Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Celebrity couples Anne Curtis and Erwan Heussaff, Solenn Heusaff and Nico Bolzico, Kim Molina and Jerald Napoles as well as Isabelle Daza and Adrien Semblat were among those who took on the challenge at the fitness competition Hyrox Seoul in South Korea.

The event, held last Nov. 8 and 9, is an indoor fitness racing in Seoul ‘where participants run 1 kilometer, followed by 1 functional workout station, repeated eight times,’ as per its website.

Each pair documented their performances at the fitness race, with clips of them shared via their respective Instagram pages.

Curtis and Erwan, and Molina and Napoles respectively paired up as team. Meanwhile, Solenn and Daza teamed up, while their husbands Bolzico and Semblat joined as a pair.

Also among the notable attendees of the fitness event were Korean celebrities Choi Seung-yon, Amotti and Beom-seuk Hong, among others.

Piolo Pascual and Eman Bacosa Pacquiao – who have been jokingly referred to as ‘twins’ by netizens – have finally met for the first time and even engaged in a friendly sparring session.

Aside from being the son of Manny Pacquiao with Joanna Bacosa, Eman has been making rounds on social media for his striking resemblance to Piolo, which led to some netizens addressing him as ‘Piolo Pacquiao.’

Eman was one of the standouts at the Thrilla in Manila 2 after maintaining his record: 7 wins, 0 loss, 1 draw, 4 knockouts, after competing in one of its matches. The event was organized to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier’s 1975 fight in the Philippines.

On the Instagram page of Piolo’s management, Cornerstone Entertainment, on Monday, Nov. 10, the actor and Eman were captured throwing in a few punches during a friendly sparring match to mark their meet-up.

‘Papa P meets Eman! Manny Pacquiao’s son, Eman Pacquiao, whose features are said to mirror those of Piolo Pascual’s, has finally met him!’ the post read.

The Facebook page of ‘Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho’ also shared photos of Piolo and Eman posing side by side in what seemed to be a glimpse of an upcoming interview.

‘PIOLO PASCUAL AT EMAN PACQUIAO, NAGKITA NA! Sa episode ng #KMJS nitong Linggo, nakita na nang personal ng boksingerong si Eman Bacosa Pacquiao ang aktor na si Piolo Pascual na sinasabing kahawig daw niya. Presenting. PIOLO PACQUIAO!’ the post read.

In a recent interview with Soho, Eman opened up about coming to terms with being the son of Manny, and how he planned to establish himself as a boxer who doesn’t rely on his father’s success.

Piolo is one of the lead stars of the family film ‘Meet, Greet and Bye,’ which also stars Maricel Soriano, Joshua Garcia, JK Labajo, and Belle Mariano.

A 50-year-old farmer from Sta. Cruz, Ilocos Sur, died on Sunday night after being struck by a fully grown mango tree at the height of Typhoon Uwan’s onslaught.

Police said the victim had been sitting outside his house despite strong winds when the tree was uprooted and fell on him.

Responding police officers and members of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) were able to remove the tree trunk, but the victim was already unconscious.

He was rushed to the Ilocos Sur District Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.

In La Union, a 61-year-old man survived an electrocution incident after accidentally touching exposed electrical wires while fixing his family’s roof.

He was treated at a nearby hospital and has since been discharged, according to the La Union Provincial Information Office.

Meanwhile, in Pangasinan, a 15-year-old boy identified as Andre Buella Perez remains missing after he, his brother Aron, and their cousin Carl were swept away by rising water from a dam in Barangay Tagac, Mangatarem.

Police reports said the three were crossing the Lucero Dam when the water suddenly surged, dragging them downstream. Nearby residents were able to rescue Aron and Carl, who have since been reunited with their families

Typhoon Uwan (international name: Fung-Wong) has left 2,358,476 persons affected across 15 regions, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on Tuesday morning.

As of 6 a.m., the highest number of affected persons is in the Bicol Region, with 1,163,473 persons or 329,029 families affected, followed by the Negros Island Region with 198,120 persons or 51,468 families affected, and Eastern Visayas with 186,532 persons or 53,053 families affected.

