Faces of the News: January 12, 2025
Vic Sotto
Actor Vic Sotto filed on Jan. 9 a cyberlibel complaint against filmmaker Darryl Yap after his name was mentioned in a teaser of the director’s upcoming movie “The Rapists of Pepsi Paloma.” Sotto sued Yap for 19 counts of cyberlibel before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court. “A lot of people have been asking me about what my reaction was—this is my reaction. This is nothing personal. I am simply against irresponsible people, especially on social media. This is also why I don’t respond through this platform, or even on TV. I think this is the right venue to answer all of the issues,” Sotto told reporters during the filing. The actor was accompanied by wife Pauleen Luna and legal counsel Enrique dela Cruz. “I am supporting him all the way. No questions asked,” Luna declared. Prior to this legal action, Sotto also filed a petition for the issuance of the writ of habeas data which seeks the removal of any information related to him from any promotional material for the film about the late 1980s sexy actress Pepsi Paloma. —Marinel Cruz
Benjamin Magalong
Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong, a retired police general, is known for championing what he believes is right no matter the possible effects on his career or public life. His latest complaint about the possible shortfalls in local government shares from national tax collections may not have been received well, but he continues to stand by his contention. On Jan. 6, the mayor disclosed that he had asked Finance Secretary Ralph Recto for a dialogue on behalf of the Mayors for Good Governance, a group that he helped form in 2023, to check how government had computed the National Tax Allotments of provinces, towns, cities and barangays since 2018. Magalong said that based on his group’s findings, local governments had been receiving only 31 percent of the total revenues —instead of 40 percent as stipulated in the landmark Supreme Court decision also known as Mandanas-Garcia ruling. He had not publicly accused anyone of wrongdoing, but such a demand for transparency is no longer suprising for a man who had often criticized the “entrenched corruption” in the bureaucracy. —Vincent Cabreza
George Erwin Garcia
On Jan. 8, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair George Erwin Garcia said he had approved the exemption of 28 programs and services of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DWSD) from the Comelec rule barring the release and spending of public funds 45 days before the next elections on May 12. Among the exempted programs were the controversial Ayuda Para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (Akap), for which the DSWD wants to spend from P882.9 million from March 28 to May 11; the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, P38.40 billion; Walang Gutom Program, or the food stamp program, P7.25 billion, and Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation, P7.58 billion. “We won’t prevent the distribution of these assistance to our poor and needy citizens, but the DSWD must comply with the conditionalities that we put [in the exemption certificate]. And one of the most important that we put is that no politician or candidate should be present during the distribution of the “ayuda” (assistance), regardless of its name, nature [or] form,” Garcia explained. —Jerome Aning
Mark Zuckerberg
“We’re restoring free expression on our platforms,” Mark Zuckerberg said in a Jan. 7 video as he announced his decision to stop US-based fact-checking efforts across his company’s social media platforms, namely Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. The move was seen as page taken from the Elon Musk playbook, drawing sharp criticism and warnings (netizens are now “free” to call others mentally ill based on their gender identity, etc). Observers also said that with his sudden pivot to Donald Trump ahead of the latter’s Jan. 20 inauguration, the Meta CEO seems to be putting himself back in Trump’s good graces. After all, Trump will soon have the power whether to kill a federal antitrust case against Meta, among others. “This is a case of kissing the ring,” The Star.com quoted tech analyst Carolina Milanesi as saying. In Trump’s view, the tech billionaire has come a long way since their relationship got complicated. Many are now reminded that, after the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at Capitol Hill, Zuckerberg suspended Trump from his platforms. Trump then called Facebook “enemy of the people” and Zuckerberg “criminal.”
Lope Jimenez
Lope Jimenez, a primary suspect in the 2007 killing of Ruby Rose Barrameda, whose remains were found in a drum filled with concrete and then dumped in the waters off Navotas City, was arrested in Mandaluyong City on Friday. But Jimenez, formerly a fishing magnate, was actually arrested for a different murder case. The Quezon City police captured one “Victor Vidal Dueñas,” also known as “James Paul Dwight,” for being the alleged mastermind in the killing of businessman William Pascaran Sr. The body of Pascaran, who disappeared on Jan. 5, was found buried in San Jose Del Monte City in Bulacan province. With Jimenez in police custody, Rochelle Barrameda, sister of the late Ruby Rose, arrived at the QC police headquarters on Friday and positively identified the arrested man as Jimenez, the uncle of Ruby Rose’s husband Manuel “Third” Jimenez III. Still, in that encounter, the man insisted that he was Dueñas and claimed that he didn’t know Rochelle. For the Barramedas, however, justice may finally be within reach 18 years after Ruby Rose’s death. —Nestor Corrales
