Obit

Marcelo, 65

FILIPINO BROADCASTER Raffy Marcelo died of cardiac arrest last November 15. He was 65.

He worked as anchor of GMA News for more than ten years. (Dating GMA News anchor na si Raffy Marcelo, pumanaw na, GMA News Online)

He was also production manager and executive producer for GMA’s “News at 7,” “The 11:30 Report,” and Saturday/Sunday “Evening Reports.” (Raffy Marcelo, 1946-2014, GMA News Online)

He also covered the 1983 Ninoy Aquino assassination and the Ramos-Enrile break from the Marcos government.

Deo Bugaoisan, program manager for GMA News Special Assignments Team, said of Marcelo: “I was lucky enough to work with him at a time when showbiz and news were entirely two different things. He was my EP. I was his AP and head writer, the last one he worked with before he left the network. He firmly believed in the power of the media to shape the reality of viewers, constantly reminding everyone in his fatherly baritone voice, to waste not this power. A true advocate of the social responsibility function of the press, he was averse to showbiz news (a misnomer, he said) and similar forms of content that he accurately observed were increasingly becoming normal and acceptable fare in newscasts. He believed that the business of news should be left to journalists and ratings should never determine its content. HBO’s The Newsroom has its Will McAvoy. GMA Network News had Raffy Marcelo.”

Sihagan, 58

FILIPINO BROADCASTER Oswaldo Gamay Sihagan died last November 8. He was 58.

More popularly known as Manong Oswald of the Bukidnon news media community, Sihagan worked with dxMV Radyo Ukay in Valencia City and RMN dxMB in Malaybalay City.

Sihagan also contributed to community newspapers and was able to set up his own publication Silaw (torch).

He was mayor of Lantapan town for one term.