The affected persons for the remaining 12 regions are as follows:

Central Luzon: 158,697 persons / 44,998 families

Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM): 151,960 persons / 30,392 families

Western Visayas: 109,220 persons / 36,006 families

Caraga: 99,109 persons / 22,018 families

Cagayan Valley: 98,003 persons / 32,447 families

Metro Manila: 66,195 persons / 17,704 families

Ilocos Region: 59,614 persons / 59,614 families

Mimaropa: 33,075 persons / 8,499 families

Calabarzon: 14,703 persons / 4,685 families

Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR): 10,875 persons / 3,493 families

Northern Mindanao: 4,882 persons / 1,112 families

Zamboanga Peninsula: 4,018 persons / 1,235 families

Among the 2.3 million people affected, 1,068,834 individuals remain displaced, the NDRRMC also reported.

According to the agency, 803,610 displaced persons or 231,215 families are spread across 10,818 evacuation centers, while 265,224 persons or 78,093 families are served outside of the evacuation centers.

The NDRRMC also reported six deaths-three of which are in Cagayan Valley and one each in the Bicol Region, Western Visayas, and Eastern Visayas-and 13 injuries in total.

As of writing, 267 areas in eight regions remain flooded, as per the NDRRMC.

Bicol has the highest number of flooded areas at 161, followed by Calabarzon at 39, and Central Luzon at 36.

Sixteen flooding incidents are also recorded in BARMM, while eight are in Cagayan Valley, three are in Western Visayas, and two each are in the Ilocos Region and Northern Mindanao.

Furthermore, 202 roads and 51 bridges remain impassable, with the Bicol Region having the highest number of impassable roads at 119 and Cagayan Valley having the highest number of impassable bridges at 34, the NDRRMC added.

Power and water supply interruptions also remain prevalent.

The NDRRMC reported 394 cities and municipalities with power interruptions, while 20 cities are experiencing water supply interruptions.

There are also 30 areas in total with non-operational communication lines; 22 of the areas are in the Bicol Region, five are in the Ilocos Region, and three are in Central Luzon.

Typhoon Uwan exited the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) on early Tuesday morning, the state weather bureau said.

While it is forecast to re-enter the PAR, state meteorologists said it is unlikely to directly affect a large part of the country, adding that it may only bring winds in extreme northern Luzon.

With the story of his film ‘Meet, Greet and Bye’ in mind, Joshua Garcia said he has long accepted that there will come a time when he has to bid farewell to his loved ones.

In the film, Garcia stars as Tupe, second son of the Facundo family matriarch Baby (Maricel Soriano), struggling to cope with the looming death of his mother. He and his siblings Brad (Piolo Pascual), Leo (JK Labajo), and Geri (Belle Mariano) go on a desperate search to find a cure for Baby’s relapsed cancer diagnosis. However, the Facundo siblings’ search goes against Baby’s wishes.

‘It’s a bitter pill to swallow. Pero wala eh. Kailangan mong tanggapin. May nakita ako na isang [tanong] sa questionnaire kung tatanggapin mo ba kung anong mas okay sa’yo, mahirapan ang magulang mo or hayaan mo sila kaysa maghirap sila?’ he said when asked by Inquirer Entertainment how would he react if ever he went through the same thing.

(It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but we can’t do anything about it. You have to accept it. I saw something in the questionnaire if you’re willing to accept it. Are you willing to see your parents have a hard time or you’re going to let things be so you wouldn’t see them have a hard time?)

The actor said that while it’s hard, he accepted that he doesn’t want to see his loved ones suffer.

‘D’un pa rin ako sa tanggapin mo na lang kaysa naman mag-suffer pa sila. Lahat naman tayo papunta d’un. Mahirap pero kakayanin (I would rather accept it instead of seeing them suffer. We’ll all get to that stage. It’s hard but I have to deal with it),’ he said.

Garcia was also asked if ‘Meet, Greet and Bye’ can be enjoyed by those who don’t have good relationships with their families.

‘Masaya ‘to. Hindi ka lang iiyak. Bigyan mo ng chance ang pelikula namin kasi masaya siyang experience kasama ang pamilya mo. It’s a shared memory,’ he said. ‘Masaya rin siya kasama ang friends mo. Ang dami mong mare-realize and malay mo, kahit hindi ka malambing na tao, magiging malambing ka bigla sa magulang.’

(This film will make you happy. You’re not only going to cry while watching it. I hope you’ll give the film a chance because it is a beautiful experience with your family. It’s a shared memory. You will realize a lot of things and what if you’ll learn how to be affectionate with your parents?)

The family film, directed by Cathy Garcia-Sampana, also stars Kaila Estrada, Kaori Oinuma, and Matet de Leon.

