A special assignment for the night.
On Thursday, May 15, TV5’s flagship newscast ‘Frontline Pilipinas‘ had a different look as a special co-anchor took over the spot of Cheryl Cosim, who is on papal coverage, for the said edition.
Veteran broadcast journalist Ces Drilon fronted the program alongside Julius Babao and Jiggy Manicad.
This stint marked her return to weekday Filipino-language TV news after last anchoring ABS-CBN’s ‘Bandila‘ in 2017.
In effect, the pinch-hitting role also marked her on-screen reunion with her former co-anchor in the now-defunct Kapamilya newscast, Julius Babao, whom she sat alongside from 2010 until her departure from the nightly show.
As expected, netizens were quick to point that out, with some calling it a “mini Bandila reunion.“
Some even quipped having showbiz presenter Jervi Wrightson, who is known as Karen Davila’s impersonator KaladKaren, to stand beside Julius and Ces to “complete” the ‘Bandila‘ trio.
However, it is not their first time to be seen together in TV5, with both Ces and Julius part of the teaser for the ‘Bilang Pilipino 2025‘ coverage—although they were never part of the same shift throughout the 28-hour marathon special.
At present, Ces is one of the three lead anchors of One News’ flagship primetime news show ‘The Big Story‘ along with Shawn Yao and Pauline Versoza.
She hosts the segment ‘Cestainability,’ which she had previously called as her “legacy” as an advocate for sustainably.
Prior to joining the MediaQuest-owned networks, Ces Drilon was part of ABS-CBN from 1989 until 2020.
During her three-decade tenure with the Kapamilya network, she became part of the current affairs show ‘The Correspondents,’ one of the original hosts of ‘TV Patrol Sabado and Linggo’ with Henry Omaga-Diaz in 2004, and the late-night newscast ‘Bandila’ from 2006 until 2017.
She also led the Lifestyle Ecosystem Group of the network’s News and Current Affairs division until the 2020 shutdown.
In 2022, she returned to television via the interview program ‘Usapang Bilyonaryo‘ on CNN Philippines, which later moved to the Bilyonaryo News Channel in 2024.