Faces of the News: June 14, 2020
ILLUSTRATION BY RENE ELEVERA
Francis Zamora
Some residents in Baguio City have demanded that San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora be declared persona non grata after he broke health protocols on June 5.
Zamora had claimed he was asleep when his six-vehicle convoy ignored a border checkpoint on Kennon Road.
The mayor, who had previously arrested political rival Jinggoy Estrada for alleged lockdown violations, immediately apologized and said he had visited Baguio to help his ailing wife recuperate.
The border violation was a misunderstanding, he said, for which his five police escorts were sacked by National Capital Region Police Office chief Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas.
While he was not inclined to sue Zamora, Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong said he was closing the city to visitors from other areas until they’ve reduced their COVID-19 (new coronavirus disease) cases.
—Vincent Cabreza
Elmer Cordero
With jeepneys still banned in Metro Manila because of the community quarantine, jeepney drivers from the group Piston staged a rally on June 2, asking the government to restore their source of livelihood.
The police arrested six of the drivers for allegedly violating the ban on mass gatherings.
Among them was Elmer Cordero, 72, who gained public sympathy for his age and frail health even as police refused to release him on humanitarian grounds.
The law must be followed regardless of age, authorities insisted. But people immediately pointed to former first lady Imelda Marcos and former Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, who remained free because of their advanced age despite the graver criminal cases they faced — seven counts of graft for her and the nonbailable charge of plunder for him.
Cordero was eventually released on a P10,000 bail.
—Meg Adonis
Pinky Amador
It could have very well been a scene from the soap operas she regularly appears in. In a six-minute video that went viral on social media last weekend, Pinky Amador is seen hurling invectives at the staff of the condotel she lives in.
The building administration had apparently failed to issue an advisory that some units had been turned into quarantine facilities for 59 repatriated Filipino workers, “thus risking everyone’s safety in the building.”
In a statement, the veteran theater, film and television actress said her outburst was the result of mounting fears and frustrations over the condotel administration’s failure to issue an incident circular and proper protocols despite repeated demands.
Amador has since apologized for her outburst but also asked for understanding, saying she was “pushed to the limit.”
—Allan Policarpio
Derek Chauvin
Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis policeman widely reviled for killing George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes, is still eligible to receive more than $1 million in pension benefits even if convicted of manslaughter, first-degree and second-degree murder for Floyd’s death.
Minnesota state law protects the pensions of public safety employees, unlike some other states that have pension forfeiture laws.
The 44-year-old Chauvin, who had been moonlighting at the same nightclub where Floyd worked as a bouncer, has been detained at a high-security prison while awaiting trial.
Aside from divorce proceedings from his wife of 10 years and recriminations from colleagues in the police force, Chauvin also faces responsibility for sparking racial riots and widespread protests in some 700 US cities and other parts of the world.
Cloned Facebook users
Filipino netizens were extremely busy last weekend, filing report after report of fake or cloned Facebook (FB) accounts, a phenomenon that seemed to coincide with the mounting opposition to the antiterrorism bill.
The University of the Philippines (UP) first reported the duplication of the FB accounts of its students and alumni following a protest against the controversial bill in UP Cebu.
The National Privacy Commission and the Philippine National Police said they’re conducting a probe, but the National Bureau of Investigation has already floated the possibility that a glitch was behind the suspicious surge.
Facebook this week said it “has not seen evidence of … coordinated or malicious activity” in the cloning of the accounts. Such crime, government officials have warned, is punishable under the country’s cybercrime laws.
—Julie M. Aurelio
