New Bandila Begins on Nov 22 with Julius Babao, Karen Davila and Ces Drilon

After weeks of speculations, Bandila will have its two new anchors to join Ces Oreña-Drilon beginning November 22. Karen Davila and Julius Babao who were previously replaced by Korina Sanchez and Noli de Castro in TV Patrol will join Ces in Bandila.

Ces, Karen and Julius will take the lead on bringing more interactivity in the late night news of ABS-CBN because of their presence in all social networks like Twitter. With the use of social media, they will get feedbacks faster on certain news and report it on air.

With the use of social media and having anchors as part of it, it will encourage people to participate in citizen journalism. “Bayan Mo, iPatrol Mo: Ako ang Simula” is ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs’ slogan in encouraging everyone to take part in citizen journalism. This tool will be strengthened and will be incorporated in Bandila just like what they did in TV Patrol. Bandila airs weeknights on ABS-CBN after Showbiz News Ngayon.

MANILA, Philippines - Multi-awarded broadcast journalists Karen Davila and Julius Babao are set to join Ces Oreña Drilon as anchors of ABS-CBN's late night newscast Bandila starting Monday.

ABS-CBN Corp., in a statement, announced the anchor shuffle on Friday. (The full press release is below.)

"ABS-CBN bolsters its late night newscast 'Bandila' by bringing together multi-awarded broadcast journalists Ces Oreña Drilon, Julius Babao, and Karen Davila to deliver the nation's biggest news and stories beginning Monday (Nov 22)," the statement said.

"Babao and Davila’s addition to the program also marks the dawn of a new and more interactive 'Bandila,' wherein viewers are given a chance to air their reactions to every news item," it said.

"We want our viewers to have a platform where they can immediately express themselves, where they feel empowered to take part not just in the discussion but in finding solutions to the issue at hand," Bandila's executive producer Paul Henson said.

"Known as 'working journalists,' Drilon, Babao, and Davila have established their credibility in the industry with news reports and stories they themselves have pursued, written, and produced," ABS-CBN said.

Davila is a former anchor of "The Correspondents," the news documentary program that won her awards from UNICEF Child Rights Awards (2005), Asian TV Awards (2006), and New York TV and Film Festivals (2004 and 2007).

Babao, meanwhile, anchors a radio program in DZMM and the investigative program “XXX,” where he personally joins authorities in surveillance and raids to show his commitment to the resolution of the problems raised to them.

Davila was also named Broadcast Journalist of the Year by the Rotary Club of Manila in 2004 and one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men in 2008.

Davila also won Best Female TV Newscaster in the recent 2010 PMPC Star Awards, while Babao took home the trophy in the male category for the third straight year.

The change in the anchor lineup of the network's late-night newscast comes weeks after a similar reformatting of the primetime newscast TV Patrol.

Noli de Castro and Korina Sanchez returned to the newscast last November 8, joining Ted Failon. Babao and Davila formerly co-anchored TV Patrol, along with Failon.