Manila Broadcasting Company mourns the passing of Salvador Royales, prolific scriptwriter-director, voice talent, musical director, and head of the DZRH Drama Division.

Royales, popularly known as “Direk Badong” had been with DZRH since 1980, after passing auditions under drama vanguards Froilan Villegas and Tani Cruz.

A meticulous purveyor of moral values in drama, Royales was an award-winning writer, with a KBP Golden Dove Award for Best Radio Drama (May Pangako ang Bukas) and a Best Screenplay award for Kapag Langit ang Humatol from the Film Academy of the Philippines. His first big break was writing Yaya Maria, which established the 1 pm slot as primetime for radio dramas after topping the ratings nationwide. He was, however, best known for his long-running serial Mr Romantiko.

A native of Naga City, Royales fell in love with radio after being a voice talent at the age of 16. He went on to earn a degree in Economics, Magna Cum Laude from the Manuel L. Quezon University. Despite his occasional forays into film (Mundo Man ay Magunaw, Isinakdal Ko ang Aking Ina, and Sana Mahalin Mo Ako) and television (Maala-ala Mo Kaya and Anna Luna), he chose to make radio broadcasting his lifetime vocation.