Danny Buenafe keeps an eye on Pinoys abroad

MANILA, Philippines - A long and winding adventure can be said about the broadcasting career of Danny Buenafe. For nearly four decades now, Danny has been involved in the gathering and broadcasting of news on television. From his humble beginnings as a news reporter in 1979, he has now become the concurrent News Bureau Chief of ABS-CBN Europe and ABS-CBN Middle East. Despite an earlier aversion to hardcore journalism, with his interest lying more in sports broadcasting and in theater, Danny earned a degree in Mass Communications. In the early 1990s, he was recruited to ABS-CBN by then-chief of reporters Jing Magsaysay and covered the old Batasang Pambansa. From there, his reporting career slowly took flight and he has become a witness to some of the most significant events in Philippine history.

It didn’t take long for Danny’s tenacity and nose for news to earn him some plum assignments with the “Star Network”, as ABS-CBN was then known. “My first big break was when I was assigned to cover the Imelda Marcos trial in New York in June 1990,” Danny shares. Barely four months into his tenure at ABS-CBN, he was already assigned to the justice beat and was beating the competition during the coverage of the trial. Anticipating a “welcome home” party upon returning to Manila, Danny and cameraman Ricky Ligon were instead sent to Baguio as the deadly July 20, 1990 earthquake occurred. One big event followed another and Danny was right in the middle of things. “I have always said that my 17 years as reporter were the most glorious years in Philippine journalism,” he proudly relates.

After a successful run, broadcasting throughout the Philippine archipelago, Danny took on the challenge of being News Director for ABS-CBN in the powder keg that is the Middle East. “It was in early 2002 when Raffy Jison (who was Managing Director for TFC Middle East) and I talked about the prospects of establishing the first Foreign News Bureau outside the Philippines,” he says. The reasons behind planting roots in the Middle East show how Danny and ABS-CBN truly believe in serving the Filipino worldwide: “It is second home to more than one and a half million Filipinos but their struggles, trials and triumphs were not known to many because there were no embedded reporters to look for their story,” Danny sadly notes. To that end, “We conceptualized a local newscast that would cater to the interests of overseas Pinoys in the Middle East,” he narrated.

Once again caught in the proverbial eye of the storm, Danny was right in the middle of more significant historical events. “2003 was the year the Americans started to invade Iraq and using Kuwait as its staging area,” he says. “I had to be in Kuwait because there were about 63,000 Filipinos based there and there was a serious threat of chemical warfare from Saddam Hussein.” The following year, Danny had to go to Baghdad to cover the kidnapping and the eventual release of truck driver Angelo dela Cruz by extremists there.

By 2005, Danny was assigned to London where he established ABS-CBN’s Europe News Bureau. Again, just three days after setting foot in England, he was covering the July 7, 2005 London bombings where 55 people died and two Filipinos were seriously injured. Destiny once again placed him right where events were culminating. Danny is well aware of the power that broadcasters wield when they report on the day’s significant events. However, his experience in being abroad has allowed him to have a much less narrow view on news in general. “We are too self-centered on crimes, poverty and public scandals,” Danny laments. If he had his way, Danny would “expound more on global warming and the alarming population growth.”

Now serving a dual role as head of both the Middle East and Europe News Bureaus of ABS-CBN Global, Danny Buenafe brings all of his experience and insights to bear to two regions that have become increasingly significant to Global Filipinos. Danny notes that one of the things that sets ABS-CBN Global apart from the rest is that, “There are no Foreign News Bureaus outside the Philippines except us so we have no comparative analysis to speak of.” The establishment of news bureaus outside the Philippines is just one of the innovations for The Filipino Channel (TFC) to cater to the ever-evolving needs of global Filipinos.

Asked to expound on his vision for the company’s continued growth, Danny says, “News should really go global and not just be confined to Manila and the provinces.” As an eyewitness to history, Danny has seen many of the significant events unfold before his own eyes. Still, his commitment to serving the Filipino remains at the forefront of his credo. “Getting more success stories of Pinoys worthy of emulation is what makes us different,” Danny states. “We at ABS-CBN Global really want to showcase the best in the Filipino.”

Hard work, talent, tenacity, and humility have gone a long the way for Danny Buenafe. These factors have helped shape the exceptional career that he has built in front of a TV camera. Through everything that he has seen and experienced, when Danny is asked what advice he would like to share to aspiring journalists, he keeps things simple, “I have two basic principles: be fair and accurate.”