Howie Severino

He said he has wanted to be a journalist ever since he was in fifth grade.[1] He graduated from Tufts University in Massachusetts with a History degree, magna cum laude, and received his master's degree from University of Sussex in the United Kingdom in Environment, Development, and Policy.

As a college student in Boston in the early 1980s, he got to know Benigno Aquino Jr., then in exile. After Aquino's assassination in 1983, Severino returned home to teach at his alma mater Ateneo High School, and join the anti-Marcos movement. He was arrested on the same day as Lino Brocka and Behn Cervantes and detained for eight days in Fort Bonifacio, which was at the time a dreaded army camp and not yet the high-end real estate development hub that it is today.

Severino started as a newspaper reporter and magazine writer in 1988; became a co-founder of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ); established himself as a leading documentary filmmaker; and, in 2009, was named Editor-in-Chief of GMA News Online, GMA Network's news website. He stepped down in 2014 after five years, and was appointed GMA Network's Vice President for Professional Development in May 2014.

On TV, he was on Probe Team for four years with Cheche Lazaro before joining i-Witness, now one of the longest-running public affairs programs in the Philippines.

At the PCIJ, he set up the Center's Environment Desk, built credentials as a leading environmental journalist, and worked closely with Ramon Magsaysay awardee Sheila Coronel. He still produces environmental documentaries for i-Witness and often appears on television riding his mountain bike.

Online, he was the first blogger on GMA's web platforms. His journalistic exploration of emerging media culminated in 2009 with his appointment as GMA Network's Vice President for Multimedia Journalism[2] and his subsequent assignment to helm GMA News Online.

As GMA News Online's Editor-in-Chief, Severino and his team pioneered in the Philippines the use of Google Maps for disaster coverage, Twitter for breaking news, and crowd-sourcing for news gathering.

In 2011, Severino became co-anchor of the morning television show News to Go on GMA News TV, alongside Kara David.

Severino's parents are Ambassador Rodolfo Severino Jr., former secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from 1998 to 2002, and Tati Gorospe Severino. a former schoolteacher and administrator.

Severino is married to Ipat Luna, an environmental lawyer and TOYM awardee, with whom he has a son, Alon Roberto. In 2012, Alon, 10, was named Best Child Performer by the Aliw Awards for his role in Totong Hilot, a play staged in the Cultural Center of the Philippines during the Virgin Labfest.

On April 7, 2020, it was revealed that Severino was the 2828th COVID-19 patient during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.[3] He later recovered from the coronavirus after being in the hospital for eleven days.[4] A special i-Witness documentary about his experience as a COVID-positive patient; entitled Ako si Patient 2828, aired on GMA on April 18, 2020.[5]