Why Jiggy Manicad Is Making a Return to News: 'I'm Serving a Higher Purpose Now'

Rodrigo “Jiggy” Manicad Jr. is hitting the big five-oh next year, but even now it feels like he’s someone who’s already lived a dozen different lifetimes. The former TV news reporter and anchor of GMA Network is best known for reporting the news straight from where they’re happening—disasters, war zones, international summits, military operations. He’s traveled to the jungles of Basilan and Sulu, the deserts of Iraq, the base camp of Mount Everest, and in the eye of one of the most powerful supertyphoons in the last century. He’s got nothing left to prove as far as his career as a journalist is concerned, and for the last four or five years, he’s been happily “retired” from the daily grind of covering and reporting the news. 

But this month, Manicad made a surprise announcement: he’s joining the news team of TV5 and signed on to become one of the principal anchors of its daily primetime newscast Frontline Pilipinas. Starting January 8, 2024, he’ll be part of the existing on-cam news team of Luchi Cruz-Valdes, Julius Babao, Cheryl Cosim, Ed Lingao, Lourd De Veyra, Kaladkaren, and Mikee Reyes to deliver the most pressing and most important happenings impacting Filipinos in the world we live in today.

Jiggy Manicad is the newest anchor of TV5's primetime newscast Frontline Pilipinas

Photo by TV5.

But what made Manicad change his mind? What was it that lured him out of retirement—of a quiet life driving his kids to school, attending PTA meetings, and enjoying family dinners—to get back into the chaotic world of hardcore news reporting?

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A consummate journalist

To find out, I made an appointment to speak to the man himself. Through his wife Marnie, herself an equally fiery force of nature who runs her own TV production company, I met up with Manicad at a posh hotel in Makati, just before an event that we were all planning to attend. At this point, I should probably disclose the fact that I actually worked with Manicad back in GMA many years ago and had kept somewhat in touch over the years. 

Through our years working together, I’ve known him as a hardworking, no-nonsense beat reporter who was always sniffing out the biggest, most consequential stories. He covered the general news beat, meaning he could be sent out to cover any sort of breaking story—a fire, a shooting, political upheavals—although he was usually sent out of town to report on huge goings-on in places like Zamboanga, Marawi, or Maguindanao.

Manicad at the TV5 studio. He says it was a sign from the Lord that made hiim come out of retirement and rejoin the news business

Photo by Marnie Manicad.

Of course, most people were probably introduced to him for his memorable coverage of the so-called EDSA Tres revolt, or the protests that took place after the arrest of former President Joseph Estrada in 2001. Manicad and his camera crew had the misfortune of being pelted with rocks by rioters, several of which hit him on the head, leading to a bloody gash. All of it was caught on camera, and by the time the protests were over, Estrada had been detained and Manicad had become a household name.

Clearly he loved his job, which is why it was a big deal when he announced that he was leaving it.

“Dalawang beses ako nag-resign,” he says. “First as a reporter in 2015. That was because gusto ko maalagaan yung family. Gusto kong makitang lumalaki yung mga bata, hinahatid ko sa school. Pag may tanong sila, andun ka para sa kanila. Kasi pag dineploy ka (as a reporter), patay ka talaga.”

While he wasn’t part of the daily grind anymore, Manicad did keep his job as host and anchor of programs like Reporters Notebook, QRT (Quick Response Team), and 24 Oras Weekend. 

A failed run for the Senate

But in 2018, he left GMA for good. This time, it was in preparation for his campaign as senator in the 2019 elections. While it wasn’t the first time that somebody in news media dipped their toes into politics, it was strange for Manicad because he never imagined himself being “on the other side,” so to speak.

He explains his decision to run at the time. “Yung pagpasok ko sa politics, ang nag-trigger nun, yung 2013 coverage ko sa (Supertyphoon) Yolanda. Before then, parang paulit-ullit na lang yung mga kino-cover ko. May peste sa onion farmers sa Nueva Ecja; nag-frost yung mga gulay sa Benguet; or nasira yung mga harvest na mangga or lanzones. It was all the same stories every year.

Manicad with TV5 president and CEO Guido R. Zaballero and head of news and information Luchi Cruz-Valdes

Photo by TV5.

“But the turning point was Yolanda,” he adds. “Doon ko na-experience yung, may budget kami, may pambili, pero wala kaming mabilhan ng pagkain. Nag-aabang lang kami. There was one time, yung isang tindahan, mage-expire yung manok nila, naki-agaw kami. Ganun kalala yung sitwasyon.

“Napaisip ako na parang, ang Pilipinas is import dependent. What happens if yung kinukunan or binibilhan natin ng pagkain abroad, tamaan ng kasing laking disaster ng Yolanda? Wala tayong maliwanag na policy on food security. That was 2013. I resigned from GMA to run in 2018. Matagal yung proseso. And I hope it doesn’t come off as being too religious, but for me, it was really God’s way of telling me, ‘Bumitaw ka diyan, and pakinggan mo muna Ako.’

“We met someone named Gina Espejo, who taught us how to read the Bible,” he says. “Nung una, ano ako, ‘Bible?! Ano yun?’ Hindi naman ako ganun dati e.”

