Many of us started 2021 with a bit of hope. Everyone just wanted to move on from 2020.
Thankfully, this year had a lot of events that made us Filipinos proud. PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) lists the triumphs that made us motivated and hopeful that things can get better.
FIRST IN SPORTS
The Olympics was the biggest event that made Filipinos celebrate this year. For the first time, the Philippines earned a gold medal in the global sporting event.
The world witnessed the dramatic moment when Hidilyn Diaz lifted 127 kg to win the women’s 55 kg weighlifting event in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last July. She won the gold by lifting a combined weight of 224 kg.
Hidilyn was rewarded with at least 43.5 million pesos worth of incentives. Aside from receiving 10 million pesos from the national government, she was also given rewards from private institutions: 10 million pesos each from San Miguel and the MVP Sports Foundation, 3 million pesos from a party list, and more.
The 30-year-old weightlifter also received non-cash incentives, like a 14-million peso condo in Quezon City from Megaworld, a 4-million peso house-and-lot property in Tagaytay from Century Properties, and 80,000 free miles per year for life from Philippine Airlines.
Hidilyn wasn’t the only Filipino that we celebrated during the Olympics. Three other athletes gained medals in the boxing events—Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, and Eumir Marcial.
Nesthy was the first Filipina to win an Olympic medal in boxing. The 29-year-old boxer won a silver medal in the women’s featherweight event.
23-year-old Carlo also won a silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He competed for gold in the final round of the men’s flyweight event, but lost via split decision.
Lastly, Eumir won the bronze medal in the men’s middleweight event. The 26-year-old boxer gained accolades by bringing home an Olympic bronze medal for the first time since 1992.
The three boxers also received incentives from the government and private companies for their victories.
Other Filipino athletes won accolades outside the Olympics.
In April, chess grandmaster Eugene Torre became the first Asian male inducted in the World Chess Hall of Fame.
In June, 20-year-old professional golfer Yuka Saso became the first Filipino to win the U.S. Women’s Open.
Then in October, Carlos Yulo became the first Filipino gymnast to win multiple medals in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. The 21-year-old athlete won gold in the vault event, and silver in the parallel bars.
BEST IN PAGEANTS
Filipinos were also able to showcase their formidable skills in beauty pageant events that finally opened up in 2021.
In March, Samantha Bernardo bagged the 1st runner-up title in the Miss Grand International 2020 pageant held in Thailand.
The following month, Kelley Day made the country proud as she took the 1st-runner up title in the Miss Eco International 2020 pageant held in Egypt.
The Miss Universe 2020 pageant finally happened in May and was held in Florida. Rabiya Mateo finished in the Top 21.
A few months later, in August, Dindi Pajares flew to Poland for the Miss Supranational 2021 contest and landed in the Top 12.
Then just this December, Beatrice Luigi Gomez finished in the Top 5 of the Miss Universe 2021 pageant, held in Israel.
COVID-19 AND VACCINES
Despite the multiple triumphs, Filipinos still had to endure bad news that peppered 2021.
On September 21, the Philippines logged 26,303 active COVID-19 cases, the highest number since the pandemic started. It was caused by the highly-transmissible Delta variant, which resulted into new lockdowns abroad and here in the country.
As of press time, the Department of Health (DOH) has logged a total of 2,837,464 COVID-19 cases in the country. 50,570 have died, and 2,776,727 have recovered.
The country is also on the lookout for the new Omicron variant. DOH announced on December 15 that it already detected two imported cases of the variant.
Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Filipinos continued to suffer record rates of poverty and hunger.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced in January that in 2020, the Philippines posted the worst recession since World War II. The economy shrunk by 9.5%.
The Social Weather Station (SWS) also revealed in May that an estimated 4.2 million families, or 16.8% of the population, experienced involuntary hunger during a three-month period. This statistic was slightly higher than the result in November 2020.
Then the PSA showed that the unemployment rate in September 2021 was at 8.9 percent, the highest it has been since January of the same year.
The government has always proposed vaccinations as the only way to beat the pandemic.
At the beginning of the year, the government pegged the target vaccination rate at 70%, to induce herd immunity in the Filipino population. But due to a middling vaccine supply and a fairly high vaccine hesitancy rate among Filipinos, the government has announced that the target will not be reached before the end of year. At most, only 50% of the population will be fully vaccinated by then.
Despite this, the daily active cases have massively lowered in the country, making Filipinos hopeful that they can have a good celebration of Christmas.
OTHER CURRENT EVENTS
There were other relevant numbers in 2021.
