Faces of the News: January 19, 2025
George Garcia
On Jan. 14, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair George Erwin Garcia announced that the poll body would defer the printing of official ballots for the May 12 elections. It was to comply with the Supreme Court’s issuance of temporary restraining orders staying the Comelec’s earlier disqualification of senatorial candidate Subair Mustapha and four other local candidates.
Following an inventory, Garcia said some 6 million ballots printed by the National Printing Office since Jan. 6 would have to be destroyed. These include those intended for the final sealing and testing of the automated counting machines, local absentee voting, overseas voting, mock elections and official ballots for the Bangsamoro and Caraga regions. At P22 each, the discarded ballots cost some P132 million.
The chair said the Comelec’s election management system would also have to be updated to include Mustapha’s name in the alphabetical list. It is an unprecedented situation for the poll body, but official ballots, Garcia gave assurance that the May 12 elections will push through after slight adjustments in its timetable. —JEROME ANING
Elizaldy Co
When the House of Representatives resumed session after a three-week holiday break, the majority bloc moved to declare the chairmanship of the appropriations committee vacant. The chamber was abuzz over the removal of Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co as panel head, particularly because the movant was Senior Deputy Majority Leader Sandro Marcos, the President’s son.
Also curious was the speed by which the young Marcos acted. As longtime committee chair, Co had shepherded the crafting of the national budgets for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Although the 2025 General Appropriations Act was highly controversial following cuts in the budgets of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and the Department of Education, among others, President Marcos signed it on Dec 30, 2024.
But Mr. Marcos vetoed some line items worth P194 billion, mostly from the public works budget, saying they were “not consistent” with the administration’s priority programs. Co later explained that he voluntarily stepped down as committee chair due to “pressing” health concerns and because “the highly demanding nature of my role has taken its toll.” Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo was named acting chair. —JEANETTE I. ANDRADE
Juan Ponce Enrile
Rarely active on social media, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile made a surprising post Wednesday night on Facebook, warning of a “very detrimental precedent” if Filipinos buy the implied reasoning behind the “National Rally for Peace’’ mounted by Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) on Jan. 13.
INC mobilization was said to be in support of President Marcos’ earlier statement discouraging any impeachment move against Vice President Sara Duterte. The centenarian Enrile questioned the “logic” behind the INC move, wondering if it was out to amend the Constitution or suspend its provisions on due process.
“Are we prepared to discard or sacrifice the value of RULE OF LAW for a person or a group of persons?” he asked. Impeachment is just a constitutional legal process and won’t lead to jail for the impeached government official, he also explained. “As a nation and a state, we will incur a very detrimental precedent if we follow the logic implicit in the INC rally that they mounted. Are we prepared and ready to face the long-term consequences of that INC move?” —JULIE M. AURELIO
Carlos Yulo
Proclaiming gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo as Athlete of the Year was a no-brainer for the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA). Prior to his feat in last year’s Paris Olympics, no Filipino had won a pair of gold medals in the 100 years of Philippine participation in the global Summer Games.
The 4-foot-11 dynamo—backed by a supportive Gymnastics Association of the Philippines headed by Cynthia Carrion, along with the Philippine Sports Commission, the Philippine Olympic Committee and the MVP Sports Foundation—bagged the gold medals in the men’s floor exercise and vault.
Earlier, he already made history for Philippine sports as a two-time world champion in the same events. With more competitive years ahead of him, the 24-year-old from Malate, Manila, is determined to do a repeat of his Paris peak performance—this time in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. For now, he’ll be basking in the unfading glory of last year’s achievements at the PSA awards night, which will be held on Jan. 27 at the Centennial Hall of the Manila Hotel. —JUNE NAVARRO
Pete Hegseth
“It’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm,” Pete Hegseth said at the start of his confirmation hearing on Jan. 14 before the Senate Armed Services Committee. US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the defense department was a decorated veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq but had no high-ranking military experience.
Also a former Fox News Channel host, the 44-year-old Hegseth vowed to bring “the warrior culture back” to the Pentagon. He laid out his plans while being grilled about his qualifications, views on women in combat, as well as past allegations of sexual misconduct and heavy drinking.
“We will work with our partners and allies to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific from the communist Chinese,” he said. Hegseth survived the four-hour-long hearing, but not before being tested by a question about the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose members he could not name on the spot. He instead spoke of US dealings with South Korea, Japan and Australia, prompting Sen. Tammy Duckworth to tell him to “do a little homework.’’—PRESS RELEASE
