Benedicto, Kitchie

Kitchie Benedicto (Kitchie Campos Benedicto-Paulino) is the daughter of Roberto Salas Benedicto, founder of Kanlaon Broadcasting System (KBS) Channel 9 and a close ally of former president Ferdinand Marcos, and Julieta Campos. She is married to Robert Paulino. She went to high school at Maryknoll College, now Miriam College, and then attended a finishing school at Lausanne, Switzerland. She completed a bachelor of arts in broadcast communication at the University of the Philippines, belonging to the second batch of graduates of the program, in 1969. While at UP, she co-founded with Maria Montelibano the UP Broadcasting Association in 1968.

She began as executive assistant to the general manager, then program manager, and later general manager of RPN 9 at age 25 during the martial law period in the 1970s. She handled five departments of the broadcast station: news, public affairs, entertainment, production services, and branch operations. She produced top-rating programs on RPN 9, such as the weekly music variety show Superstar, 1971-89, the comedy series John en Marsha (John and Marsha), 1973-90, and the fantasy-adventure anthology Darna, 1977. She was also the producer of the children’s program Kuskos Balungos (Just Making Noise), 1980-82, BBC 2, which followed the format of the Imee Marcos-produced Kaluskos Musmos (Kiddie Noise), 1979-89, RPN 9.

She lived in the USA after the ouster of Marcos in 1986. She returned to the Philippines sometime in the early 2000s and put up EB Entertainment, a talent managing company. She went back to producing video programs and directing live shows, such as beauty pageants and festivals in the provinces. She line-produced for ABS-CBN the sitcom John en Shirley (John and Shirley), 2006-7, the sequel to John en Marsha, and directed the music game show Fam Jam, 2005-6, QTV 11, and the weekend afternoon game show Toink! Sino ang Tama? (Toink! Who Is Correct?), 2012, TV5. She is also the chair and chief executive officer of New Riviera Hotel Development Corporation. She owned a 34 percent minority share in RPN 9 when the network entered into a joint venture with Solar Entertainment Corporation in Jan 2011, which later became CNN Philippines.

She received the Ading Fernando Lifetime Achievement Award at the Star Awards of the Philippine Movie Press Club in 2013.