Faces of the news

ILLUSTRATION BY RENE ELEVERA

Aaron Aquino

The “drug war” has gone political after Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino led the media release of the names of 207 barangay officials accused of being “involved in illegal drug activities,” mostly as “protectors.” The “narcolist” identified 90 barangay captains and 117 barangay councilors allegedly linked to illegal drugs. The list is supposedly a combination of “validated” watch lists from the PDEA, Philippine National Police, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, collated since the Duterte administration took over in 2016. The release of the narcolist came two weeks before the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, and prior to the filing of a court case against any of those listed.

Wanda Teo

Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo has drawn flak after a Commission on Audit report revealed that state-run People’s Television Network Inc. (PTV) paid P60 million to a blocktimer program produced by her brother Ben Tulfo to air the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) advertisements. State auditors could not ascertain the legality of the deal because the PTV management had not submitted supporting documents as of reporting time. Teo claimed she had no hand in the deal, despite the April 27 audit report saying the DOT’s advertising agreement with PTV 4 “specifically required” the network to air the advertisements in the Tulfo brothers’ public affairs show “Kilos Pronto.” Opposition lawmakers did not believe Teo and called on her to resign out of “delicadeza.” Meanwhile, Palace officials said it would investigate the issue.

Comfort woman statue

On April 27, the statue of a “comfort woman,” a poignant reminder of the sexual slavery of Filipino women enforced by Japanese soldiers during World War II, was removed from Manila by the national government, supposedly to pave the way for a flood control project. The uprooting took place on a Friday night, four months after the Japanese government protested against it—as if its wartime soldiers never committed such crime. Public works officials said a project was set to be carried out in the area where the statue had stood. Outraged citizens believed it was subservience to a foreign power. They said it felt like the nation had been raped again. For how do you violate a nation? By making sure that the present and future generations do not know their history. What a discomforting thought.

Thanos

Marvel’s mad titan, Thanos, struck hard on the movie-watching galaxy to lead “Avengers: Infinity War” to the biggest box-office opening of all time. The possibly immortal Thanos (played by Josh Brolin) finally emerged from the shadows of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to collect the six “infinity stones” and affix them to his infinity gauntlet. His goal: To kill half the universe. First appearing in 1968 and long the most powerful villain in the Marvel comic books, this more complex version of Thanos throws down with the MCU’s heaviest hitters in a film that has Filipino fans talking because of the appearance of the Banaue Rice Terraces in a scene. Thanos has left everyone wondering who survives his arrival on Earth and waiting until May 3, 2019, when the fourth Avengers movie is released.

Stormy Daniels

Porn star Stephanie Clifford, a.k.a. Stormy Daniels, stepped up her legal attack last week after a federal judge in Los Angeles delayed hearing her suit to nullify a nondisclosure agreement about a one-night stand with US President Donald Trump in 2006. Daniels, who admitted to accepting $130,000 in hush money before the 2016 elections, sued Trump for defamation on May 1 after he called her a liar on Twitter. But Trump also unveiled a surprise counterattack on May 3, when the newest member of his legal team, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, announced that Trump had reimbursed his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for the money paid to Daniels. The move aims to show that the payment to Daniels did not violate US campaign laws. Daniels has returned to performing on stage with tickets at $20.

Renato Villa

Ambassador Renato Pedro Villa headed the country’s outpost in Kuwait, host to 262,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), for two years and a half when events not of his doing led to the deterioration of ties with the Gulf state. In January, President Duterte called out Kuwait for the suspicious deaths of and abuses against Filipino maids. The next month, he banned deployment and ordered a mass repatriation of distressed OFWs. As a workers protection pact was about to be signed, disaster broke out after the Department of Foreign Affairs released on April 19 a video of missions to rescue distressed OFWs. A respected career diplomat with over 20 years’ experience in the Middle East and migrant workers’ affairs office, Villa was twice given a dressing down by the Kuwaiti foreign ministry. On April 25, he was declared persona non grata and ordered expelled.