There are few things as dispiriting as political cynicism-the scourge of democratic politics. I can’t, however, blame our folks for succumbing to spasms of cynical lamentations. The numbers are staggeringly depressing. According to the Second Congressional Commission on Education’s report, the number of ‘functionally illiterate’ Filipinos nearly doubled from 14.5 million in 1993 to 24.8 million today. Even accounting for our substantial population increase in the past three decades, we are still talking about a quarter of our population lacking the requisite training to fulfill their potential in an increasingly globalized economy.

The upshot for our democracy is doubly troubling: the (i) denial of the opportunity for millions of Filipinos for self-actualization and the pursuit of happiness; and (ii) the tragic creation of a potential ‘underclass,’ which has both dire economic and political implications. Our chattering classes and middle-class thought leaders, however, were quick to revert to elitist tropes by, inter alia, warning of the doubling of the supposed ‘bobotante’ class. The narrative of ‘disinformation’ and ‘voter manipulation’ has, accordingly, gained greater credence.

What these self-assured and sanctimonious commentators, however, tend to overlook is the blatant failing of reformist politics, which oversaw the deepening of the education divide and economic inequality decades after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship. Our education system was already in trouble well before the predatory Duterte-Marcos axis colonized our state institutions. Instead of blaming the unfortunate ‘functionally illiterate’ folks, we should critically examine the root causes of the education crisis.

What the false bobotante narrative also overlooks is this: Our supposedly functionally literate middle class is not so politically literate. Nothing better captures this than Jerrold Tarog’s ‘Bayaniverse’ trilogy, which aesthetically mirrors the toxic cynicism of our supposedly enlightened classes. This was not the director’s intention, but the trilogy has this functional implication: ‘Heneral Luna’ is the seduction of the strongman, while ‘Goyo’ is aestheticized vacuity-namely, ‘vibes;’ as for ‘Quezon,’ it’s a treatise on the innate hopelessness of parliamentary-procedural democracy.

The final installment, ‘Quezon,’ has drawn both controversy and criticism for good reasons. In the (seemingly admiring) words of Bart Guingona, the movie was a ‘cynical post-modern take on Philippine politicians reflecting our own present-day political climate.’ Perhaps the best sociologically oriented review of the book came from one of the grandsons of our founding father. As Manuel L. Quezon III rightly observed in these pages, the (aesthetic) strength of the movie is also its (intellectual) weakness, namely elimination of ‘nuance’ in order to pander to the ‘comforting confirmation of the biases of the audience.’

The ‘Bayaniverse’ trilogy clearly appeals to the new middle class-namely, the aspirational ‘upper C’ and more entrenched ‘B’ demographics, which lean illiberal and traffic in anti-pluralistic chatter. In the words of Quezon III, the post-Edsa middle class is ‘dismissive of both the electoral process and the electorate as gullible . perfect dupes for politicians who can only be duplicitous, and in cahoots with a population unwilling to listen to their betters-the middle classes.’

Dismayed by the failure of reformist politics and bolstered by the moralism of more civic-minded cohorts, the new Filipino middle class has not only been a reliable market for Tarog’s oeuvre but also a staunch base for the Duterte-Marcos axis.

Both exit polls and final preelection surveys show that ‘ABC’ and the highest educated voters were proportionally the most enthusiastic supporters of the Duterte dynasty and the return of the Marcoses to Malacañang. If anything, surveys show that the most reliable base of support for liberal-progressive candidates such as Leni Robredo, Mar Roxas and Francis Pangilinan tended to come from class ‘E,’ the most marginalized sector.

If that is not shocking enough, think of this: six out of 10 ‘ABC’ respondents expressed ‘trust’ in former President Rodrigo Duterte a month into his detention at the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity! As the great Filipino sociologist Walden Bello argued in his autobiography, ‘Global Battlefields,’ a comparative study of middle classes in a dozen nations from Chile to Thailand and India, shows that ‘middle classes were not necessarily forces for democratization’ but instead a ‘Janus-faced class,’ which sometimes struggled against ‘elites defending their power and privileges’ but also turned reactionary ‘when confronted with lower classes seeking a revolutionary transformation of society.’ The implication is clear: we need to enhance political-civic education among our middle classes, too.

Nearly 6,000 farmers in Western Visayas and nearby areas lost crops to Typhoon Tino (international name: Kalmaegi) that swept through the Visayan regions and Northern Mindanao on Oct. 4.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) reported that agricultural damage caused by Typhoon Tino has reached an estimated P159.14 million, affecting 3,547 hectares (ha) of farmland. Of this, 2,526 ha (71.22 percent) are still recoverable, while 1,021 ha (28.78 percent) are considered beyond recovery.