But it was this newfound relationship with God that would eventually lead Manicad down a new path. Between 2019 to 2023, the former journalist contented himself with spending time with his family, serving in Quiapo Church as a devotee of the Black Nazarene, and hosting a TV show called Agripreneur, produced by his wife Marnie. 

“We were helping farmers with our show,” he says. “We helped them find markets para mas marami silang benta.”

And all through those years, despite the occasional offers, he says the thought of going back to news never entered his mind. 

“Hindi talaga. Ayoko na,” he says. “Kasi, with GMA, binigay ko yung 1,000 percent ko dun. Yung wala akong Pasko, walang birthday, walang bagong taon. Pagka-dineploy ako, okay lang mag away kami ni Marnie kasi I was doing my job. Ganun ako ka-focused. Sometimes ako pa yung nagvo-volunteer to go on out-of-town trips. Pag hindi umere yung storya ko, walk out ako. Ganun ako ka-devoted.”

Back to the grind

But he’s rejoining the grind as an anchor for TV5. The question is, why there, and why now?

Manicad says it started when he asked for a sign from God if He wanted him to speak again. Almost immediately he received invitations from schools and institutions like Central Luzon State University and Anak TV for speaking engagements. And then, in September, he received a call from a producer in TV5 asking if he’d be interested to anchor the network’s weekend news program. He initially declined the offer and told the producer he’s retired.

With former Kapuso colleague Jay Taruc, who is now also an anchor for One PH

Photo by Marnie Manicad.

“Pero kinabukasan tumawag ulit,” he says. “And then later that evening, tumawag ulit. I prayed over it. Sabi ko kay Lord, ‘Ikaw na bahala.’ Kasi may mga projects kami na pag hindi Niya gusto, hindi natutuloy.

“Bakit ako bumalik? I guess this is God’s way of telling me na, ‘Magsalita ka ulit. Tell them about My faithfulness.’

“Ito na rin yung naramdaman ko na tama,” he adds. “I received a sign. Kasi ngayon, I operate on the belief that, maikli lang talaga ang buhay. Ano ba talaga yung purpose natin? For me, it’s to serve God. Ano man yung work na gagawin ko—whether magpaligo ng aso, maglinis ng bahay, maging reporter, it’s really about doing the best para when I account everything, wala akong regrets. Wala akong kailangan balikan.”

It also helped that, when Manicad visited and met with his new workmates, he got nothing but positive vibes, and that the TV5 management accepted his terms, which, in the beginning didn’t even include money. 

“Ang sabi ko, if papasok ulit ako sa news, I hope may idea kayo how I work,” he says. “Hindi nga ako nagtanong ng sweldo or kung magkano makukuha ko jan. Sabi ko, I’d like to do stories again.” 

I ask what his plans are now that he’s back in the anchor’s chair, and it seems he’d like to shoot for the moon, literally.

A news bucket list

“Meron akong bucket list, he says. “Before kasi, yung Mount Everest coverage sa GMA, that sounded impossible at the time. But yung idea ko when I did that was—sa Piipino, walang imposible. So nung tinanong ako kung ano yung bucket list ko dito sa TV5, sabi ko gusto kong mag-live habang nasa outer space. Hindi na sya imposible ngayon e. Para lang yung Everest, which was such a remote possibility. But we did it. Ganun na din sya ngayon. May space tourism na.”

He has other plans that he wishes to keep under wraps so people have something to look forward to from him. The important thing now, he says, is that, just a year shy of hitting 50, he’s feeling a kind of hunger and excitement that he thought he’d long since left behind.

“Hindi ko ini-expect na mae-excite ulit ako,” Manicad says. “Yung yung tanong ko before e. May fire pa ba? May hunger pa ba? Importante yun e. At nararamdaman ko sya ngayon. Nakakatuwa and nakakapagtaka na, all of a sudden, meron ulit. I was wondering din kung anong meron. Kasi akala ko retired na ko. But kasi nga, I’m serving a different purpose na. It’s a higher purpose.

With co-anchors Cheryl Cosim and Julius Babao

Photo by Facebook / Julius Babao.

“That’s the difference now,” he adds. “Dati, every day, stress, every day story. You might have the strength of a 20-year-old, pero walang clarity of mind. Ngayon, you might be older, pero you know what to do and how to plan, kasi klaro na every work that you will do, you just offer it up to the Lord.” 

I had to ask how much the industry he’s coming back to now is so much different than the one he left five years ago. The rise of streaming, the power of social media, and the changing habits of viewers and consumers mean that he might have his work cut out for him. But Manicad has a quick answer.

“I don’t think maa-outdate yung honesty and truthfulness on the way we work and operate,” he says. “Content is still king, and walang maipapalit sa content that is useful, honest, and credible. We might be able to create content that’s entertaining and funny, but at the end of the day, kailangan pa rin ng tao ng content and Information that is useful, truthful, honest, may integrity, and credible. Hindi sya maluluma.

“If you have this kind of content and you know how to use the platform, it’s going to be powerful. It’s a matter of strategizing kung paano mo ma-attract yung newer generation to make them take a second look. We need them to realize na, hey, maganda yung content namin, ng Frontline Pilipinas, ng TV5. Dito na kayo.”

Jiggy Manicad will anchor Frontline Pilipinas for the first time on January 8, 2024.