Faces of the News: Oct. 6, 2019

Bo Perasol

After a surprise run to the UAAP Finals last year, University of the Philippines (UP) coach Bo Perasol knows that expectations on him and the UP Maroons have tripled.

So amid the controversy he whipped up in UP’s recent loss to Ateneo, Perasol hinted at the reason behind the unbridled passion in his coaching style at the UAAP’s Season 82.

If he fails to go all the way, he said, he has no business coaching UP. That passion burned the wrong way when he was ejected after aggressively approaching a game official in the UP-Ateneo face-off last week.

Perasol was slapped a three-game ban, that branched out into further controversy, with the Maroons and their coach calling the penalty “excessive.”

UP immediately appealed to have the sanction overturned, but was forced to look elsewhere for relief after commissioner Jensen Ilagan thumbed it down.

Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Phoenix initially had doubts about taking on the title role in Todd Phillips’ Venice film fest-winning origin story, “Joker.”

But the challenging role could finally bag the 44-year-old actor the elusive Oscar.

He was previously nominated for his performances in “The Master,” “Walk the Line” and “Gladiator,” but went home empty-handed each time.

No, he didn’t see Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning portrayal of Batman’s nemesis in “The Dark Knight” since it came out, he told Inquirer columnist Ruben Nepales.

Phoenix’s “vanishing act” didn’t just require the actor to “find” the tragic figure’s villainous laugh; he also had to look cachectic — a task he accomplished on a diet of an apple a day for months.

When shooting started, he had lost 52 pounds. “Joker” is his first lead role in a comic book film, after he nixed the roles of Doctor Strange and the Hulk.

Rodney Raymund Baloyo IV

Police Maj. Rodney Raymund Baloyo IV found himself behind bars at New Bilibid Prison on Thursday after senators cited him for contempt following his inconsistent narrative on the controversial buy-bust operation in 2013 conducted by the police.

Baloyo stuck to his story despite several witnesses debunking it.

Baloyo was then head of the Pampanga police intelligence and led the operation that, the raiding team said, netted 38 kilos of “shabu” (crystal meth) and resulted in the arrest of a suspect.

However, a subsequent probe found that about 200 kg of crystal meth were actually seized in the operation and that the police had presented a different suspect to the public.

The Senate hearing also found Baloyo lying on the time of the raid, the supposed due diligence conducted before the operation and the claimed regularity in the custody of the seized drugs.

Oscar Albayalde

A little over a month before his scheduled retirement, Police Gen. Oscar Albayalde, the Philippine National Police chief, found himself on the hot seat for allegedly interceding in the dismissal of Pampanga police operatives implicated in a controversial scheme to pilfer seized drugs in 2013.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Aaron Aquino and former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Benjamin Magalong told a Senate hearing this week that Albayalde had once called up Aquino, asking him not to implement the dismissal order against the men who used to be under him when he was Pampanga police chief.

But Albayalde insisted that he had only asked about the status of the case.

Despite other revelations in that hearing that dented Albayalde’s credibility, President Rodrigo Duterte expressed continuing trust and confidence in him.

Illustrations by Rene Elevera