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Saksi

Liga ng Katotohanan (EYEWITNESS: LEGION OF TRUTH) is the late night news broadcast of GMA Network in the Philippines. It was formerly the early evening and flagship newscast of the station from 1995 to 2002. The newscast is currently anchored by Arnold Clavio and Vicky Morales.

History

In the last quarter of 1995, GMA Network launched an early evening news program that distinguished itself from other newscasts by taking the viewers right to where the news is happening. The pace was brisk, the look was new, the language was easily understood and the response was overwhelming.

The program, originally entitled Saksi: GMA Headline Balita, started as a 15-minute newscast from Monday to Friday. It was then anchored by Mike Enriquez (then known as "Mr. Saksi") and Karen Davila. Saksi became popular in such a short time, that people were using the word as a catchphrase, complete with the pointed forefinger like the program’s news anchors. In the early years of the newscast, the anchors, especially Enriquez, popularized the word "pasok" (come in) in introducing reporters (who included Jessica Soho, Arnold Clavio, Mao dela Cruz and Susan Enriquez, among others). This method of introducing reporters was also previously used in GMA's other regional news programs patterned after "Saksi" like Balitang Bisdak (Cebu), Testigo (Davao) and Ratsada (Iloilo).

Mel Tiangco joined Enriquez and Davila in 1996, after her transfer from ABS-CBN. Economist Solita "Winnie" Monsod also joined the newscast with her own opinion segment, "Mareng Winnie" (which became a moniker by which she has been since known for). Other special segments, such as Huling Hirit (light human-interest stories to cap the newscast, reported by Kara David) and EtChing ni Lyn Ching (a showbiz segment with Lyn Ching, which later spun off into an entertainment talk show of her own with the same title) were also added to the news program as its running time was expanded to 30 minutes.

In 1998, Enriquez became co-anchor of the late-night GMA Network News with Vicky Morales, as the said newscast underwent a reformat. Davila, on the other hand, became a co-host of Extra-Extra, a magazine program featuring different human-interest and entertainment stories (which also served as pre-programming to Saksi). Jay Sonza, Tiangco's co-host on Partners Mel and Jay, then joined the newscast as co-anchor, thus Saksi and Partners Mel and Jay are the news programs exclusive to them. The original subtitle, GMA Headline Balita, was also dropped since then.


In 1999, Tiangco was appointed as anchor of Frontpage: Ulat ni Mel Tiangco, which replaced GMA Network News on the late-night slot. She and Sonza were replaced by Enriquez and Morales, thus continuing their partnership on Network News. Mike Enriquez was restored in this program.

In June 2002, Saksi exchanged timeslots with Frontpage in order for the latter show to compete with ABS-CBN's TV Patrol (which was, incidentally, the newscast that Tiangco came from before transferring to GMA). The shift to late-night also prompted the start of "Side Trip", a human-interest segment hosted by Howie Severino.

In the same year, Saksi won the Gold Medal for Best Newscast in the New York Festival, becoming one of the few news programs outside the United States to receive the said honor. The award (With the Peabody Award that the network won in 1998) was later recognized by the Philippine Congress by issuing the network a commendation for its work in News and Public Affairs.

Arnold Clavio replaced Enriquez on March 15, 2004 when the latter was slated to host the new early evening newscast of the network, 24 Oras with Tiangco. The newscast was reintroduced as Saksi: Liga ng Katotohanan (Legion of Truth).

A notable coverage of the program was the 2005 Papal conclave which was covered by Morales at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.

On August 11, 2008, together with 24 Oras, Balitanghali, and News on Q, it was relaunched with a new start, new Opening Billboard and a competitive outlook.


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