Faces of the News: July 5, 2020

ILLUSTRATION BY RENE ELEVERA

Marion Balonglong

Marion Balonglong, the now-axed Puerto Princesa, Palawan, police chief, faces a slew of criminal and administrative charges at the Office of the Ombudsman, after eight employees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) decried the illegal arrest and maltreatment they allegedly suffered at the hands of the police official and his men.

The complainants — forest rangers and foresters from the local DENR office — said Balonglong and his officers accosted them on their way to investigate the massive cutting of mangroves at a nature reserve in Barangay Iwahig, and accused them of stealing construction materials from the police chief’s supposed property, which was the subject of the DENR’s inspection.

The complainants said the abuse they suffered made them fear “summary execution” by Balonglong.

In 2018, the official was relieved from his post as Las Piñas City police chief after he and his men were linked to an abduction-extortion case involving a drug suspect.

—Jhesset O. Enano

Carlos Dominguez III

To steer the economy toward recovery, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III last week said it was “time to open up” businesses so more Filipinos could return to their jobs.

As President Rodrigo Duterte’s chief economic manager, he has to find ways to help the country rebound from the COVID-19-induced recession and bring back jobs as well as business and consumer confidence.

For Dominguez, the more than three months spent under strict quarantine has provided the Department of Health some leeway to keep the COVID-19 death rate low while beefing up medical response to the pandemic.

But even the living need food to eat and money to spend. Knowing this, Dominguez has asked the President to further relax quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), which account for two-thirds of the country’s economic engine, so that normal livelihood can slowly resume, while minimum health standards are maintained to prevent the disease from further spreading.

—Ben O. de Vera

Harry Roque

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque found himself under public scrutiny twice this week: For rejoicing about the government’s “win” over the University of the Philippines’ (UP) COVID-19 data projections, and posing with dolphins and the staff at Ocean Adventure marine park in Subic Bay, Zambales province, although he had warned people not to make leisure trips.

Last Tuesday, an elated Roque “congratulated” the nation for beating the UP projection of 40,000 COVID-19 cases by the end of June.

He quickly clarified this after a backlash from netizens and opposition lawmakers who reminded him that the enemy wasn’t UP, but the virus.

The following day, Ocean Adventure released photos of Roque in shallow waters with several dolphins and talking to the marine park’s personnel — without social distancing and with no protective mask.

Roque apologized and said the park visit wasn’t for leisure but a side trip he took after checking on his agribusiness in nearby Bataan province.

—Julie M. Aurelio

Jesus Crispin Remulla

Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla drew brickbats on social media on Wednesday after he was caught on video hunched over his desk, writing, while the national anthem was being played. A vocal opponent of ABS-CBN’s franchise application, the lawmaker was roundly criticized by netizens for disrespecting the flag.

Remulla later apologized, saying he was writing a note that couldn’t wait. At the same time, he laid the blame squarely on ABS-CBN for “playing up” the incident on social media.

In response, netizens quickly posted the 2018 news story about 34 moviegoers in Batangas who were arrested for staying seated during the playing of “Lupang Hinirang.”

The arrest was in violation of Republic Act No. 8491, or the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines, which states that when the anthem is played at a public place, everyone should stand at attention.

Shouldn’t Remulla be arrested for the same offense? they asked.

—DJ Yap

Gilbert Gapay

It must have been déjà vu for Philippine Army chief, Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay, when four of his intelligence operatives were shot dead on Monday by police in Jolo, Sulu province.

In April, a former soldier suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder, Cpl. Winston Ragos, was similarly gunned down by police in Quezon City.

In both instances, the victims were unarmed, but the police described the incidents as “a shootout.”

Gapay unequivocally called it “murder.”

In losing veteran soldiers Maj. Marvin Indammog, Capt. Irwin Managuelod, Sgt. Jaime Velasco, and Cpl. Abdal Asula, the military also lost track of three Abu Sayyaf group bombers, whom the four were tailing when they were shot dead by the police.

Despite his outrage, Gapay prevailed on his men to remain professional, avoid retaliatory acts against the police, and trust the National Bureau of Investigation to deliver a “full-dress, impartial and swift dispensation of justice.”

—Jeannette I. Andrade

KC Montero

What should have been a quick stop for dinner turned TV personality and disc jockey KC Montero into an alleged quarantine violator, under the police’s sweeping implementation of the law.

Montero and about a hundred others were arrested on June 28 for allegedly partying at a rooftop bar in Makati City and violating social distancing.

Bars are not yet allowed to reopen under the Metro’s general community quarantine.

But Montero called out the police for cramming them in police trucks with what he calls, “backward social distancing.”

Lack of adequate space in the police station prompted authorities to put the group in a barangay gymnasium.

Only one charge was set for preliminary investigation: “noncooperation” under Republic Act No. 11332, the law on the mandatory reporting of notifiable disease and health events of public concern.

Montero said he would soon address on social media “assumptions going around that are completely untrue.”

—Dexter Cabalza