FACES OF THE NEWS

Billie Dumaliang

Amid security concerns and other challenges, the Masungi Georeserve Foundation (MGF) earned recognition last week from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) initiative for its efforts to protect a 2,100-hectare rainforest in Rizal province. Accepting the award in Bonn, Germany, MGF cofounder Billie Dumaliang dedicated it to the park rangers, partner organizations and the local community. “We are not only representing Masungi [but] all Filipinos who suffer the most from the climate crisis. We are representing all environment defenders risking their lives for our shared future,” Billie said. The award, the 10th earned by the foundation from an international body, came days after the MGF was troubled by the presence of some 30 armed men within the protected area. It also followed the government’s announcement that it will review its 2017 accord with the foundation “for improvements.” The MGF, one of the two nominees in the UNSDG award’s “Inspire’’ category, bested London’s National History Museum for the honors. —DEMPSEY REYES

Karim Khan

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) seems intent on seeing through what his predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, started four years ago. On Sept. 22, Karim Khan asked the ICC’s pre-trial chamber to proceed with a full investigation of the alleged crimes against humanity committed in the conduct of the six-year drug war of the Duterte administration. He rejected the government’s arguments in getting the probe deferred: That the ICC has lost jurisdiction over the Philippines and that the local justice system was already tackling the same cases raised at the court. Khan challenged the government’s position that the drug war killings did not constitute “state policy.” He said state policy “need not be explicitly defined or formalized, and an attack which is planned, directed or organized—as opposed to spontaneous or isolated acts of violence—will be sufficient.” Philippine authorities, he also said, have failed to refute findings that many of the victims were only suspects and that so-called vigilantes worked in concert with law enforcers. —KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING

Vhong Navarro

Actor-TV host Vhong Navarro’s legal troubles are back to hound him. The Court of Appeals (CA) recently overturned the Department of Justice (DOJ) resolutions in 2018 and 2020 that dismissed the sexual assault allegations of model Deniece Cornejo. The CA ruled that the DOJ erred when it denied Cornejo’s petition for review due to inconsistencies in her complaint. She had explained, however, that she was “confused and traumatized,” hence the supposed inconsistencies. For one of the cases, which accused him of acts of lasciviousness, Navarro surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Sept. 20 and was able to post bail following an arrest order issued by the Taguig Metropolitan Trial Court. But on the same day, he was served another warrant, this time for the rape case, from the Taguig Regional Trial Court, which allowed no bail. Last week, the CA also denied his motion for reconsideration. Still in NBI custody, Navarro will now have to face trial for the alleged crimes that happened at Cornejo’s condo unit in January 2014. —KATHLEEN DE VILLA

Dennis Santiago

Dennis Santiago, the new chief of the embattled Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) appears to be walking the talk when he told senators that the Department of Education under the previous administration went ahead with the bidding of P2.4 billion worth of laptops without a valid authorization to transfer funds to the PS-DBM. Last month, he said the PS-DBM under the new administration will do all it can to regain the trust and confidence of the public. As to mounting calls for the abolition of the office, Santiago maintained that many of its “dedicated and well-meaning employees” had ably served the government for many decades. “We will not institute reforms to impress,” he said. “We will implement the reforms to set things right and to clean the systems and processes in the agency.” He is appealing for the cooperation of everyone at PS-DBM as well as stakeholders outside the organization. “Change might not be easy at the start, but we will do what is right and just.” —RONNEL W. DOMINGO

LeBron James

If LeBron James keeps up his career scoring average of 27.1 points per game in the upcoming season, the National Basketball Association (NBA) will have a new all-time leading scorer by his 47th game. James may finally top Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record —38,387 points—which has remained untouched since the iconic Laker’s retirement in 1989. “The only time I’ve thought about it is when someone’s posted something on my social media and I’ve been scrolling through my feed and I see it,” James said in a recent interview. “And every single time I’m kind of in awe of it, like ‘Wow’... But to sit here knowing I’m on the verge of breaking the most sought-after record in the NBA, is super humbling for myself and super cool. To be able to be in the same breath as [Abdul-Jabbar] who wore this same uniform and was a staple of this franchise, it’s super-duper dope to be in that conversation,” he added. Still, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said management won’t force their superstar to play extended minutes just to chase the record. —LOUIE RIVERA