Faces of the news

Emmanuel Piñol

It was the worst kind of nightmare for Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol. The Philippines, after two decades of securing a bird flu-free status, has been struck by an outbreak in San Luis, Pampanga, that killed 37,000 birds. The secretary admitted he was saddened that it had to happen during his term. Nonetheless, he’s ready to clean the avian mess. For the past week, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is doing its best to contain the virus while assuring the public that poultry products in the market are safe to eat. Despite protests from sector groups, DA also banned the shipment of poultry products from Luzon to any part of the country. “If this outbreak spreads and ruins the industry because of my recklessness, I will resign from my post,” Piñol said in a press conference. We can only hope that the secretary is the best man on the job. On Friday, the avian flu was reported to have spread to two towns in Nueva Ecija.

Judy Taguiwalo

While expected, her rejection came as a shock to many. The Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday rejected her appointment as Social Welfare secretary. She believed that her opposition to the pork barrel funds for congressmen in her department and the tax reform package did her in. “What more could they ask from me? I did not steal money,” she told reporters. President Duterte’s spokespersons were quick to issue statements expressing sadness over her rejection. But Left-leaning party-list groups laid the blame on the doorstep of Mr. Duterte who they said didn’t do hard enough to sway the “supermajority” in the House of Representatives to confirm her. Kabataan Partylist called it “a victory for corrupt bureaucrats.” Most of those who voted against her in secret balloting were reportedly from the House of Representatives. Taguiwalo was the third member of the Cabinet rejected by the CA.

“Pinoy Aquaman”

Several swimmers had attempted and succeeded in crossing the English Channel but not one of them was Filipino. Until now. Environmental lawyer and triathlete, Ingemar Macarine, nicknamed “Pinoy Aquaman,” dared to plunge into the cold waters of the English Channel considered as the Mount Everest for open sea swimming. His destination was Cap Gris Nez, a promontory on the French coast, about 34 kilometers (21 miles) from his point of origin, Dover town in United Kingdom. He had swum almost 4 km in 50 minutes when Eric Hartley, skipper of his support boat, decided to pull him out from the weather due to strong wind and waves to stay safe. While Macarine had endured strong waves and winds in the Philippines in many of his swims, the waters in the English Channel were different. It was not just cold, the tidal current was too strong that he decided to take the skipper’s advice to abort the swim.

Kenneth Dong

It was not a good week for Kenneth Dong, the Cebu-based businessman who served as a middleman for fellow Filipino-Chinese businessman Manny Li in what was found to be a “shabu” (crystal meth) shipment worth P6.4 billion. Dong, who is in the weighing scale business, appeared for the second time on Tuesday at a Senate inquiry into the shabu shipment that got past through the Bureau of Customs and ended up in a warehouse where customs officials and law enforcers were able to recover. So far, the Senate was able to piece Dong’s participation in bringing in the drugs he denied knowing of. Through instructions of Li, Dong told Customs broker Teejay Marcellana and trucker Mark Taguba to deliver the illegal drug shipment brought in by Richard Chen to Chen’s warehouse and a storage unit. At the hearing, Dong admitted to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV that he knew presidential son Paolo Duterte but was not close to him as pictures seemed to show.

Taylor Swift

The pop superstar put on quite a show when she testified at the trial of her counter-suit against a DJ whom she accused of groping her bare bottom during a photo op in Denver in 2013. “Your client grabbed my ass,” she told the lawyer of David Mueller during the trial at a federal court in Denver. “He stayed latched onto my bare ass cheek. I felt him grab onto my ass cheek under my skirt.” Mueller had said he might have touched her ribs, but denied any inappropriate behavior. In the end, the eight-man jury found that Mueller assaulted her, and awarded her the symbolic $1 she had sought from him. It also rejected Mueller’s claims that Swift’s managers, including her mother, got him fired from his job because of their false accusations. Mueller sued Swift following his termination over the groping claim. Swift later announced that she would make donations to groups that help sexual assault victims defend themselves.

Dawn Macandili

Standing a mere five feet, Dawn Macandili always gets dwarfed by her teammates in the Philippine women’s volleyball team. But the former La Salle standout delivered some of the squad’s biggest plays and wound up as the lone Filipino to bag an individual award in the 19th AVC Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship. Macandili was named as the tournament’s second Best Libero during the awards ceremony dominated by towering players from China, Japan and Thailand. Despite doing most of the team’s dirty work—like diving on the floor to keep the ball in play—Macandili said it was all worth it. “I just wanted to help the team,” she said. “To be recognized like that, it’s like all my efforts paid off.” Her citation also served as a consolation for the Philippine squad that finished eighth place. After Biñan, the Philippine team is going to Malaysia to compete in the Southeast Asian Games this week.