Faces of the News: June 22, 2025
Antonio Bucoy
The 66-year-old veteran lawyer has been appointed by the House prosecution team as its spokesperson regarding the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
But even with the Senate trial still in a lull, Antonio Bucoy hit the ground running on his first day on the job on June 17, by criticizing some of the senator-judges for supposed bias toward Duterte as well as the court’s “unconstitutional” June 11 order remanding the articles of impeachment back to the House.
Bucoy, a University of the Philippines law graduate and managing partner at Bucoy Poblador and Associates, said he accepted the assignment for his colleagues on the prosecution panel who believed he had the experience and credibility to help inform the public about the processes and issues arising from the impeachment trial.
Behind Bucoy is more than 41 years of litigation experience and teaching corporate and remedial law. He is also a longtime member of the Free Legal Assistance Group and the Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism Inc. —KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING
Regie Tongol
Lawyer Regie Tongol, the spokesperson of the Senate impeachment court, again came to the court’s defense early this week amid accusations of “foot-dragging” in connection with the impeachment case of Vice President Sara Duterte.
On the contrary, he said, the court managed to take significant procedural steps just within a week of convening. Tongol fired back at critics, calling out the members of the House prosecution panel for repeatedly lashing out at the Senate, which by law should hear “forthwith” the impeachment complaint filed by the House.
“It is disrespectful for litigants to question the court with the end goal of merely discrediting it instead of doing their job,” he said. Tongol suggested that the House panel use its energy in complying with the orders of the impeachment court, instead of just taking shots at some senator-judges in press statements.
It’s the prosecutors, he said, who may be causing the delay by their inaction on the court orders. “If they feel strongly about the actions of the Court, then they should avail of their remedies in law and not air out grievances in the court of public opinion,” Tongol added. —MELVIN GASCON
Joey Uy
On June 18, the Commission on Elections’ Second Division invalidated the proclamation of Representative-elect Joey Uy of Manila’s 6th district following questions over his citizenship by his lone opponent, Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. Abante, who is seeking reelection, claimed Uy, who was born in Manila in 1962, was not a natural-born Filipino citizen in accordance with the citizenship provisions of the 1935 Constitution that was still in effect at the time.
Uy’s father was a Chinese who was naturalized five years after Joey’s birth, while Uy’s mother, though a Filipino, lost her citizenship upon marriage to Uy’s father. Declaring Uy disqualified and the votes for him “stray,” the Comelec division said Abante was the real winner of the race. Uy is expected to appeal the ruling to the Comelec en banc.
In a statement on June 19, Uy invoked the citizenship provisions of the 1987 Constitution, saying his mother is a natural-born citizen—and therefore he is also one. “The citizens of the 6th district have spoken as to who they want to be their representative in Congress through a free and democratic election. We wish that their voice be heeded,” Uy said. —JEROME ANING
Ronald Cardema
The chair of the Duterte Youth party list suffered a fresh setback after the Second Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) canceled his group’s registration, acting on a sixyear-old case. The poll body said the group did not undergo the required procedures for its accreditation in 2018.
Comelec also ruled that Duterte Youth violated election laws when it advocated violence and received assistance from the government, all while showing no “bona fide intention” to represent the youth sector.
Cardema earlier accused the commission of bias, threatened to reveal alleged corruption in Congress, and called on Comelec Chair George Garcia to resign. With his group’s cancellation, he warned that Vice President Sara Duterte may suffer the same fate.
“If we allow Comelec to do this now, what happens if Sara Duterte wins in 2028 as President? What if they just revoke her win because she has a case pending in 2025, whether at the DOJ (Department of Justice) or NBI (National Bureau of Investigation), related to her actions in Congress?” he said in a media interview. —KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING
Harry Roque
Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, who is a wanted man in Manila for a nonbailable case of human trafficking, dismissed the claim of the Department of Justice (DOJ) that he applied for asylum in Germany after the Netherlands denied his request. In a Facebook post on June 18, Roque said his recent trip to Germany was a prescheduled visit at the invitation of the Filipino community there.
At the time of the posting, he said he was already back in The Hague, the Netherlands, where he accused the Marcos administration of disinformation regarding his case. Earlier that day, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told reporters that he learned that Roque’s asylum bid had been denied by the Dutch government.
Pressed for more details on Thursday, Remulla changed tune, declined to comment and just said that Roque was “irrelevant.” An Angeles City court last month ordered the arrest of Roque and more than 40 other people over their alleged links to Philippine offshore gaming operators that were raided last year for suspected human trafficking and online scam operations. —JANE BAUTISTA
