News Roundup 06 October 2022
Oct 06, 2022 • 7 min Read
Percy Lapid was a fierce journalist, caring father, says brother | INQUIRER.NET – A fierce broadcast journalist to many, but a soft-hearted father and brother to his family. This was how Roy Mabasa envisioned his brother Percy Lapid, who was brazenly gunned down at the gate of a Las Piñas City village on Monday night. “He fought a good fight. Tinuloy niya iyong kanyang pagiging fierce broadcaster-communicator. At iyon nga, nakita niyo naman iyong ginagawa, nag-alay ng buhay si Ka Percy para ipaglaban iyong katotohanan. He is the ultimate truth teller in our generation,” Mabasa told reporters at his brother’s wake on Thursday. (He fought a good fight. He continued his work as a fierce broadcaster-communicator. And this is what happened. Percy offered his life while fighting on the side of the truth. He is the ultimate truth teller in our generation.) He saw Lapid as a very private person, but as a journalist himself, he knew that his brother had been receiving piles of death threats given their line of work. “Kumbaga almusal, hapunan, tanghalian na iyang death threats na iyan,” Mabasa added. (It seemed like he had death threats for breakfast, dinner, and lunch.) And while Lapid was known for airing hard-hitting commentaries, Mabasa said his brother was the complete opposite before his family and loved ones. “Dalawa po ang personality ni Ka Percy, matapang na komentarista sa isang banda, at isang mabait na magulang o tatay sa kabilang banda. Iyon ang hindi nakikita ng public eye. Iyong kanyang pagiging malapit sa kanyang mga anak, sa kanyang asawa. Maging doon sa kanyang mga apo,” Mabasa further noted. (Percy had two personalities. On one end, he was a fierce commentator, but on the other, he was also a kind parent or father. Unfortunately, this is the side he did not show much to the public – him being close to his children, wife, and even his grandchildren.) While grief continues to cloud the hearts of Lapid’s bereaved family, Mabasa vowed that they will continue to demand justice for his brother as they trust that authorities would be able to investigate and resolve the case thoroughly.
NDRRMC declares five fallen Bulacan rescuers as ‘heroes’ | INQUIRER.NET – The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has issued a resolution recognizing the five rescuers of Bulacan who perished at the height of Super Typhoon Karding (international name: Noru) as “heroes.” Days prior to this, Bulacan rescue team members George Agustin, Troy Justin Agustin, Marby Bartolome, Jerson Resurrecion, and Narciso Calayag Jr. were given a posthumous award by the NDRRMC. The NDRRMC resolution was issued during its third Quarter Full Council Meeting (FCM) on Thursday, with Senior Undersecretary Jose C Faustino Jr. emphasizing that the five responders’ heroism served as the main driving force behind the council’s call “for the improvement of the disaster risk reduction and management system at all levels to support planning development, operations work and welfare of the DRRM workers.” “The resolution was unanimously approved and endorsed to the Office of the President by the council,” the NDRRMC said in a statement. The NDRRMC also approved during the meeting the “Mid-term Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction Implementation in the Philippines (MTR SF)” and the Short-term Review (STR) of the National DRRM Plan 2020- 2030. These reports will be submitted o the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction since the Philippines is a participant to the Sendai Midterm Review. The Sendair Midterm Review, called for by the UN General Assembly, marks the midpoint in the implementation of the Sendai Framework, which focuses on the adoption of measures that address the three dimensions of disaster risk: exposure to hazards, vulnerability and capacity, and hazard’s characteristics.
After series of resignations in first 100 days, are cracks emerging in Marcos’ unity? | PHILSTAR.COM – On the campaign trail, then presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. offered unity as a panacea for the Philippines. Instead of specifics, a vague concept of unity that was sold to voters, many of whom were still reeling from the unprecedented crisis brought by the Unity carried Marcos through the 90-day campaign period that ultimately led to his election to Malacañang, where his message of unity still reverberates as he continues to reference it in his speeches here and abroad. But for two key Malacañang officials, this unity only took them so far as they parted ways with the Marcos administration even before it marked its 100th day in office.
The little president
First, it was Vic Rodriguez, a long-time aide of Marcos who served as his spokesperson during his failed poll protest against former Vice President Leni Robredo and during his successful presidential campaign. Rumors initially swirled that Rodriguez, who was then serving as executive secretary, would soon be out from Malacañang following the sugar importation mess that he got dragged into but was ultimately cleared from any wrongdoing. Malacañang denied the rumors, but allowed talk of this to swirl before issuing a statement. Rodriguez did eventually leave his position, saying in a statement on his Facebook page that he wanted to see how his family “grow and evolve into how every parent would wish them to become.” In the same statement, he said he was staying on as Marcos’ chief of staff — a position that the public would learn weeks later from Rodriguez’ successor, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, was never approved. Bersamin’s announcement prompted Rodriguez to issue another statement on Facebook saying that he has “completely exited” the Marcos administration, which he described as a “very personal decision that was happily made,” again citing his wanting to spend time with his family.
The press chief
After Rodriguez’ unceremonious exit from Malacañang came another: This time, it was the turn of Trixie Cruz-Angeles, a lawyer and vlogger who heavily promoted the Marcoses on her social media accounts and a known close associate of the former executive secretary. Much like the days before Rodriguez’ resignation, Angeles’ vacating the helm of the palace’s communications arm was preceded by heavy rumors that she was bound to be replaced — talk of which was also allowed to spread for hours before she issued a denial. Days after the rumors surfaced, Angeles said she was resigning due to health reasons, confirming what was said by Malacañang officials led by Bersamin — who in 2016 was one of the Supreme Court magistrates who voted to suspend her from legal practice for three years. While she mostly remained faithful to her vow that she will be “more sedate” and “more objective” in her duties, she figured in a gaffe where she ended up apologizing for incorrectly claiming that Marcos was the only leader US President Joe Biden spoke to at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. As of writing, her replacement has yet to be named, although several personalities from former President Joseph Estrada’s press secretary Mike Toledo to film director Paul Soriano have been floated.
The appointment process
Beyond Malacañang, another resignation rocked the Marcos administration before its 100th day in power — that of Jose Calida as Commission on Audit chairperson. Calida, a staunch Marcos loyalist who even campaigned for the president during his bid for the vice presidency in 2016, had left the position after having been on medical leave. These successive resignations prompted opposition lawmaker Rep. Edcel Lagman (Albay, 1st District) to call on Marcos to be “discerning and cautious” in appointing officials. “When Cabinet secretaries so early in their tenure vacate their posts, either voluntarily or forcibly, then the vetting process on their appointments is grossly wanting,” Lagman said in a statement. On top of these, parts of the government’s bureaucracy are still running headless. For one, there is still no health secretary and the department at the core of the government’s response to the still ongoing pandemic is headed only by an officer-in-charge in the person of Maria Rosario Vergeire. Then, there is still no agriculture chief as Marcos still holds the portfolio of this agency despite calls for him to appoint a permanent secretary over concerns that he might already be swamped with work and would not be able to properly take on the reins of the department.
The bottomline
Observers and analysts say that these movements among the president’s people indicate that power blocs are at play, which is not unusual for recent administrations. “The period of early presidency is when Malacañang factions try to settle [the] balance of power, and they’re free to do so as long as it isn’t fatal to the president,” said political scientist Cleve Arguelles on Twitter.