In its Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center Bulletin No. 6 released on Saturday, the DA said the typhoon’s total production loss was recorded at 6,578 metric tons (MT). Rice suffered the largest share of losses at P125.53 million, covering 3,006 ha of affected fields and 5,542 MT in production loss. High-value crops followed with P21.25 million, while corn losses were estimated at P10.23 million, cassava at P1.26 million, and livestock and poultry at P452,960.

Damages to agricultural infrastructures, machinery, and equipment were also noted at P400,500.

The DA said most of the rice crops were in their reproductive and maturity stages, while corn and vegetable losses occurred mainly during the vegetative phase.

Intervention

To aid recovery efforts, the DA has set aside P382 million worth of interventions for affected farmers and fishers.

These included P216.39 million worth of farm inputs, such as seeds for rice, corn, and high-value crops; P1.12 million worth of animal feeds and supplements for livestock and poultry; P841,600 worth of bangus, tilapia, and carp fingerlings; and 2.6 million bags of rice from the National Food Authority for distribution to local government units and relief agencies.

Financial and credit assistance will also be made available through the department’s support programs.

These included the quick response fund for rehabilitation and recovery; P22 million in funding under the Survival and Recovery Loan Program of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council, which offers up to P25,000 in loans per farmer at zero interest payable in three years; and P142.31 million in indemnification through the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. for insured affected farmers.

As Typhoon Tino’s aftermath continued to affect parts of the Visayas and Negros Island, the DA assured that it remained on heightened alert and was working closely with its regional field offices to ensure that assistance is promptly delivered to farming communities recovering from the storm

The flooding that swallowed Villa del Rio, Bgy Bacayan in Cebu city and adjacent neighborhoods during Typhoon Tino is not a natural tragedy alone – it is a man-made moral catastrophe. Watching long-time, middle-class homeowners – people who poured their life savings into a house and a neighborhood they thought safe – but had to punch and climb onto rooftops to wait out a flood that rose to second floors. They witnessed the collapse of every promise given to them, safety, planning and the duty of the state and developers to protect them.

Villa del Rio’s horror – families stranded for hours on rooftops, cars shredded and piled like driftwood, dozens rescued and uncounted people feared swept away – should trigger more than pity. It should provoke national shame. These are not informal settlers who ‘chose’ risk; these are residents who invested decades in homes they believed to be secure. Many have lived in Villa del Rio for thirty years. They trusted that government, developers and local officials had learned the lessons of past calamities. Yet the water proved otherwise.

That failure echoes painfully with Provident Village in Marikina during Typhoon Ondoy in 2009. In that terrifying 20 minutes, middle-class streets turned into lahar-thick torrents. Two-story homes were inundated to ceiling heights. People scrambled to rooftops; many died – not only of drowning but of electrocution when floodwaters shorted household power. Provident Village was not a cautionary tale that changed our behavior; it became a precedent we have shamefully allowed to repeat.

If anything, Villa del Rio demonstrates that the lessons of Ondoy never really took hold. Stakeholders across the board in housing – national agencies like the DENR, NHA, developers who carve up uplands for profit, local governments that rubber-stamp subdivisions, and disaster managers who treat mitigation as an afterthought – have failed to act with the urgency and integrity demanded by repeated disasters. Rapid urbanization, deforestation of upland watersheds, cemented hillsides and narrowed waterways are not spontaneous; they are government policy choices and profit-driven decisions with predictable outcomes.

Let us be honest: this is negligence, carelessness not fate. When developers pave and sell mountain lots without adequate hydrological studies, when local regulators permit construction that destroys natural absorption and channelizes runoff, they are both engineering catastrophes. When the DENR allows watershed degradation to continue and LGUs permit settlements on riverbanks or fail to enforce setbacks, they are both to blame. When the emergency apparatus has no robust early-warning network, no reliable communications in upland barangays, and no automatic utility shutoffs to prevent electrocution, they are inviting mass injury and death.

Worse still, the rhetoric of ‘we warned them to transfer’ shifts all blame to victims who, after years of safe occupancy, trusted the system. It is an insult to suggest that middle-class families chose to risk their lives rather than heed evacuation notices. Many were unaware of the scale of the hazard because the hazard was created under their feet. The city told them to move – after developers sold them the illusion of permanence.

