After 97 years, an Olympic gold at last
For the first time in 97 years, the Philippine national anthem was sung in the Summer Olympic Games. A five-foot dynamo with a heart as big as the iron plates she lifts, Hidilyn Diaz set a new Olympic record in the clean and jerk at 127 kgs, and then won the country’s first Olympic gold with a total lift of 224 kilograms in the women’s 55kg weightlifting competitions of the quadrennial games at Tokyo International Forum. “Pinatunayan ko lang na kaya ng mga Pilipino, walang imposible sa Pilipino,” said the 30-year-old Diaz, dedicating her gold to
a grateful Filipino nation. A silver medalist in the Rio Olympics in Brazil four years ago, she entered the competition as the underdog to world record holder Liao Qiuyun of China. But Diaz, a Philippine Air Force sergeant, was a woman on a mission, sending Liao to the silver and Kazakhstan’s Zulfiya Chinshanlo to the bronze medal.
Omicron reaches PH: First 3 cases detected
The Philippines has detected three COVID-19 Omicron variant cases – a returning overseas Filipino worker from Qatar with a history of travel in Egypt, another OFW who arrived from Japan, and a Nigerian national from Nigeria. Worried over a possible surge in infections, President Rodrigo Duterte urged the public to continue using face shields even if these were no longer mandatory in areas under Alert Level 2. “I’m just fearful. I’m nervous because [our] funds are depleted,” the President said. “While it might not really be a well-studied proposition, I would dare say that that shield will add another layer of protection in addition to the [masks],” he added. Early data suggests Omicron could be more infectious and possibly have higher resistance to vaccines, despite indications that it is not more severe than the Delta variant. Since it was first reported in South Africa in November, Omicron has been identified in dozens of countries, dashing hopes that the worst of the pandemic is over.
Election fever is on: Comelec sees 15 prexy bets, 12 for VP
Some 94 aspirants have filed their certificates of candidacy for the presidency in next year’s elections, but the Commission on Elections said the list will likely be trimmed to 15. The poll body filed motu propio cases to declare as nuisance 82 of the candidates. The administration has no official candidate after Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go withdrew his COC. The main tandems are as follows: former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso and Doc Willie Ong, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and Senate President Vicente “Tito Sen” Sotto III, Vice President Leni Robredo and Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Sen. Manny Pacquiao and Lito Atienza, and labor leader Ka Leody de Guzman and Walden Bello.
Ex-President Noynoy Aquino passes away
Former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III died on June 24, 2021 of renal disease secondary to diabetes. He was 61. According to his sister, Pinky Abellada, her brother “had been going in and out of the hospital” even before the pandemic started last year. As president from 2010 to 2016, Aquino made fighting corruption his mantra, capitalizing on his family’s clean reputation, and vowed to reduce the poverty afflicting a third of the population. He was best known for his “walang wang-wang” promise – literally no more sirens that exemplified VIP entitlement, and his commitment to serve the people: “Kayo ang boss ko.” His administration delivered average annual economic growth of over 6 percent, the highest since the 1970s, handing the country investment-grade status even as poverty remained endemic. The self-deprecating commander-in-chief who often joked about his love life or the lack of it along with his thinning hair once described the presidency as the “loneliest job.” “The Presidency is a job that requires faith—faith that you can make a difference; faith in the people who work for you, and in the people you work for; and faith in yourself, and in God, especially during the lonely hours of decision making, when it is your decisions that will decide the future of millions of Filipinos,” he said in a speech in 2012.
Homeless Xmas for thousands of Odette survivors
It will literally be an empty Christmas for thousands who will be homeless in Mindanao and in the Visayas, with all of them praying for hope and help following the onslaught of Odette, the strongest typhoon to hit the country in 2021 with nearly 200 people now counted dead. In Eastern Visayas, around 85 percent of houses in Southern Leyte were damaged, according to Danilo Atienza of the province’s disaster council. In the far south, Tubajon, Dinagat Islands Mayor Fely Pedrablanca said almost all homes in the entire town had been damaged. “Only nine were really not damaged. The rest of the over 2,000 households were really damaged. Around one-fourth of the homes are totally damaged,” Pedrablanca said. Charlito Manlupig, chair of the Balay Mindanaw Foundation, added: “Everywhere you will see houses flattened to the ground or their rooftops blown away.”
Journalists Ressa, Muratov bag Nobel Peace Prize
Journalists Dmitry Muratov and Maria Ressa won the Nobel Peace Prize. Ressa, in her acceptance speech, launched a vitriolic attack against US tech giants, accusing them of fueling a flood of “toxic sludge” on social media. “Our greatest need today is to transform that hate and violence, the toxic sludge that’s coursing through our information ecosystem, prioritized by American internet companies that make more money by spreading that hate and triggering the worst in us,” she said. Muratov is the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, one of the rare independent newspapers in a Russian media landscape largely under state control. He called for a minute of silence during the Nobel ceremony to honor all journalists killed in the line of duty. “I want journalists to die old,” he said. According to a report compiled by Reporters Without Borders up to December 1, at least 1,636 journalists have been killed around the world in the past 20 years, including 46 since the beginning of the year. In addition, the number of journalists imprisoned around the world has never been higher, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, with 293 currently behind bars.
Chinese vessels block, fire water cannons on PH boats
On Nov. 16, two Philippine supply boats transporting food supplies to Philippine military personnel in Ayungin Shoal were blocked and water cannoned by three Chinese Coast Guard vessels. No one was hurt from the incident but the supply mission was aborted. China also insisted the Philippines must remove BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal. Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. protested the act, which he deemed illegal, and conveyed to the Ambassador of China and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, his outrage and condemnation over the harassment, saying “we do not ask permission to do what we need to do in our territory.” Senate President Vicente Sotto III proposed to create a map that would identify the country’s maritime zones. During the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting held virtually, President Rodrigo Duterte said there can be no real peace if strong nations bully the weak as he reminded fellow leaders that the rule of law should prevail in areas where there are maritime disputes. “There can be no real peace if the strong trample on the weak—just because it can,” Duterte said without naming China. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the 2016 arbitral decision ruled that the territorial claim of China has no historic nor legal basis.
ICC suspends probe on bloody war on drugs
The International Criminal Court in September launched its investigation into suspected rights abuses committed under President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs.” The Hague-based court, however, suspended the probe in November following a request from Manila. “The prosecution has temporarily suspended its investigative activities while it assesses the scope and effect of the deferral request,” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan wrote in a court notification dated November 18. At least 6,181 people have died in more than 200,000 anti-drug operations conducted since July 2016, according to the latest official data released by the government. ICC prosecutors in court papers estimate the figure to be between 12,000 and 30,000 dead. Duterte has consistently insisted that the ICC has no jurisdiction over him. “I am a Filipino. If there is somebody who will prosecute me, it should be the Philippine Prosecution Service where I was a member. I was a prosecutor for nine years before becoming vice mayor and mayor. If I will face a tribunal, it should be before a Philippine court,” Duterte said.