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ILLUSTRATION OF RENE ELEVERA
Eleanor Briones
After typhoons “Rolly” (international name: Goni) and “Ulysses” (Vamco) left a large swath of devastation in Luzon, parents whose homes were damaged or flooded began to worry whether their children could still continue their studies, with your printed learning modules soaked and unused.
The Department of Education (DepEd) promised to extend the assistance, including additional funds, to teachers and students, as well as their affected families.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones also offered a solution that many found funny or annoying: Teachers could simply lay out the wet modules in the sun or have them ironed with an iron to dry them. He also insisted on his assessment that the damage caused by the recent calamity “would have no effect” on the production of learning materials.
Teachers and youth groups, however, said Briones was being “insensitive” to the plight of millions of students and educators who were already grappling with the physical and logistical challenges of distance learning.
For the National Union of Students of the Philippines, DepEd “remained deaf to the demands of students to respond” to these concerns.
—Meg Adonis
Delfin Lorenzana and Salvador Panelo
Two members of President Rodrigo Duterte’s cabinet last week apologized to Vice President Leni Robredo after one of them wrongly reported that she directed the distribution of relief items to typhoon victims using a military cargo plane.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana apologized Wednesday for having said earlier that the vice president boarded a Philippine Air Force C-130 jet bound for Catanduanes province. After Robredo strongly denied it, the defense chief issued a clarification, citing flight manifests and noting that a Huey helicopter was only used to transport the donations collected by the Vice Presidency.
Presidential legal adviser Salvador Panelo, who cited Lorenzana’s erroneous claim, later issued his own apology for calling Robredo a profiteer and a usurer.
The episode came immediately after Duterte’s 20-minute spiel on national television accusing Robredo of “competing” with him in conducting relief operations. The president also falsely claimed that she asked him about his whereabouts at the height of the typhoon attack.
—Patricia Denise M. Chiu
Leni Robredo
President Rodrigo Duterte’s public attack on Vice President Leni Robredo is nothing new. Still, her latest rants on Nov. 17 hit critics as a new low as it accused her of launching an investigation on social media into her whereabouts during the Typhoon Ulysses (international name: Vamco) attack.
He also warned him that he had the goods on him in case he tossed his hat in the next presidential race.
In response, Robredo called the president “pikon” (delicate) for his “misogynistic” and “non-presidential” comments and lamented how the country’s top official had been the victim of misinformation within his own circle.
“There is no room for the ego when lives are at stake,” Robredo said, holding firm.
His rejection later prompted an increase in donations to relief operations being conducted by the Office of the Vice President.
Later in the week, with the Palace still looking for someone to blame for the Twitter rumor #NasaanAngPangulo (Where’s the President?), Presidential spokesman Harry Roque addressed the vice president’s two daughters as the alleged source of the social media posts that angered you. President.
—Krixia Subingsubing
Angel Locsin
Actress Angel Locsin said she initially thought of simply ignoring an example of “bodily shame” that ended up being printed in a learning module from the Department of Education (DepEd).
The celebrity, who has made headlines lately for her philanthropy and activism, was cited as an example of an “obese” person in one of the DepEd modules, whose photo recently went viral. The module also cited her allegedly unhealthy activities, such as eating “fatty foods” and “watching television at home.”
In response, the actress posted on her Instagram account: “I don’t care about insults. Cheap comments don’t define who I am … but when I read DepEd’s statement, I said, ‘aba teka lang (wait).’
She said, “The thing that bothers me the most, apart from teaching incorrect grammar to students, [is that the] The DepEd does not seem affected that said teacher (who did the module) is teaching misbehavior and sowing discrimination among the children. What will happen to the future of our youth if we teach them mockery and rudeness towards others? “
DepEd traced the module to a school in Oriental Mindoro and extensively apologized “to interested persons. [who] he may have been offended by that. “
“Marinel Cruz”.
Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.
His effort to challenge Leni Robredo’s position as vice president took a new turn when the only son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos sought Deputy Supreme Court Justice Marvic Leonen, appointed by then President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III , was inhibited from his case of electoral protest.
Marcos, who lost to Robredo by more than 263,000 votes in the 2016 elections, argued that Leonen’s dissenting opinion on granting a hero’s burial for his father reflected the magistrate’s views on the Marcos family and therefore justified his case inhibition.
But Robredo’s lawyers responded that the same argument can also be used to disqualify the judges who voted in favor of Marcos’ burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, including Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta.
The Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, denied Marcos’ motion. He also ordered Attorney General José Cálida, who had actively campaigned for Marcos, and Manila Times reporter Jomar Canlas to explain why they should not be despised for their actions on Marcos’ behalf.
—Marlon Ramos
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