Orly Mercado returns to radio broadcasting

MANILA, Philippines - Orly Mercado has worn many hats throughout his career  professor, ambassador, secretary of defense and senator  but many forget that he is a broadcaster by profession. He returned to his roots in public service recently as anchor of the daily morning program, Orly Mercado: All Ready!, on Radyo5 92.3 News FM from 6 to 8 a.m.

“I always say I am first and foremost a broadcaster because I have been doing that for the longest time in my life. Dito ako nagsimula. Dito ako pinanday,” he said.

Mercado started his broadcasting career in 1966 with the Republic Broadcast System (RBS) while working on his degree. “I auditioned and I was accepted as a DJ. I was playing music and we were reading poems primarily in English,” he said.

He later transferred to ABS-CBN (DZAQ), where he became one of the pioneer reporters on Radyo Patrol and later became head of the group. “I became one of the first reporters covering the police beat. I was also the anchor in the morning shift at kasabay ko si Johnny de Leon,” he recalled. When martial law was declared in 1972, he was charged under the Anti-Subversion Law and released two years later.

Mercado returned to broadcasting as a GMA TV reporter and took charge of a new public service program, Kapwa Ko, Mahal Ko, with Rosa Rosal. The show continues to run until today.   

“During martial law, one of the conditions sa pagbalik ko sa TV and radio was that I would not make any comments about politics or economics. So, dito ko binuhos sa Kapwa Ko, Mahal Ko yung sarili ko sa public service. It’s been running for 37 years and is one of the longest-running public service programs in the country,” he said.

Mercado will also return to the University of the Philippines, teaching at the Broadcast Communication department of the Institute of Mass Communication (now College of Mass Communication) where he once honed some of today’s finest journalists.

He was elected to Batasang Pambansa in 1984 and eventually served in the Senate from 1987 to 1998. He was also appointed to various positions in government: having been secretary of Defense and ambassador to China during the Estrada and Arroyo administration.

He quickly doused any notion if he can still return to broadcasting amidst the changes in technology. “I haven’t lost touch with what is happening and I am energized. We don’t have to pretend that we are young, but we have to think young. I ask myself how we can be different and I think it is in the use of technology that we will become better.”

“Interesado ako sa push natin dito sa Radyo5 because I want to be in a situation where we can incorporate all of these new innovations in radio. I want to put together a program that is linked to all types of people. We will give the audience a voice. Not only do we read out their comments but also get them to participate getting the news to the people. I really want to put it into practice.”