Illustration by RENE ELEVERA
Sharifa Akeel
When Sultan Kudarat beauty queen Sharifa M. Areef Mohammad Omar Akeel bagged the Mutya ng Pilipinas 2018 title last month, there was much talk about her decision to compete in beauty pageants and to wear swimsuit considering her religion, Islam.
Early this month, she won the crown for the Philippines in the Miss Asia Pacific International pageant — the country’s fifth win in the pageant’s 50-year history.
Akeel received a lot of bashing on social media. But the 21-year-old still aimed to promote peace and understanding in the culturally diverse country through education.
She said everything she did was dedicated to the Muslim community and the whole country.
Gretchen Fullido
In what could be the first public case of sexual harassment in the local media industry, news anchor Gretchen Fullido filed criminal charges against her two supervising producers at network giant ABS-CBN for alleged sexual abuse.
In her complaint filed at the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, Fullido said text messages sent to her by Cheryl Favila and Maricar Asprec were “loaded with sexual innuendos, which amounted to sexual favors.”
She said she had suffered for three years, until she decided to sue.
Though the network dismissed her charges, Favila was fired for gross misconduct.
Favila and Asprec denied her allegations, saying that Fullido maliciously took their conversations out of context.
Harry Roque
The last two weeks were bad for erstwhile presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
Last week, Roque denied rumors that the President had gone to the hospital only to hear President Rodrigo Duterte later admitting he did so for repeat tests.
But worse was when the President said that Roque had no chance of winning as senator next year and the military did not like him.
Roque admitted he was hurt when he was not informed about the hospital visit because people would think he was a liar.
He also said he was taken aback by the President’s comments on his chances of winning a Senate seat.
Roque spent last weekend pondering on his future only to hear that he had been replaced.
Salvador Panelo
Aside from being the chief presidential legal counsel, Salvador Panelo is now also the presidential spokesperson.
Panelo took on his new duties this week despite the fact that Harry Roque was only on leave to attend a conference in China.
Upon his return from Bali, Indonesia, President Rodrigo Duterte said Panelo should “temporarily fit the job” and in jest added that he appointed his old friend because of his “sartorial elegance,” apparently referring to Panelo’s preference for flashy suits and pointed shoes.
Panelo wasted no time in his new job and held his first news briefing on Friday in Malacañang where he assured the Palace press corps that he had adequate access to the President.
Jamal Khashoggi
The disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi appears to be affecting not only the diplomatic relations of the United States, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, but also $110 billion in weapons contracts.
Khashoggi was a prominent journalist who was an editor of several Saudi newspapers.
He fled to the United States in 2017 and continued to write opinion articles critical of the Saudi government.
He was last seen in a video footage entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
Turkey claims it has evidence that he was tortured and murdered in the consulate.
Because of his disappearance, US lawmakers threatened to block Riyadh’s acquisition of US weapons, affecting thousands of American jobs.
Khabib Nurmagomedov
Khabib Nurmagomedov came out strong in his much-anticipated duel with Conor McGregor, dominating in strikes before applying a rear-naked choke on his opponent, who tapped out.
“The Eagle” remains in the headlines almost a week after his victory because of what happened after the win.
The UFC champion celebrated the victory by screaming at McGregor and then pointed at McGregor’s team before attacking Dillon Danis, McGregor’s training partner.
McGregor looked bewildered from the defeat and the heated drama that was developing before he, too, was attacked by one of Nurmagomedov’s training partners. UFC president Dana White called the post-match brawl “sick.”