Two GMA Network executives were honored at the second Glory Awards by the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communications (UP CMC) held last Oct. 6.
GMA Network Senior Vice President and Entertainment Group Head Lilybeth G. Rasonable and GMA First Vice President for News Grace Dela Peña-Reyes were among the 12 alumni who received recognition for their contribution to the industry they belong to.
Rasonable was named as the Glory Awardee for Television Arts, while Dela Peña-Reyes was named as the Glory Awardee for Broadcast Journalism.
Rasonable has been with the company since 1998 and rose through the ranks before becoming the head of the network’s Entertainment Group. She supervises the day-to-day operations and programming initiatives of the different departments of the Entertainment Group.
Her 20 years of expertise in drama production has been acknowledged globally after she served as one of the speakers in the prestigious VI World Summit of the Telenovela and Fiction Industry 2008 and in Content Asia Summit 2017. She likewise spearheaded the creation of some of the pioneering and ground-breaking shows of the Kapuso station such as Mulawin, Encantadia, Darna, Marimar, Dyesebel, Amaya, My Husband’s Lover, Dear Uge, and The Clash, to name a few.
Dela Peña-Reyes, on the other hand, began her career with GMA in 1987 when she was hired fresh from college. She has worked in various capacities for GMA News—from news gathering to news production both for radio and television. She became a newscaster and reporter, covering major beats that included Malacañang and Congress.
In 1989, Dela Peña-Reyes was a recipient of the Jefferson Fellowship Program at East West Center in Honalulu, Hawaii. In her current leadership role, she oversees both editorial and production aspects of the Network’s several newscasts including 24 Oras, Saksi, State of the Nation with Jessica Soho, and Balitanghali.
During the times she was in charge of news gathering, the Network’s newscasts won many local and international awards including the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award in 2013 which recognized GMA’s coverage of super typhoon Yolanda.
The Glory Awards was launched last year in honor of UP CMC’s first dean, the late Dr. Gloria Feliciano. The 12 awardees—all alumni of UP CMC—were chosen for their outstanding work and influence in broadcasting, journalism, communication research and film, as well as allied communications fields such as development communications, marketing communications, public relations, social advocacy and the performing arts.