Is this Ben’s first show on TV5? “Actually, yung show ko, ‘Bitag’, was with ABC-5 before,” he says. “Then I moved it to IBC-13. But now, I’m bringing it back to TV5 starting this month. But I still have ‘Bitag Live’ on UNTV.”
How is it working with his brothers in “T3”? “I’ve worked with them before when I guested them in ‘Bitag’. Both Raffy and Erwin are serious, intense, masipag, very devoted to their work. These qualities run in our family so I enjoy working with them.”
Will there be no rivalry between them in “T3”? “None, as we have our own segments. I’ll host ‘Modus’, which will show the modus operandi of criminals so that they public will be properly warned. Si Raffy will have ‘Resbak’ that will help abused women and children get back at their oppressors. Erwin will be handling ‘Ambush’ that will take to task corrupt and negligent public officials. We also have other segments, ‘Missing’, where we’ll try to help locate missing persons, and ‘Saludo’, where we’ll pay tribute to public officials who are doing their jobs well.”
Since Raffy and Erwin are younger, do they call him Kuya? “They do, but I told them in front of the camera, don’t call me Kuya anymore, pero lumalabas pa rin on the air.”
Ben was a DJ in high school and he got to work with Mike Enriquez and Peter Rabbit who are now big shots on GMA and ABS-CBN. He took up journalism in college and studied communications in the U.S. in 1985. He returned to Manila in 1996. He married a Fil-Am girl in the States and they have three kids. The eldest also finished journalism and the other two are still in college. He got his annulment in 2006 and is now married to a doctor with whom he has two kids aged 10 and 4.