FIVE THOMASIANS are among the 11 newly elected officers for the 2025-2026 term of the Malacañang Press Corps (MPC), a group of local journalists covering the Philippine presidency.
UST Journalism alumni Job Anthony Manahan of ABS-CBN, Jocelyn Reyes of Malaya Business Insight, Anna Felicia Bajo of GMA News Online and Alexis Douglas Romero of The Philippine Star will serve as vice president for online, vice president for print, secretary and public relations officer, respectively, for MPC. Helen Flores, a UST Graduate School alumna will be MPC auditor for the term.
Manahan completed his Journalism degree in 2019. He was a former writer at The Varsitarian, UST’s university-wide student publication.
Manahan began covering the Malacañang beat in 2022 for ABS-CBN and has been its reporter since 2019, providing live and package reports for ABS-CBN’s news platforms TV Patrol, ANC and Teleradyo.
Reyes, who is the new MPC vice president for print, also studied Journalism in UST.
Meanwhile, Bajo, who will serve as MPC secretary, finished her undergraduate studies in the University in 2015. She was the former managing editor of TomasinoWeb. Bajo previously covered the House of Representatives, Department of National Defense and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Now-MPC public relations officer Romero finished his Journalism degree in 2006 and continued his postgraduate studies in UST. He graduated in 2020 and is currently teaching subjects in the Journalism department and graduate school.
Romero was also a former vice president for print of MPC and served as adviser of The Flame, the official student publication of the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters.
Flores finished her postgraduate studies in Communication in 2011 and has been a reporter for The Philippine Star since 2007.
Six other journalists will serve as officers of MPC: Ivan Ramesis Mayrina of GMA 7 (president); Analy Montaño-Soberano of Bombo Radyo News (vice president for radio); Maricel Halili-Gahol of TV5 (vice president for TV); Leonilet Narciso of DZRH (treasurer); Christian Joseph Yosores of DZMM and Maricar Sargan of Brigada News FM, both sergeant-at-arms.
The new MPC officers took their oath on Wednesday, Oct. 15, which was presided over by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. F – with reports from Veancy Palad
