Faces of the News: October 20, 2024
Eli Remolona Jr.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli Remolona Jr. continues to put his stamp on key economic decisions. On Oct. 16, the policymaking Monetary Board (MB) chaired by Remolona cut the benchmark rate, which banks typically use as guide when charging interest on loans, by a quarter point to 6 percent.
By bringing down borrowing costs, the BSP hopes to stimulate bank lending in order to boost consumer spending, a traditional driver of growth. But unlike in the United States where a slowing job market had prompted the US central bank to deliver a jumbo 50-basis point (bp) rate cut, the BSP entered its easing cycle with a modest quarter point reduction on Aug. 15.
What gave the BSP enough room to further slash the key rate was a softening inflation that retreated to a four-year low of 1.9 percent in September. Moving forward, Remolona said another 25-bp rate cut is possible at the Dec. 19 meeting of the MB, adding that the BSP will aim for a “measured” shift to a less restrictive monetary policy. —Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral
Edilberto Leonardo
The former commissioner of the National Police Commission was forced to resign his post on Oct. 4 after a congressional investigation touched on his involvement in the Duterte drug war. Seen as a favorite by then President Rodrigo Duterte, Leonardo was linked to the killing of three Chinese drug convicts in a Davao prison in 2016 and that of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office board secretary Wesley Barayuga in 2022.
But the most damning allegation against him came from another “favored” officer, Royina Garma, who testified that she was tasked by the former president to look for a PNP officer who was also a member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo and can implement the antinarcotics crackdown on a national level.
That instruction, Garma said, led her to Leonardo, her upperclassman in the police academy. At the time, Leonardo was with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. Earlier this week, House quad committee cochair and Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez said Leonardo had been sending feelers that, like Garma, he was ready to tell all before the panel. —Krixia Subingsubing
Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa
Alleged drug lord Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa takes his oath at the House Quad Committee’s continuing investigation into EJKs during the war on drugs under the Duterte administration. – INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON
Saying he only wanted justice for his slain father, confessed drug lord Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa faced the House quad committee on Oct. 11 and confirmed what many had long suspected: he was only forced to name then Sen. Leila de Lima as a “protector” of drug syndicates.
Breaking into tears during his lengthy testimony, Espinosa claimed that former Philippine National Police chief and now reelectionist Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa warned him that he would end up dead like his father, Rolando Espinosa Sr., if he refused to follow what he had been told. Espinosa’s father, then the mayor of Albuera, Leyte, was shot dead by police while in detention at the Leyte subprovincial jail in Baybay City in November 2016.
According to Kerwin, the government’s war on drugs was used to intimidate and silence De Lima and other critics of then President Rodrigo Duterte. Espinosa also said he believed that it was Duterte who ordered his father’s death and that the former leader was aware of the threats made by Dela Rosa should he veer away from the plan against De Lima. —Marlon Ramos
Elon Musk
It was “one for the history books,” the engineers at Elon Musk’s SpaceX declared after the first-ever successful landing of a rocket booster onto its own launch tower in Boca Chica, Texas, on Oct. 15. For Musk, it was a two-in-one achievement after the ship part of the rocket also made a successful landing in the Indian Ocean.
“Ship landed precisely on target! Second of the two objectives achieved,” the billionaire visionary wrote on X, the platform he also owns. The double feat took SpaceX closer to building a fully reusable rocket that can be quickly sent back to space, if needed. Musk also called it a “big step towards making (earthly) life multiplanetary.”
The development of the Starship rocket is aimed at taking humans to (again) the moon and to Mars. Soon after its latest feats, however, the California Coastal Commission voted against SpaceX doing more launches from the Vandenberg Space Force site in Santa Barbara. Musk sued the body and its commissioners, saying their rejection of his future launches could be traced to his political views, mainly his support for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. —Press Release
Rafael Nadal
Tributes have been pouring in since Rafael Nadal announced his decision to retire, which will be at the conclusion of next month’s Davis Cup tie. The quarterfinal matchup between his home country Spain and the Netherlands, set from Nov. 19 to Nov. 24 in Malaga, will close the chapter on one of the great careers in the history of the sport.
Nadal has won 22 Grand Slam titles, more than half earned at the claycourt of Roland Garros where he ruled the French Open 14 times. He is also known for his rivalries with the now-retired Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, the latter set to become the last active player among the so-called Big Three of tennis, after Nadal’s final match.
Tennis greats like Boris Becker and Chris Evert and current stars led by Carlos Alcaraz were among those who honored Nadal moments after the announcement. His retirement tour had actually started at the Six Kings Slam, an exhibition tournament in Saudi Arabia where he lost to Alcaraz in the semis and was set to face Djokovic one more time in a playoff for third place. —Jonas Terrado
