On April 7, 2020, it was revealed that Severino was the 2828th COVID-19 patient during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. He later recovered from the coronavirus after being in the hospital for eleven days. A special i-Witness documentary about his experience as a COVID-positive patient; entitled Ako si Patient 2828, aired on GMA on April 18, 2020.

People Asia Magazine, in its June–July 2012 issue, named Severino one of that year’s “Men Who Matter”.

Severino is married to Ipat Luna, an environmental lawyer and TOYM awardee, with whom he has a son, Alon Roberto. In 2012, Alon, 10, was named Best Child Performer by the Aliw Awards for his role in Totong Hilot, a play staged in the Cultural Center of the Philippines during the Virgin Labfest.

In 2011, Severino became co-anchor of the morning television show News to Go on GMA News TV, alongside Kara David.

Online, he was the first blogger on GMA’s web platforms. His journalistic exploration of emerging media culminated in 2009 with his appointment as GMA Network’s Vice President for Multimedia Journalism and his subsequent assignment to helm GMA News Online.

In a 2009 trust survey conducted by Reader’s Digest magazine, Severino was sixth on a list of most trusted Filipinos.

In 2007, Severino was inducted to the Rotary Club of Manila’s Journalism Hall of Fame after he was named Broadcast Journalist of the Year twice and Investigative Journalist of the Year twice.

In October 2007, GMA Network released Ten Years of Howie Severino, a DVD compilation of ten of his most notable documentaries. Included on the DVD was Huling Hala-bira, a documentary about a family living under the railroad tracks in Pandacan, Manila, which won second prize that same year in a United Nations-sponsored international broadcast competition.

Severino’s parents are Ambassador Rodolfo Severino Jr., former secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from 1998 to 2002, and Tati Gorospe Severino. a former schoolteacher and administrator.

Severino started as a newspaper reporter and magazine writer in 1988; became a co-founder of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ); established himself as a leading documentary filmmaker; and, in 2009, was named Editor-in-Chief of GMA News Online, GMA Network’s news website. He stepped down in 2014 after five years, and was appointed GMA Network’s Vice President for Professional Development in May 2014.

As a college student in Boston in the early 1980s, he got to know Benigno Aquino, Jr., then in exile. After Aquino’s assassination in 1983, Severino returned home to teach at his alma mater Ateneo High School, and join the anti-Marcos movement. He was arrested on the same day as Lino Brocka and Behn Cervantes and detained for eight days in Fort Bonifacio, which was at the time a dreaded army camp and not yet the high-end real estate development hub that it is today.

Horacio “Howie” Gorospe Severino (born July 18, 1961) is a Filipino broadcast journalist best known for his work with the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, the Probe Team, and the GMA Network. He has worked in print, television, and online media.