What will Filipinos remember about 2025?

The year is about to end. What can we tell our children and grandchildren about 2025? It’s the year when the whole nation was shaken not just by natural calamities but also by huge political and social crises. Cebu will remember this year as the time when Governor Gwen Garcia was defeated by a virtual unknown, Pam Baricuatro. It was also the year when former president Rodrigo Duterte was delivered to The Hague by his own government.

The Year of the Snake was quite treacherous. We look forward to 2026, the Year of the Horse, to be much better. 2025 was turbulent politically in Midterm Elections in May this year followed by a series of natural disasters and social turbulence connected with the flood-control fiasco. There was an escalation of conflict between President BBM and Vice President Sara. There was an unexpected change of horses midstream. Senate President Chiz Escudero lost his leadership of the Upper Chamber to Tito Sotto. House Speaker Martin Romualdez was led to give up his seat and Isabela's Bojie Dy took over.

On January 3, BBM stripped Vice President Sara of her membership in the National Security Council. Her presence in that council was feared to compromise national security due to the Duterte pro-China and anti-US stance. On February 5, VP Sara became the first vice president to be impeached after 215 members of the House approved the articles of impeachment.

On March 11, former president Duterte was arrested at NAIA and delivered to The Hague. On April 24, BBM signed into law RA 12180 upgrading the facilities and services of Phivolcs. On April 27, the Chinese Coast Guard claimed that China has captured the Sand Cay which was claimed by the Philippines a long time ago.

The May 12 midterm elections resulted in an 80.20% turnout with 57,350,968 out of 69,673,653 registered voters casting their votes. Bong Go topped the senatorial polls and garnered 27,121,073. Bam Aquino was second placer with 20,971,899 closely followed by Bato de la Rosa who got 20,773,946. The highest vote-getter among the administration's Alyansa was Erwin Tulfo who garnered 17,118,881. The lowest among the admin candidates was Imee Marcos with 13,339,102. She was followed by another Tulfo, Ben, an independent bet who was credited with 12, 090,090.

On June 20, the Supreme Court struck down the practice of proclaiming the second-placer once the election winner is disqualified. On July 1, China imposed sanctions on former senator Francis Tolentino for "egregious conduct on China-related issues". The DFA summoned the Chinese ambassador over the sanctions. On July 16, BBM issued Proclamation 973 declaring that the official number of Filipinos per 2024 census is 112,729,484. On August 4, the president signed RA 12231 which authorizes the president to abolish, merge, and reorganize government agencies to optimize government effectiveness.

On September 5, the president signed RA 12254 or the E-Governance Act. This was followed by RA 12287 on September 12, the law that governs the declaration of certain areas under a state of calamity and the implications thereof. On September 21, the anniversary of martial law, the massive Trillion-Peso March was held. Two people were killed and 205 were injured in riots. On September 29, Zaldy Co resigned from his House membership while travelling incognito abroad. The 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit Cebu on September 30. I experienced it while I was conducting a seminar for the City of San Carlos in a Mactan hotel.

On October 10, twin earthquakes hit Manay, Davao Oriental, killing 10 people and resulting in a tsunami in Surigao. On November 5, the president signed Proclamation 1077 placing the whole country under a state of calamity for a whole year. On November 25, the Commission on Elections issued Resolution No 11181 setting the Bangsamoro parliamentary elections on March 30, 2026. On December 1, the House suspended Cavite 4th District representative Kiko Barzaga for 60 days due to his social media posts. Congressman Leviste of Batangas delivered a stinging rebuke against those who voted to suspend Barzaga. I wonder how the 11 members from Cebu voted.

The problem with the House is that they are disturbed by some irreverent Facebook posts but aren’t disturbed by their former speaker and former Budget Committee chairman being implicated in serious allegations relative to the flood-control anomalies. This year will be remembered for the last SONA delivered by the president where he opened a Pandora's Box entitled "Mahiya Naman Kayo." The rest is history.