What must happen now is not ceremonial sympathy but decisive, structural action, Steps must be immediate, both short and long term and institutional. Promises that amount to ‘study committees’ and vague pledges of rehabilitation will not rebuild lives or restore trust. The lives lost and the households washed away are the result of predictable, preventable policies. They are not unavoidable acts of God but are the outcome of human decisions.

Villa del Rio and Provident Village floods are not anomalies – they are warnings. If the same stakeholders are allowed to continue business as usual, nothing will change the next time. The price of complacency will be measured again in broken families and bodies. What we need today is accountability, reform and the political will to place our citizens over profit. That choice must be made now.

From Tokhang to the Hague: Bato must answer

Whether or not the International Criminal Court has formally transmitted a warrant for the arrest of Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa, the substance of the allegations and the long shadow of the Duterte drug war demand an uncompromising response and that is justice for the thousands killed must be the nation’s absolute priority.

Families of victims have lived in terror for years, not just sadness. Fear of punishment, which was spread on purpose by the people who built and ran the killing machine, made it difficult for too long to hold people accountable at home. This is exactly why the ICC probe was needed: when victims can’t safely seek justice at home, the world must step in.

According to reports, Kristina Conti, an ICC-accredited assistant to counsel, has made a key legal point: a transfer to the ICC is not a normal extradition between nations; it is a surrender of custody. The details are important because they show a basic truth: the ICC has ways to hold people accountable even when national systems have broken down or been used as weapons by those in power. No senator’s title, no political theater, and no procedural theater should be able to protect someone from being accused of committing a major atrocity.

Everybody knows that Ronald dela Rosa was the head of the Philippine National Police while Tokhang operations were at their peak, and official documents show that they were linked to hundreds of killings. Many families believe that the policies he implemented were based on and expanded the Davao Death Squad model across the country. Victims’ groups and civil society groups have consistently asked for his arrest and surrender if there is an ICC warrant. They are not looking for revenge, but for the same legal responsibility and truth-telling that every democracy must ensure.

At the same time, a commitment to justice must be based on the law. If there is a warrant, it should be checked and then handled according to the Constitution and any relevant international responsibilities. However, ‘due process’ should not be used as an excuse to avoid or delay accountability forever. People who say that the ICC can’t issue further warrants or that reports are just ‘tea-leaf reading’ or ‘pure fiction’ can’t drown out the victims’ requests. The Senate also cannot be made a haven for people who are credibly accused of crimes against humanity.

The Department of Justice, the Office of the Solicitor General, and the Senate leadership are all facing a test of principle. Will they uphold the rule of law and the rights of victims, or will they give in to political pressure and protect those who are accused? The Marcos administration’s support for Duterte’s move to The Hague should set a good example: if the court processes require surrender, the Republic must comply. Being stubborn or dragging their feet would only make things worse for the families who are still looking for closure.

Finally, justice is broader than arrest warrants. The state must guarantee witness protection, support for survivors and families, transparent investigations, and reparations. It must reform policing and dismantle the structures that enabled extrajudicial killings. The moral and legal obligation is clear: accountability for the past is the foundation for a safer, more just future.

If the ICC issues a warrant for Senator ‘Bato’ dela Rosa, it must be taken upon without delay, with full respect to all required legal procedures, but also with unswerving attention on the victims whose lives were ruined.

The Philippines cannot heal while real or perceived impunity endures. Justice for the thousands killed in the drug war is not negotiable; it is non-negotiable.

So goes the first few words of a popular Argentinian ‘joke’ that alludes to the tendency of populist and progressive political leaders to later veer toward extreme-right political strategies. Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano once wrote a piece that included this ‘joke’ that dates back to the 1970s, which reads in full as: ‘Power, they say, is like a violin. It is held by the left hand and played by the right.’

Aman Sethi, editor in chief of Open Democracy, an online platform that critiques various political leaders in many parts of the world, recounted this quote from Galeano to highlight the rise of rightist regimes in many countries in Latin America, like Venezuela, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Chile, among others. Sethi cited how Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s far-right government ‘has unleashed a reign of repression, in part to push through legal changes to allow the United States military bases on Ecuadorian soil.’ In Chile, a ‘resurgent right wing is seeking to grasp power in the upcoming elections, while there are reports about a possible regime change in Venezuela, where the United States government of Donald Trump has been sending American troops to the region, alongside drones, bombers, and half a dozen warships.’ These military interventions are designed to influence the upcoming elections there to ensure a right-wing leader will come out victorious in the country’s forthcoming elections.

