Many welcomed the new year with festive celebrations of fireworks and loud music. But when all is said and done, most of us just sit and hope for good things from the start until the end of the year. In this regard, January proved to be extremely lively as people all over the world were faced with one thing after another.

Here’s what made January 2025 an eventful start to the new year:

1. Firework-related injuries surpass 2024 figures

(Photo by Miguel De Guzman/Philippine STAR))

The Department of Health (DOH) reported more than 700 firework-related injuries on Jan. 3.

Although there was an initial decline, updated figures from the DOH on Jan. 6 bring the total number of those injuries to 843, surpassing the 610 reported during the same time last year. This is a 38% increase in firework-related injuries compared to last year’s statistics.

Children and adolescents below 19 years old comprised 59% of the total number of cases.

Kwitis was the leading cause for injuries among this age group, with other homemade and illegal firecrackers such as “five-star” and “boga” contributing significantly to the injuries.

2. Los Angeles faces devastating wildfires

(Photo by Ae C. Hong/AP Photo)

A series of wildfires erupted in Los Angeles, USA on Jan. 7, resulting in the deaths of at least 28 people, some of whom died while trying to prevent fires from reaching their homes.

It began with the Palisades Fire, which erupted early on Jan. 7 in the Pacific Palisades, a neighborhood within the city. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), the Palisades Fire destroyed more than 6,800 man-made structures. This was followed by the Eaton Fire and then the Hughes Fire. Cal Fire reported that each of these wildfires burned more than 10,000 acres of land, with residents having to flee their homes to escape the fires.

A Los Angeles city official described the fires as being “one of the most devastating and terrifying” due to the impact it had on the local environment and the people living within the affected area.

Although the cause remains unknown, many have theorized that the climate conditions in Los Angeles contributed to the fires. More than 200,000 people were displaced from their homes and over $12.5 billion worth of properties were destroyed.

3. China’s “monster ship” enters Philippine waters

(Photo from ABS-CBN)

Tensions between the Philippines and China continued to rise over the West Philippine Sea as the latter deployed the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessel 5901, nicknamed the “monster ship” for its impressive size.

On Jan. 14, the ship was spotted off the coast of the Zambales province, getting closer towards the country’s shore. Manila already called on Beijing to withdraw the ship, but until Jan. 18, the vessel remained within Philippine waters.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Commodore Jay Tarriela said that the PCG’s vessel, BRP Gabriela Silang, was sent to drive away the presence of the Chinese vessel. He claimed the mission was successful as the CCG vessel maintained its distance from the country’s exclusive economic zone.

4. Thomasians experience enrollment errors

(Photo by Andrei Manalad/TomasinoWeb)

While enrolling for the second term of Academic Year 2024-2025, some Thomasians were shocked to find an extreme increase in tuition fees in their MyUSTE portal.

This increase in enrollment fees ranged from twice as much to being nine times higher than posted tuition rates. Multiple students expressed their concerns over these increases in fees, having to email the necessary offices and even resorting to visiting them in person.

In a memo released on Jan. 14, the Office of the Vice-Rector for Finance (OVRF), citing an investigation by the Office of Information and Communications Technology, revealed that the extreme increase in tuition fees in the portal were errors that occurred when students accessed their accounts using multiple gadgets at once.

The memo advised students to only use one gadget to access the portal.

5. TikTok gets banned, then restored, in the US

(Photo from The Indian Express)

TikTok ceased operations in the United States on Jan. 18 after then-US President Joe Biden signed into law the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), a law that bans apps from countries that the US considers as foreign adversaries fromAmericans’ computer devices, including smartphones.

In this case, TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company ByteDance was given an ultimatum by the former president to either divest ownership or cease all operations in the country. However, TikTok challenged this ban, saying that it violates freedom of speech.

TikTok was officially banned in the US on Jan. 18, with various content creators bidding their followers and audiences goodbye. However, 12 hours after the application was pulled out of app stores, users were able to access TikTok again.

6. Gordon Ramsay visits the Philippines

(Photo from the Philippine Star)

Following the opening of the Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill Philippines last August 2024, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay arrived in the country on Jan. 20 to interact with notable Filipino home cooks.

During his visit, Ramsay bonded with actress Judy Ann Santos and food vlogger Ninong Ry, with whom he recreated the popular Filipino dessert halo-halo. More notably, Ramsay challenged food content creator Abi Marquez to recreate his famous beef wellington dish as a lumpia, which she was able to do and which the celebrity chef loved.

Before his departure, Ramsay revealed his plans to open three more restaurants in Manila with the possibility of a Hell’s Kitchen as well in the future.

7. Two UST programs land in THE World University Rankings

(Photo by Ricardo Magpoc Jr./TomasinoWeb)

The University of Santo Tomas’ education program was recognized for the first time in the Times Higher Education’s (THE) 2025 World University Rankings by Subject, which was released on Jan. 22.

UST’s education degree programs landed in the 501-600 bracket. Meanwhile, the University’s Medicine programs moved up to the 601-800 bracket—an improvement from its 801-1000 standing in last year’s edition.

Aside from UST, education programs of the University of the Philippines (UP) and De La Salle University also snagged spots in the rankings.

8. Sen. Hontiveros refines anti-teen pregnancy bill

(Photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

Sen. Risa Hontiveros filed a substitute bill amending the anti-teen pregnancy bill after her colleagues raised their concerns.

Senate Bill 1979, or the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2023, seeks to address the issue of teenage pregnancy through a comprehensive sexual education campaign, which garnered criticism and was even the subject of misinformation and disinformation from various individuals and conservative religious groups.

After Senator Hontiveros revised the bill, she asked fellow senators to give it a “fair chance,” stating that this will help in addressing the rampant issue of underage pregnancy within the country.

Hontiveros underscored that this measure and bill is meant to help strengthen the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law. The bill itself would mandate the implementation of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) Program.

President Ferdinand Marcos R. Jr. said he would read the amended version before seeing if his stance had changed on the bill.

9. Philippine university ‘edu.ph’ websites go down

(Photo from GMA News)

Websites of schools and universities in the Philippines, including UST, went offline on Jan. 24 due to a problem with the “.edu.ph” top-level domain.

In an interview with Rappler, the Philippine Network Foundation, Inc. (PHNET), which is responsible for keeping the registry of .edu.ph websites, stated that the servers handling the domain experienced “heavy load” on Jan. 23.

In the meantime, while the problem was being fixed, certain educational institutions such as the Philippine Electronics and Communication Institute of Technology have addressed the issue by switching to the .online top-level domain. Other universities advised their students to wait as they worked closely with PHNET to resolve the issue.

Access to .edu.ph websites was eventually restored over the weekend of Jan. 25.

10. Calls for VP Sara’s impeachment intensify

(Photo by Ted Aljibe/Philippine Star)

Various Filipinos from civil society groups and political parties staged a protest at the EDSA People Power Monument in Quezon City on Jan. 31, calling for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Rallies were also held at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila, with marginalized groups and students from Metro Manila universities converging in the area. The UST Central Student Council also joined the call with a “unity statement” urging Congress to “fulfill its constitutional duty and take immediate action” regarding the three impeachment complaints filed against Duterte.

Despite the number of complaints made against the VP, no progress has been made in addressing them in the House of Representatives. Duterte was accused of betrayal of public trust in these complaints, citingDuterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds worth P612.5 million through the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd).

With all this, it is safe to say that we began the year 2025 with a month filled with various shocking events. From catastrophic occurrences to sudden celebrity visits, it seemed as if January would never end, leaving no room for people to breathe.