Ricardo "Dong" Puno Jr. is a Filipino television public affairs host, media executive, newspaper columnist, and lawyer.
Early life
Ricardo Puno Jr. was born on January 20, 1946 in Manila. Puno was previously Senior Vice President for News and Current Affairs of the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation and Executive Vice President of the ABS-CBN News Channel. On top of that, he wrote articles for his column "My Viewpoint" first on The Philippine Star and later The Manila Times. He was the host for a public affairs program, Viewpoints, shown on ANC. He is the senior partner of the Puno and Puno Law Offices, Vice President-General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the nation's flag-carrier, the Philippine Airlines and a member of the Philippine Panel for International Air Negotiations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ateneo de Manila University, a Bachelor of Laws degree from the same University in 1969 and a Master of Laws degree from the Harvard Law School. He was also a past president of the Manila Overseas Press Club. When President Joseph Estrada assumed power, Puno was appointed Press Secretary and ran unsuccessfully for a Senate seat in the 2001 senatorial race. After this debacle, he returned to the media profession and re-assumed his old position at ABS-CBN, but lost it anew after he chose to anchor the network's reformatted national late-night newscast Insider with Ces Oreña-Drilon in 2005. However, due to low ratings, the said newscast was canceled and was replaced by Bandila which marked the return of Korina Sanchez to the local newscasting scene. He then ran unsuccessfully for the lone congressional seat of Muntinlupa City in 2007 against Congressman Ruffy Biazon. With Biazon term-limited, Puno again contested the seat in the 2010 election against Biazon's father, Senator Rodolfo Biazon, but lost garnering 27% of the vote against Biazon's 46%. In February 2011, he joined AksyonTV and started hosting a weekly political commentary program called De Kalibre. He is the recipient of various awards in the fields of media and law: the 1985 TOYM awardee for Media and a KBP Golden Dove awardee. His program, Viewpoint, won the Catholic Mass Media Awards as Best Public Affairs Programs for three consecutive years and was elevated to the Hall of Fame. His television shows have also received recognition from the Gawad CCP Para sa Telebisyon and Star Awards for Television. In March 2014, he joined DWIZ and started hosting a public affairs radio program called "Karambola".
Personal life
A son of former Minister of Justice under the Marcos administration, Ricardo C. Puno, Sr. and a brother of former Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary, Ronaldo "Ronnie" Puno, he is married to Clodelsa del Castillo and they have two biological sons Ricky and Donnie, and nephew Randolf del Castillo lives with him, and three grandchildren Tana, Sandro and Santi. Puno was reported to be afflicted with Parkinson's disease in 2015. He is also the former president of Guagua National Colleges in Guagua, Pampanga from 2008 until his retirement in 2012.
