Faces of the news
Jason Laureano Y. Aquino
The retired Army lieutenant colonel is again at odds with his colleagues at the National Food Authority (NFA) Council, this time for insisting that the NFA should import 250,000 metric tons of milled rice. This is a different scenario from last year when Aquino locked horns with the majority of the Council —headed by Cabinet Secretary Leoncio B. Evasco Jr. and including representatives from Malacañang’s economic team —for refusing to extend the deadline of arrival for grains procured by private-sector importers. But, like last year, Aquino is again under fire from the Senate. Sen. Cynthia Villar wants to know why the NFA’s inventory has gone down to just two days’ worth of national consumption when the agency is mandated to maintain a buffer stock good for 15 days. Aquino maintains that the NFA shall be authorized to import especially since the arrival of shipments take 45 days from the date of purchase. Villar argues that the NFA can top up its stock with locally grown grains, as palay in some provinces is available at prices that the agency can afford. The NFA sells rice at P27 to P32 per kilogram compared to commercial rice, which sells from P36 to P66 per kilogram.
Thomas Triomphe
“Up to date, there is no direct evidence linking Dengvaxia to any of those reported deaths.” This was the statement of Triomphe, the Asia-Pacific head of Sanofi Pasteur, during a House of Representatives inquiry on Monday, as the pharmaceutical giant rejected the Department of Health’s demand to reimburse the full P3.2-billion cost of the dengue immunization program. Triomphe insisted that the vaccine had 93.2 percent efficacy rate and the occurrence of three deaths (which the Philippine General Hospital preliminarily found to have a “causal association” to the vaccine) out of 830,000 recipients would still be “very well aligned with our own conclusions.” Triomphe told lawmakers that despite findings that Dengvaxia could heighten the risk of hospitalization among seronegative recipients (who never had prior exposure to the mosquito-borne disease), it would still be effective on the majority who had exposure. Yet, he admitted under the same breath that “there is no easily available rapid diagnostic test” to check if the child was seropositive and could receive the vaccine without risk.
Helen Macasaet
The IT consultant hired by the Supreme Court for P250,000 a month from 2013 to 2017, appeared with a battery of lawyers at the 14th impeachment hearing against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Tuesday. She defended her hefty compensation package, saying she delivered what was expected of her and that her pay was actually a pittance compared to what she usually received for her services. As the consultant who fixed the database crash of the Government Service Insurance System in 2009, Macasaet said she received close to P1 million a month then. But Carlos Garay, head of the Supreme Court’s computer technology office, said her hiring had not caused any remarkable change at all. “The effect on the systems was not substantial, your honor,” he said. It was also learned during the House hearing that Macasaet is a close friend of Sereno’s chief of staff, Lourdes Oliveros, who admitted the relationship but denied insinuations that she had handpicked the consultant for the IT project. Oliveros said she purposely distanced herself from the procurement process involving Macasaet’s employment.
Noel Tijam
President Duterte’s second appointee to the country’s highest judicial body, Associate Justice Noel Tijam, opined that the Supreme Court had no authority to scrutinize how the Senate and the House of Representatives arrived at their decision to prolong for another year the martial law in Mindanao. Tijam, who was joined by nine other magistrates, also declared that the allegations of human rights abuses in areas under military rule were merely “speculative,” pointing out that the four groups of petitioners who challenged the constitutionality of Joint Congressional Resolution No. 4 failed to substantiate their claims. Tijam said Congress should be allowed to exercise its “full discretionary authority to formulate, adopt and promulgate its own rules.” Critics said Tijam’s position practically limited the high court’s judicial authority to review congressional actions as part of the constitutional guarantee of check and balance among the three branches of government. But Tijam, a former Court of Appeals judge, said the tribunal’s “power to review the extension of martial law is limited solely to a determination of sufficiency of factual basis.”
Nick Foles
Just a couple of years ago, Nick Foles nearly retired from football. Although, he got convinced to stay on, he rode on the bench most of the time before joining the Eagles as a backup to Carson Wentz—the star quarterback and potential regular-season MVP. But fate came into play as Foles got pushed into a starring role after Wentz sustained a season-ending injury. It involved a lot of hard work, too, as Foles kept playing better and helped power the underdog Eagles to a 41-33 victory over the Patriots that gave the Philadelphia franchise its first Super Bowl crown. The remarkable rise of the 29-year-old—whose touchdown catch in the National Football League’s biggest stage was the first in his professional career—also earned him the MVP award. “The big thing is don’t be afraid to fail,” said Foles. “I wouldn’t be up here if I hadn’t fallen thousands of times, made mistakes.” Foles also made history as the first player in Super Bowl history to throw and catch a touchdown in the same game. But the unexpected star would rather give credit to the entire team. “We have such a great group of guys, such a great coaching staff,” said Foles.
Jerwin Ancajas
He may have been billed as the next Manny Pacquiao, but clearly, this new Filipino boxing sensation has all the tools to carve a name of his own. Jerwin Ancajas defended his International Boxing Federation junior bantam- weight crown for the fourth time after knocking Mexico’s Israel Gonzalez out in the 10th round in his US fight debut in Corpus Christi, Texas. The pride of Panabo City—who raised his record to 29-1-1 with 20 knockouts—schooled Gonzalez early on with a flash knockdown in the first round. And even before decking the Mexican twice again in the 10th round, Ancajas had clearly won all previous rounds. But the 26-year-old impressed fight fans worldwide not just with his explosive form, but also with his gentle nature as Ancajas immediately checked on his fallen enemy instead of walking away to celebrate. The southpaw’s chief trainer, Joven Jimenez, rated Ancajas’ performance as a 7 out of 10 and said his ward had more to show. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who signed him up to a three- fight deal with an option to extend, also expects Ancajas to see action in more lucrative fights this year.
