Bzzzzz: Didal in Forbes list, correspondent faces libel suit from guv, Ramon Ang's son

PEOPLE talk about...

[1] MARGIELYN DIDAL, a Cebuana, is one of five Filipinos in the Forbes Asia Magazine's "30 under 30," who excelled in their respective fields under 10 categories. In each category, 30 honorees were selected from thousands of nominees.

Didal, 20, is a professional skateboarder who was "Athlete of the Year" in the 2019 Sports Awards of the Sportswriters Association of Cebu and San Miguel Corp. She a won a gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games and is preparing to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

[2] THE MAN WHO SHOT DEAD A PREGNANT WOMAN in Barangay Pasil, Cebu City Sunday, April 12, was photographed when arrested. In the published photo, he was wearing a t-shirt marked "NASTY." He lived up to the t-shirt's billing. Killing the mother and her baby cannot be nice.

[3] HARRY ROQUE'S BACK AS PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN while Salvador Panelo will limit himself to being presidential legal counsel and will speak for the president on matters related to that job. Panelo's explanation: "The messaging requires a new tack." What does that mean? Roque, not Panelo, will be better at explaining presidential action in this kind of crisis.

[4] THE DEATH OF RAMON ANG'S SON. Jomar Ang, 26, chief financial officer of RSA Motors, dealer of BMW cars in the Philippines, died Saturday, April 11. He was taken to St. Luke's Medical Center last January 12 and was then "fighting for his life." The statement gave no details but said, "It has been a painful experience but we have been comforted by the expressions of love and sympathy sent to us in many ways."

Libel suit from governor

A correspondent of a Manila-based newspaper is facing a libel complaint from Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia, not for what she wrote in the paper but what she post on Facebook.

The correspondent, one Rhea Roth Russel, must have known what was coming Monday, April 13, because she posted this message before the governor's press-con: "The witch knows about my Facebook posts and she will bring it up now."

From that sample of language, one can imagine what kind of things she must have said about the governor, which reportedly prompted Guv Gwen to sue for libel and for "unlawful utterances" about the Capitol campaign against coronavirus.

Penalty for ECQ violators

Community service for those who violate the rules and guidelines of the "enhanced community quarantine" (ECQ) in Cebu City?

That's what Mayor Edgardo Labella announced at a Monday, April 13 press-con. He has asked the City Council to pass an ordinance providing that penalty for violation of ECQ prohibitions. The plan came following the incident at the Carbon public market Thursday, April 9, when the huge crowd wanting to buy ingredients for "binignit" ignored protocol on physical distancing.

Labella didn't say and reporters didn't ask if the penalty is only for the distancing rule or will apply to other violations as well, such as offenses against the rule on wearing of face masks.

Earlier, the mayor issued an executive order for the wearing of face masks in public at all times, which applies the penalty in the law on protocol for notifying diseases and epidemics. He later said there is no penalty in his EO #66.

If the April 1 EO doesn't have a penalty yet, would the mayor want it to be included in the violations whose penalty is community service? The Inter-Agency Task Force, which also imposed the mask requirement starting last April 2, suggested that each LGU issue an EO or a council ordinance with the "appropriate" sanctions.

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