Luchi Cruz-Valdez

Luisita "Luchi" Cruz-Valdes is a Filipino broadcast journalist formerly affiliated with GMA News and Public Affairs and now News5 and ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs. She was formerly the chief of News5, the news and public affairs department of TV5.

Life and career Cruz-Valdes earned her degree in broadcast communication at the University of the Philippines Diliman (UP Diliman), and became a radio and television reporter and producer. She is married to Lito Valdes, an IT marketing manager. They have three children.

Cruz-Valdes joined ABC News as a production assistant when it set up a Manila bureau for the 1986 snap presidential election. After her ABC stint, Cruz-Valdes was hired by Cheche Lazaro when ABS-CBN reopened after president Corazon Aquino was sworn into office.

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 she left her post at 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 Regional Trial Court judge Tita Marilyn Villordon dismissed the cases and ordered GMA Network to pay its former employee 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 submitted her resignation. In 2010, she joined News5 as its news chief.

One of her notable roles in joining TV5 is moderating the 2nd leg of PiliPinas Debates 2016. On September 27, 2024, she stepped down as News5 and Public Affairs department chief following her retirement after 15 years of service. Before this, she make her return to RPN-9, where her journalist career began as a newscaster on NewsWatch in 1982, and also which using the Channel 9 frequency previously held by Cruz-Valdes' second employers ABS-CBN, through a simulcast of TV5's Frontline Pilipinas on RPTV since July 1, 2024.

Filmography

Television Year Title Role 1982 NewsWatch Co-host 1986 Magandang Umaga Po 1995–2001 Saksi Substitute news anchor 1999–2001 i-Witness Host 2002–2004 Special Assignment 2010 Dokumentado 2010–2012 Journo 2011–2012 Anggulo 2012–2017 Reaksyon 2014 Yaman ng Bayan 2014–2016 Kaya 2014–2020 Aksyon News Anchor 2016 PiliPinas Debates 2016 Debate Moderator 2017 Manindigan Host 2019–2024 The Chiefs Host 2020–2024 Frontline Pilipinas Deretsahan Segment Anchor 2020–2021 Usapang Real Life Host 2022 PiliPinas Debates 2022 Debate Moderator 2024 Budol Alert Host

Radio Year Title Role 2010–2017 Relasyon Host

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)