He would have been a bemedalled military officer by now, had he pursued his childhood ambition of becoming a man in gallant soldier’s uniform. He managed to enter the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) after spending a year at the University of the Philippines, where he took up journalism. But it turned out that wasn’t God’s plan for Ira Panganiban, who has undoubtedly made a name for himself on TV and radio broadcasting, instead.
The eldest son of veteran media man Erineo “Tex” Panganiban, the former marketing head of Ambassador Roberto Benedicto’s Broadcast City, Ira also saw himself getting in the same line of work as his dad’s, after majoring in business administration from De La Salle University.
“I went to La Salle after I left PMA,” Ira offers. “I was thinking of going into sales like my dad, but it’s terrible to be under the shadow of your father. The pressure is too heavy to excel in a field where he’s best at.”
With his dream of becoming a soldier gone pffft — “Ako dapat si Trillanes,” he jests — and realizing that sales and marketing are not his cup of tea, Ira was sent by his dad to then executive vice president of GMA 7, Tony Seva. “My Ninong Tony, being as crazy as my dad, made me drive a Daihatsu van for Julius Babao, who was then a field reporter for DzBB,” Ira shares. “I didn’t mind. I did it for a year and it was both an experience and adventure for me.”
Going with Julius in all the latter’s news coverage made Ira learn the ropes of field reporting. “We were in Baguio during the Luzon killer earthquake. We experienced the lahar shower when Pinatubo erupted. I was also with Arnold Clavio and Arlene de la Cruz in their coverage. I knew, deep in my heart, I could do what they were doing. I told myself, ‘Kaya ko ‘to.’ So I started learning.”
His break as a DzBB field reporter came when he stumbled upon a burning car in the middle of the road. Ding Gagelonia, then the news director of DzBB, made him do the on-the-spot report of the incident. “After that, they gave me small stories and assigned me in the graveyard shift, which Julius used to cover,” Ira recalls. “When they eventually gave me my first major beat, I requested if I could cover defense.”
From DzBB, Ira later moved to covering news events for GMA 7. However, when Gagelonia transferred to ABS-CBN, Ira was offered to work as desk editor for ABS-CBN News. It didn’t take long before he was also given on-cam hosting chores. He did the sports report for ABS-CBN’s daily morning show, Alas Singko Y Medya, which he also helped create for TV.
“I’m proud to say that I was among the pioneers of the morning show on ABS-CBN,” beams Ira. “I did Alas Singko Y Medya from 1997 to 2005. I was just having fun the whole time.”
In 2005, however, Ira availed of the special early retirement package from ABS-CBN. He was managing editor for news when he left the network. Part of the lump sum he got was invested in a business venture, Pulp Global Direct, a courier shipping-forwarding company.
So far, it has been a “very good venture,” according to Ira. “On our first year of operations, we already made money,” he proudly says. He also has enough to secure the future of his six-year-old son, Robbie, in a trust fund.
Middle of this year, Ira was offered to join DzXL of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN), now being run by the Canoy brothers — Eric, Butch and Charley — sons of founder Henry Canoy. A number of ABS-CBN alumni were also invited to become part of DzXL. Among them are Jake Maderazo, Erwin Tulfo, Doris Bigornia and Melo del Prado. Entertainment reporter Ogie Diaz joins them in the roster of DzXL anchors.
“I thought I would be merely given a radio show on DzXL and no administrative position, which was much easier,” allows Ira. “But they wanted to reformat the station, so Jake and I monitored it for a month. Then I had to rush my study. I submitted my report, with a review and recommendation.”
Last July, Ira gave his nod to being the news manager of DzXL. He was later appointed acting station manager of the AM radio network, taking over from Ely Saludar who is now the AVP for sales. Ira also hosts a daily radio program, 30 Minutos, 30 Segundos.
“I did not come in to displace anyone at DzXL,” Ira points out. “I will move people as I see fit, where they will shine, excel and work better.”
Ira has since been busy trying to beef up the daily programming line-up of DzXL. He is bent on bringing DzXL to greater heights in radio broadcasting. “We want to improve the morning slot and at the same time, strengthen the afternoon slot,” he discloses. “In fact, we are making a major move of coming up with a one-hour daily newscast from 5 to 6 p.m., with Amelyn Veloso. It is meant to compete with the early evening TV newscast. We’ll be ahead of them in delivering the news for the day.”
DzXL’s 8 p.m. newscast, meanwhile, will be patterned after major international newscasts without an anchor and airing only canned reports. Another ABS-CBN alumni, Aida Gonzales, the erstwhile traffic lady in Alas Singko Y Media, will do Boses ng Balita in DzXL’s 4 a.m. slot.
Ira believes that at this day and age of ever-changing technology, radio is still the fastest medium in disseminating news reports. “In radio, it only takes two minutes to receive the news and broadcast it,” Ira explains. “Internet takes time to upload something. TV takes a much longer time to produce a newscast.”
He is also convinced that being a former ABS-CBN insider has given him the edge in DzXL in trying to compete with a rival station like DzMM, the network’s AM radio band. “We know how they think, how they react and move,” Ira reasons out. “We can anticipate any reaction and we can easily counter-react. We know what to do, which is a motivating factor for all of us.”
Ira is thankful that his RMN bosses have given him a free hand to initiate changes in DzXL. “We are not shackled with too many policies and red-tape which can be very limiting,” Ira says. “We are more of a family here. You can do what you want, as long as it conforms with the owners. We are allowed to push the envelope if we want to be No. 1.”