PeopleAsia's "People of the Year" Awards Night & YouTube Channel Launch: Still about YOU!

In November 1999, PeopleAsia founding publisher Max V. Soliven declared on his first publisher's note that the magazine they were launching at the turn of the millennium was clearly about one thing. "This is about YOU," he wrote.

- BUM D. TENORIO, JR.

And 25 years later, that still rings true at PeopleAsia. With a few addendums, of course!

For one, PeopleAsia further transforms from silver to screen, as it announced its expansion into new media. Aside from presenting awards to this year's "People of the Year" awardees, the magazine's publisher, president and CEO (on leave), Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez, also led the launch of PeopleAsia's YouTube Channel.

"Creating a YouTube channel is a concept that we have been mulling for quite some time, and we are happy that this germ of an idea has turned into reality because we know that video content through YT is very powerful in reaching — and engaging with — a wider and larger audience across the globe," said Romualdez who pressed the ceremonial subscribe button with PeopleAsia editor-in-chief Joanne Rae Ramirez and newly appointed digital channels head Jose Paolo dela Cruz.

People of the Year 2025

The awardees came in full force to accept their awards at the Grand Ballroom of Fairmont Makati. Carlos Yulo who won two gold medals at the 2024 Olympic games in Paris and Cinemalaya Best Actress Marian Rivera-Dantes added star power to the night's glitzy ceremonies.

Also honored during the event were Sen. Loren Legarda for her tireless advocacies in climate change mitigation and culture preservation, and Sen. Risa Hontiveros for her fearless anti-corruption crusades and progressive legislation.