Marawi Bishop Edwin dela Peña
Like the rest of us keeping tabs on the Marawi crisis, Bishop Edwin dela Peña raised concerns when a video of captive Fr. Teresito “Chito” Suganob surfaced. In that video the bearded Suganob, speaking amid the ruins of houses after days of firefight, pleaded with President Duterte to halt the airstrikes against the Maute militants and their cohorts holding him and more than 200 other hostages. “We still want to live for another day, we want to live another month,” he said. That the priest was under duress, and taking instructions from the militants was quite obvious. And this was the worrisome part, the Marawi bishop acknowledged. As the government troops closed in on them, the terrorists were now using Suganob to ease the military pressure on them, he said.
Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla
For over a week now, we’ve been treated to a daily fare of images of soldiers exchanging fire with the enemy, armored personnel carriers rumbling into the war-torn city, and aircraft dropping bombs on enemy positions. As the battle raged, it was Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla’s job to brief journalists on the latest reports from the battlefield, and he struck many as a calm, sober voice. He’s very forthright in his answers, but very firm in rectifying misimpressions that could otherwise tilt the propaganda war in the enemy’s favor if left unchallenged, and all the while maintaining a friendly mien before the cameras. He maintained that stance even when he broke the grim news that 10 soldiers were killed, and seven others wounded by friendly fire. Before taking questions, he asked for a moment of silence and prayer for the soldiers.
Vianca Pearl Inot Amores and Marianito Jesus Berdin del Rio
After topping their class for accountancy at University of San Carlos (USC) in April, the second cousins reviewed together for the board exams. Amores, who graduated summa cum laude, shared her knowledge on taxation and law, while Del Rio, who graduated magna cum laude, helped her with math and auditing. On her own, Amores studied from 9 a.m. to 12 midnight, poring over her books and notes for 45 minutes, then taking a break for 15 minutes. Del Rio did the same. It was no surprise then that when the results came out recently, they emerged on top of the heap, with the same rating of 92.67 percent. As they basked in public adulation over their joint success, they admitted sharing the dream of topping the exams. Throw in prayers, too, they said. “I can say the Lord is amazing. My cousin and I were destined for this, and there is no such thing as impossible,” Del Rio said. Taking up accountancy wasn’t on top of their mind when they went to college. Amores wanted to take up culinary arts, while Del Rio thought engineering suited him. But they followed the advice of their fathers, who are first cousins, to take up accountancy. Both will be working with the country’s top auditing firm, SGV and Co. Seven other graduates from Cebu—four from USC and three from University of San Jose-Recoletos—landed in the top 10. USC was in the news last month when results of the 2016 bar exams came out, with its graduate Karen Mae Calam topping it, and three of her fellow alumni landing in the top 10. Also last week, another USC graduate—Wayne Lorenz Tandingan—topped the licensure examination for chemical engineering. This Catholic university in Cebu is truly on a roll.
Chelsea Clinton
By now she must have realized she won’t hear the end of it from President Duterte. After calling him a “murderous thug” over his rape comment, the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton heard a mouthful from Mr. Duterte. “I do not laugh at my own jokes. I will tell her, when your father, the President of the United States, was screwing Lewinsky and the girls there in the White House, how did you feel? Did you slam your father?” he said in a speech before Navy officers and men, recalling the former US President’s affair with the White House intern that led to his impeachment. Chelsea was a teenager when the scandal broke. Mr. Duterte explained that he was being “sarcastic” when he cracked a joke before troops that he would take the blame if they raped three women during the Marawi crisis.
Mary Joy Tabal
It seems that Mary Joy Tabal cannot avoid making headlines whenever a major competition draws near. The country’s top female marathoner was in the news again when the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa) cut her from the Southeast Asian Games roster. The reason? “She didn’t show any intention of participating in the national team. There was no effort on her part,” said Patafa vice president Nicanor Sering. Tabal literally woke up to the news of her axing and the development surprised her especially since she had participated—and won—a marathon in Canada specifically to prove her worth as a national team member. Tabal also hit the headlines in the months leading to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after the Patafa also threatened to cut her for disciplinary reasons. She eventually made it to the Olympiad.