I write on this quoted Argentinian ‘joke’ because it resonates with one of our leaders who started his presidential reign as a populist or seemingly left-leaning politician. He started with campaigns articulating the need to uplift the lives of the poor and make this country ‘more peaceful’ and ‘great again.’

Former President Rodrigo Duterte is the quintessential example of how a perceived-to-be ‘left-leaning’ or progressive and populist politician has transformed into a rightist and autocratic leader. But more significantly, he is the main architect of a deadly ‘war on drugs’ that snuffed the lives of more than 20,000 people, including the elderly, women, and children. Such a blood-soaked ‘war’ was justified as a way of cleansing the country of illegal drugs and protecting the lives of Filipinos, while killing some of them.

And this is precisely why he is now detained at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity-all from his deadly war on drugs.

When Duterte started his presidential regime, he appointed some left-leaning personalities as members of his Cabinet. Two of them were considered die-hard activists. Judy Taguiwalo, a prominent woman leader from Gabriela, a known left-oriented women’s rights advocacy group, was appointed secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The second was Rafael Mariano, a famous leftist farmer leader, who once chaired the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, known to have risen from the ranks of leftist activist groups, including the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan. Leftist groups enjoyed a ‘honeymoon’ stage early in Duterte’s presidency.

Such moves demonstrated that Duterte was not only friendly with left-leaning groups. Many people thought he was also progressive. Some were even enamored of his rough, street-type, and rather vulgar way of speaking, which many impoverished communities identified with.

But it was only a facade to earn not only the acceptance of those who had worked hard to create a national political agenda that would translate into a better life for the masses of workers, farmers, and other marginalized groups. It was the start of Duterte’s use of his political violin-holding it with his left hand, engaging left-leaning leaders to establish a fake empathy for them.

Soon, the honeymoon with left-leaning leaders ended, unraveling Duterte’s true political agenda. He started playing his political violin using his rightist, even autocratic tendencies. He soon launched an all-out, deadly war on drugs and allegedly issued a ‘license’ to his police forces to kill suspected drug pushers or dealers. He referred to the members of the Philippine National Police as if they were his own, as though he were paying for their salaries.

He became allergic to various criticisms of his policies, especially of his war on drugs, and became punitive with those who publicly critiqued him. He sent former Sen. Leila de Lima to jail without being tried on trumped-up charges. This was because De Lima launched a series of investigations in the Senate about his deadly war on drugs. He also harassed journalist Maria Ressa through seemingly interminable court cases regarding the ownership of her media group. Later, Ressa became a Nobel Peace Prize awardee in recognition of her for standing up to a dictatorial president.

Senate President Tempore Panfilo Lacson was reelected on Tuesday as chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee.

No senator objected when Sen. Ejercito moved to reinstate Lacson as chairman of the committee, which has been investigating the corruption allegations hounding the government’s flood control projects.

‘Any objection? Chair hears none. Sen. Lacson is hereby elected,’ Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III declared.

Lacson resigned last month as chairman of the committee as some of his colleagues expressed disappointment with the direction of its investigation.

‘Some senators publicly and secretly pursue the narrative that I am zeroing in on several of my colleagues while purportedly protecting those members of the Lower House perceived to be the principal actors in the budget anomalies related to the substandard and ghost flood control projects,’ he said in his letter to Sotto last Oct. 7.

Several lawmakers, including senators, were dragged into the controversy after being accused of receiving kickbacks in exchange for flood control projects.

‘Very important witness’

The blue ribbon probe is set to resume this Friday, Nov. 14, with a ‘very important witness’ expected to attend.

‘All systems go,’ Lacson told reporters before the session.

As to the unnamed ‘very important witness,’ the senator said, ‘It’s still a go, as we speak now.’

‘[The witness] will arrive,’ Lacson said in Filipino, adding that the witness had already made a draft affidavit.

Although he refused to provide more details about the witness, the senator earlier said this witness would implicate some new and old names in the flood control controversy.

‘It’s important because it can wrap up everything that can or needs to be known leading up to the prosecution and conviction,’ Lacson said in a forum last week.

Aside from the said witness, 19 members of the House of Representatives, including former Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, will also be invited to this Friday’s meeting.

The invitation to the House members will be coursed through the office of Speaker Faustino ‘Bojie’ Dy III, Lacson also said.