Luisita "Luchi" Cruz-Valdes (born December 27, 1965) is a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

broadcast journalist Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

formerly affiliated with

GMA News and Public Affairs GMA Integrated News and Public Affairs (formerly known as ''RBS News Department'', ''GMA Radio-Television News'' and ''GMA Rainbow Satellite News''; and commonly GMA (Integrated) News) is the news division of the GMA Network (company), GMA Netw ...

and

ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs ABS-CBN Integrated News and Current Affairs, known on-air as ABS-CBN News (formerly known as ''ABS-CBN News and Public Affairs'' and later ''ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs''), is the news and current affairs production and distribution divisi ...

. She is currently the chief of

News5 TV5 News and Information, known on-air as News5 (formerly ABC News and Public Affairs and TV5 News and Public Affairs), is the news and information programming division of the TV5 Network Inc., Philippines. News5 produces its news and inform ...

, the

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

and public affairs department of TV5.

Life and career

Cruz-Valdes earned her degree in broadcast communication at the

University of the Philippines Diliman , image = University of The Philippines seal.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = Official Logo of UP Diliman , motto = Honor and Excellence , established = February 12, 194 ...

(UP), and became a radio and television reporter and producer. She is married to Lito Valdes, an IT marketing manager, and has three children. Cruz-Valdes joined the

Associated Broadcasting Company TV5 Network Inc., commonly known as TV5, is a Philippine media company based in Mandaluyong, with its alternate studios located in Novaliches, Quezon City. It is primarily involved in radio and television broadcasting, with subsidiaries and ...

(ABC) as a field reporter when it set up a

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

bureau for the 1986 Snap Presidential Election. After her ABC stint, Cruz-Valdes was hired by

Cheche Lazaro Cecilia "Cheche" Aldaba Lim-Lázaro (born September 8, 1945, in Los Angeles, California), is an acclaimed Filipino broadcast journalist and the founding President of Probe Productions Inc. as well as an Editor-at-Large of online news website R ...

when ABS-CBN reopened after president

Corazon Aquino Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; ; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipina politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. She was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People P ...

was sworn into position. For 10 years, she was a co-host of The Probe Team with Lazaro, founder and producer of the program, and also Cruz-Valdes' professor in UP. She proceeded to become part of the GMA News and Public Affairs for three years before accepting the offer of rival network ABS-CBN to become its vice president for news production and current affairs in 2001. Soon after leaving her post in GMA 7, the network filed cases of breach of contract and injunction against Cruz-Valdes, which prevented her from working in ABS-CBN from December 28, 2001, to August 20, 2002. In July 2008, the

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

Regional Trial Court The Regional Trial Courts ( fil, Panrehiyong Hukuman sa Paglilitis) are the highest trial courts in the Philippines. In criminal matters, they have original jurisdiction. History It was formerly called as the Court of First Instance since the ...

judge Tita Marilyn Villordon dismissed the cases and ordered GMA Network to pay its former employee in damages equivalent to the salary that Cruz-Valdes should have earned during her eight-month "forced" vacation. Also in 2008, Cruz-Valdes was placed under preventive suspension pending the outcome of an internal matter, which ABS-CBN Corporate Communications head Bong Osorio described as "not merely a petty personal difference or simple administrative concern." In November of the same year, Cruz-Valdes filed her resignation. In 2010, she joined TV5 as its news chief. One of her notable roles in joining TV5 is moderating the 2nd leg of

PiliPinas Debates 2016 ''PiliPinas Debates 2016'' is a debate series administered by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) with the assistance of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas in preparation for the May 9, 2016 general election. In January 2016, the Comm ...

Filmography

Television

Radio

Awards and Recognitions

; Catholic Mass Media Awards * Titus Brandsma Award for Excellence in Journalism ; KBP Golden Dove (Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas) * Broadcaster of the Year (2001) * Best Female Newscaster (2015) * Ka Doroy Broadcaster of the Year Award (2015) ; New York Film and Television Festival * 3 Silver and 3 Bronze Medals for Best Documentary ; Inding-Indie Short Film Festival * Most Outstanding Broadcaster Asian Media Award (2015) * Pinakamapanuri at Pinagkakatiwalaang Brodkaster of the Year Award (2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz-Valdes, Luchi 1965 births Living people Filipino radio journalists Filipino television journalists RPN News and Public Affairs people ABS-CBN personalities ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs people GMA Network personalities GMA News and Public Affairs people TV5 (Philippine TV network) personalities TV5 Network executives News5 people