News Roundup 20 April 2020
Apr 20, 2020 • 2 min Read
Army in Iloilo told: You killed a peasant leader, not rebel |INQUIRER.NET – Farmers and human rights groups are condemning the killing of a peasant leader who had been tagged as a member of New People’s Army (NPA) whom the military said was killed in a clash in Miag-ao town, Iloilo province last Saturday (April 18). The farmers group Pamanggas said John Farochilin was one of its council members and chair of the local peasant group Alyansa sang Mangunguma sa Miag-ao. Chavez said Farochilin was a key leader in the campaign to address hunger and poverty among farmers of Iloilo and to seek government assistance at the height of the El Niño weather phenomenon. The Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) said soldiers of the 61st Infantry Battalion overran a rebel camp at the village of Cabalunan in Miag-ao and killed one rebel after a 35-minute gunfight.
UN experts: Drastic measures vs virus spread no reason for excessive use of force | PHILSTAR.COM – United Nations human rights experts called on governments across the globe not to use state of emergency measures enforced to curb the rising number of coronavirus infections as an excuse to resort to excessive use of force. “Even during states of emergency, the use of force remains guided by the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and precaution. They demand that the use of force and of firearms must be avoided and that all possible non-violent means must be exhausted before resorting to violent ones,” the UN experts said in a statement Friday.
‘No order from President to deploy military,’ Palace says | Manila Bulletin – President Duterte has not yet issued a formal order deploying the military to strictly enforce the enhanced community quarantine regulations during the national health emergency, Malacañang said Monday. The President has the “extraordinary power” to call out the military to assist the police but has yet to exercise such authority, according to his Spokesperson Harry Roque.
Economists see zero GDP growth this year | The Manila Times – The coronavirus pandemic could sink the economy, and it is possible the country could see no growth this year, economists warned. In separate reports released over the weekend, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) economists provided -1 percent to 1 percent and -3.4 percent estimates for the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year. The forecasts were lower than S&P Global Ratings’ 4.2 percent, Fitch Solutions’ 4.0 percent, ING Bank Manila’s 3.5 percent, World Bank’s 3 percent, Moody’s Investors Services’ 2.5 percent, Asian Development Bank’s 2 percent, Nomura’s 1.6 percent, ANZ Research’s 1.2 percent and International Monetary Fund’s 0.6 percent.
