Morning Matters anchor Gretchen Ho has left Cignal TV, we have learned. Her last day was Saturday, January 31.

Ho is said to have decided not to renew her contract with the MVP media company as she takes a sabbatical away from television for the time being. As of this writing, she no longer has a contract with the company.

According to people inside Cignal TV with knowledge of the matter, Ho said she wanted to take a break and weigh her next move, including the possibility of pursuing further studies overseas or producing long-form pieces through her Woman in Action brand, which has since spawned a website and a television program.

Sources add that the Cignal TV management fought hard to keep one of their main anchors, who has been with the company since 2021, but ultimately, Ho decided it was time for a pause.

While not directly addressing her departure, the 2025 Asian Academy Creative Awards national winner for Best Factual Presenter shared a series of photos with her Cignal TV family on her X account on Sunday, captioning them simply, “❤️❤️❤️ #Kapatid.”

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Ho, 35, started anchoring Morning Matters exactly a year ago as part of One News’ daytime programming revamp. On the program, Ho delivered the day’s news and conducted interviews with leading newsmakers and political power players.

Prior to this, she was co-anchor of The Big Story, and also served as a morning anchor at TV5’s Frontline sa Umaga, which later became Gud Morning Kapatid.

In 2024, she headlined her first long-form documentary program, Gretchen Ho Reports.

A young TV veteran, Ho had been part of a series of programs including Chinoy TV, Umagang Kay Ganda, and Mornings@ANC, where she began her foray into morning TV.

There is no word yet on who will take over Morning Matters, but we are hearing that another programming revamp is set to take place at the Cignal English news channel very soon.

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The reorganization at One News continues with the addition of veteran journalist Ces Oreña-Drilon to its roster of anchors.

Drilon, who became a household name at ABS-CBN News, will take over the anchoring duties on The Big Story. She will join the evening newscast’s holdover anchor Shawn Yao and Pauline Verzosa, who recently came on board following the reassignment of Gretchen Ho.

One News business editor Regina Lay, who has been co-anchoring TBS since 2023, will take on a new assignment within the channel.

A 40-year TV news veteran, Drilon began her career as a reporter at the Maharlika Broadcasting System (now known as People’s Television Network). She later joined ABS-CBN, where she made a name for herself as a no-nonsense journalist, breaking big political stories and covering sieges, calamities, mutinies, and other news events.

During her time at ABS-CBN News, Drilon anchored newscasts such as Bandila and The Rundown on ANC, while also hosting public affairs programs such as Pipol, I Survived, Usapang Business, and The Correspondents.

Outside of hard news, Drilon also worked as the lifestyle content acquisition head of ANCX, then the lifestyle site of ANC. This role later expanded into a much bigger position as executive editor, eventually leading her to step away from her anchor post at Bandila.

After being retrenched by the Kapamilya Network in 2020, following the non-renewal of its legislative franchise, Drilon moved to other media companies. She first joined Radio Mindanao Network-DZX as host of its public service program Basta Promdi, Lodi. Then, in 2022, she began hosting Usapang Bilyonaryo, a talk program produced by Bilyonaryo — a role she is expected to continue even as she joins One News.

Drilon will make her One News debut this coming week.

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ABS-CBN is bracing for another wave of layoffs, this time affecting its international subsidiary, ABS-CBN International.

Media Newser Philippines has learned that the Kapamilya subsidiary, which manages the international services of ABS-CBN, primarily The Filipino Channel or TFC, will be letting go of some of its employees in its North America bureau.

The exact number of affected staff remains unclear as of this writing, but sources indicate that this round of layoffs will impact all TV production and news production employees, with changes taking effect by the end of this week.

As a result of these cuts, ABS-CBN will discontinue “TFC News on TV Patrol,” the international news segment which started running in 2021. Instead, it will reportedly just provide coverage of news events in the U.S. on an as-needed basis through some of its existing reporters, the majority of whom are said to be shifting to freelance roles for future contributions.

With the segment no longer airing, these reporters will now rely on ABS-CBN News’ online platforms and ANC as their main outlets, and possibly TV Patrol, if permitted.

ABS-CBN maintains a strong presence in the U.S. through TFC, its subscription-based cable and satellite television network. Since its inception, TFC has been the leading provider of locally produced content in the States and has grown into an important media entity for the Filipino community there. Additionally, it has also elevated ABS-CBN’s reputation as a global news operation — one that is able to cover political transitions and turmoil, as well as big Hollywood events like the Grammys and the Oscars.

The channel, in recent years, however, has faced significant challenges, primarily driven by the shifting viewing habits of its subscribers, resulting in notable decline in subscriptions and a reduced audience base.

This is not the first round of layoffs for ABS-CBN this year. In October, the company let go of 100 workers here in Manila due to a decline in advertising revenue — an industry-wide issue that is not unique to the company.

Despite these challenges, ABS-CBN has shown overall improvement over the past year. According to a report from The Philippine Star, the company reduced its net loss by 22% in the first nine months of 2024 compared to 2023.

Additionally, it has produced numerous box office hits, with its latest release, Hello, Love, Again, making history in the U.S. box office — signaling some positive momentum for the Kapamilya Network.

An announcement about the layoffs is expected to be made in the coming days.