the media stories.

The time is ripe, not just for daily news stories on television, but for a weekend edition as well.

Jiggy Manicad and Pia Arcangel have yet to learn why GMA Network vice president for News Programs Jessica Soho handpicked them out of the many candidates from the station’s News and Public Affairs section to anchor 24 Oras Weekend Edition. All they know is that their new program, which debuts on Sunday, Feb. 21 (after Kap’s Amazing Stories Kids’ Edition), is a challenge as much as it is a source of pressure.

“I know people will compare us with Mang Mike (Mike Enriquez) and Tita Mel (Mel Tiangco), because they host the daily edition,” says Jiggy.

Pia, on the other hand, feels more excited than pressured.

“It’s a big step for us, and at primetime TV yet,” she explains.

Both have been with GMA for years, but it’s their first time to work together.

Between the two, it’s Jiggy who has led a more dangerous life as broadcast journalist. Who can forget that image of him reporting live, with blood oozing down his head after a rock from an unidentified person hit him while he was covering the EDSA Tres.?

Jiggy’s latest assignment brought him and his crew to Haiti, where he subsisted on canned goods and alternately lived in a tent he brought along, and the van.

Jiggy could have been one of the casualties in the Ampatuan Massacre, hadn’t his journalist’s instinct held him back.

“I was invited to go to Maguindanao. But someone told me a roadside bomb had been planted. The local drivers told me the route to GenSan, which only took three hours to cover, already took five hours to negotiate since they still had to avoid certain spots,” Jiggy recalls.

Sensing something fishy, Jiggy quickly warned his colleagues. But sadly, they did not listen.

Pia, who admits she still has to face the kind of dangers Jiggy does, follows a rule of thumb her network bosses taught her.

“No story is more important than your life,” she states. “I will do it, as long as I will go home to tell the story.”

She and Jiggy will still report stories from the field even though 24 Oras Weekend Edition will elevate them into news anchors.

Nothing still beats hunting for news in war-torn Iraq, where Jiggy went in 2003. Nothing can surpass the high Pia gets from looking for exciting places to feature in Kenya for Pinoy Meets World.

This is also why Jiggy and Pia’s seniors, like Jessica, Mike, Vicky Morales leave the comforts of the cozy studio to brave the elements for a good story.

Jiggy gives another plus.

“It’s easier to get a story when you’re on field. You develop contacts and improve your credibility,” he relates.

Will Jiggy and Pia bring in the viewers the way their weekday counterparts — Mike Enriquez and Mel Tiangco do?

Jiggy and Pia refuse to even think of comparisons with their seniors.

They’d rather think of the work that lies ahead.

“Many stories crop up on weekends. And then, more people are watching at home at this time,” observes Jiggy.

“Jiggy and I have talked about package stories that we will air on weekends,” adds Pia.

It is these stories, and the way they handle them, that will determine if Jiggy and Pia’s 24 Oras Weekend Edition (regular airing is Saturdays after Wish Ko Lang and Sundays) will last not only during the election season, but after this crucial period in our lives is over.