Pastoral ministers on Friday carry the glass case containing the Sto. Niño de Cebu as they kick off the annual “traslacion,” or procession of the image to the National Shrine of St. Joseph in Mandaue City. In Malolos, Bulacan (inset), visitors at Capitol Gymnasium on Saturday view an exhibit featuring a variety of Sto. Niño images, including the Sto. Niño El Labrador de Paombong holding rice stalks before a kneeling carabao. The Eternal Child Jesus, ever youthful yet the oldest Catholic icon in the Philippines, was first introduced by Spanish missionaries accompanying Ferdinand Magellan upon his arrival in the archipelago in March 1521. The feast of the Sto. Niño was eventually moved to the third week of January to give way to the Lenten period and continues to be celebrated in various parts of the country. —PHOTOS BY EMMANUELLE SAWIT AND LYN RILLON
TURNING THE TABLES ON DU30
Members of human rights group Karapatan, together with relatives of victims of extrajudicial killings and their lawyers, appear at the Supreme Court on Friday to file a disbarment complaint against Rodrigo Duterte. They argued that the former president’s drug war violated the high court’s Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability, and also constituted the offense of conduct unbecoming of a lawyer. “It is time for us to appeal to the Supreme Court to reinforce how the law should … [protect] victims of human rights violations as they seek justice and ensure dignified and proper conduct in the practice of law,” said lawyer Vicente Jaime Topacio, one of the petitioners. —RICHARD A. REYES
GONE TO WASTE
Boxes filled with discarded ballots are loaded onto a truck at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City on Friday. The ballots were first given a thorough inspection by staff members of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) before their transfer to a warehouse in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, where the ballots will be destroyed. On Tuesday, Comelec stopped the printing of ballots for the midterm polls after it was ordered by the Supreme Court to include candidates who had secured temporary restraining orders on their disqualification. Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia said this was “the first time in electoral history” that the Comelec must reprint the ballots, of which 6 million have already been produced costing some P132 million. But Garcia gave the assurance that the May 12 elections will be held as scheduled. About 69 million voters have registered for the polls. —LYN RILLON
SECURITY MEETING
US Assistant Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Sandra Brown and US Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Steve Parode meet with Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard and Philippine Navy officials (not in photo) on Jan. 14, during their visit last week to the Philippines. According to the website of the Indo-Pacific Command (Indopacom), Parode cited the “persistent threats to freedom of the seas and the security of internationally recognized waters and economic zones.” He called for a deeper “understanding” of these factors “in order to rapidly respond to provocative and destabilizing activities.” —INDOPACOM
