Members

Butch Raquel is an established industry practitioner having been extensively active in the field of media and public relations. His first job was an executive assistant to the Minister of Public Information at the onset of martial law in 1973.

He was assigned to New York from 1978 to 1980 as Foreign Information attaché and correspondent of the Philippines News Agency, covering the United Nations.

From 1980-82, Mr. Raquel was appointed Assistant International Editor of the said agency based in Manila. From 1982-86, he worked for the Ministry of Human Settlements as Head of the Executive Staff.

Mr. Raquel joined ABS-CBN after the EDSA Revolution in 1986. He was instrumental in establishing the News Department, and producing The Word Tonight, then the leading English newscast in Channel 2. He wrote and produced documentaries and headed the very first Philippine broadcast team that visited the Soviet Union in 1988 before the break-up of the former superpower.

In 1990, he was promoted as the Network’s public affairs manager and supervised ABS-CBN’s dominant programs at that time – Magandang Gabi Bayan and The Inside Story, among others. In 1993, Mr. Raquel was appointed Media Affairs Manager, and two years later was named Corporate and Media Affairs Director, a post he held until he retired from the Network in 1998.

He had brief stints in government in 2001, namely with the National Development Company and the Department of Tourism where he served as Director of Tourism Information.

Mr. Raquel went into PR consultancy work and in 2002 was appointed as PR Consultant of GMA Network, Inc. In 2003, he joined the Network full time as Head of Corporate Communications with the rank of Vice President. He was responsible for crafting and implementing the Network’s integrated public relations program, including its subsidiaries. Today, GMA Network is acknowledged as the leading Philippine broadcast entity in terms of ratings and profits.

He opted to leave the Network in December 2013 after he continued to serve as Consultant to the Chairman/CEO for Corporate Communications of GMA Network after reaching the mandatory retirement age in 2011.

He is Chairman and CEO of BSR Public Relations Company Inc., a firm he established in 2011.

He is a four-time President of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP), a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Governor of the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC), and a Director of the International Public Relations Associations (IPRA), Philippine Chapter.

Mr. Raquel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science degree from the Ateneo de Manila University. He also completed his elementary and secondary education in the Jesuit-run university.