Catholics celebrated 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. It has also been 500 years since Magellan landed on our shores, and Lapu Lapu vanquished the foreign explorer.
2021 was also the year when former President Noynoy Aquino was laid to rest at 61. He died due to renal disease.
Other notable deaths were the following:
- Former DSWD Chair Dinky Soliman. She was 68 when she died of renal and heart failure.
- Former Commission on Human Rights Chair Chito Gascon. He was 57 when he died of COVID-19.
- National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera. He was 89 when he died due to a stroke.
- Former actor Tony Ferrer. He was 86 and he died of natural causes.
- Singer Claire de la Fuente. She was 62 when she succumbed to complications from COVID-19.
- Journalist and writer-director Nestor Torre. He was 78 when he died of COVID-19.
- Singer Victor Wood. He was 75 when he died of COVID-19.
- Columnist Ricky Lo. He was 75 when he succumbed to a stroke.
- Comedian Shalala. He was 61 when he died of tuberculosis.
- Musician Heber Bartolome. He was 73 when he died after suffering from a prostate illness.
- Director Bert de Leon. He was 74 when he died of COVID-19.
UPCOMING ELECTIONS
Filipinos seem to be hopeful for 2022. It is an election year, and historically, Pinoys get optimistic when a new President is elected.
So far, it looks like there are six formidable candidates for President:
Vice President Leni Robredo, senators Ping Lacson and Manny Pacquiao, former senator Bongbong Marcos, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, and labor rights activist Leody de Guzman.
Senator Bong Go was also supposed to run for President but he already withdrew his candidacy.
There are also six capable candidates for Vice President: Senators Kiko Pangilinan and Tito Sotto, Congressman Lito Atienza, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte, doctor and Internet personality Willie Ong, and former party-list representative Walden Bello.
The official campaign period is still months away on February 2022, but the promotion of the candidates are already in full swing. Countless caravans and nationwide tours have been happening since they announced their candidacies.
Based on the latest survey results, Marcos seems to be the frontrunner of this elections. The dictator’s son got 47% of the votes in the SWS survey that was conducted from October 20 to 23. Robredo was a far second at 18%, and Moreno was third at 13%.
However, more than five petitions have already been filed at the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) seeking to disqualify Marcos due to his conviction for tax evasion in 1995. COMELEC is set to reach its decision on these petitions soon.
PRESS PLAY
All these news and current events may be stressful to Filipinos. Thankfully, we can now unwind with entertainment since COVID-19 measures worldwide have relaxed enough to let artistry flourish once again.
Cinemas and theaters have opened in the Philippines, so Filipino cinephiles can now watch movies on the big screen.
In fact, there is a new edition of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) this year that viewers can watch in cinemas. The eight Filipino films are:
- A Hard Day - an action film starring Dingdong Dantes and John Arcilla
- Big Night! - a comedy film starring Christian Bables
- Huling Ulan sa Tag-Araw - a romantic comedy starring Rita Daniela and Ken Chan
- Huwag Kang Lalabas - a horror flick starring Kim Chiu and Beauty Gonzalez
- Kun Maupay Man it Panahon - a drama film starring Charo Santos-Concio and Daniel Padilla
- Love at First Stream - a romantic comedy starring newcomers Kaori Oinuma and Jeremiah Lisbo
- Nelia - a suspense thriller starring Winwyn Marquez and Raymond Bagatsing
- The Exorsis - a horror comedy starring sisters Alex and Toni Gonzaga
Three months earlier, in September, John Arcilla made the country proud when he was hailed as the first Filipino to have won the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor at the awards ceremony for the 78th Venice International Film Festival.
He earned it for his remarkable performance in Erik Matti's On The Job: The Missing 8, the second installment of a movie franchise about crimes of hired assassins who are supposed to be in jail.
South Korean director Bong Joon-ho—whose film Parasite bagged the Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2020—was head of the jury.
P-POP BOY BANDS
There were also significant events in Filipino music. While there still aren’t live concerts in the Philippines, unlike in other countries abroad, there were still several concerts from Filipino artists that were streamed online.
Several artists also made notable global records.
Boy band SB19 was the first Filipino and Southeast Asian act to be nominated for a Billboard Music Award. They were nominated in the Top Social Artist category.
In August, BGYO, another boy band, reached number 1 on the weekly Billboard’s Next Big Sound chart. They were the first Filipino act to reach number 1 on this chart.
What other relevant numbers in 2021 did we miss? Please tell us in the comments.
Use these Nike promo codes when you shop or order online. Marami pang ibang coupons dito.