News Roundup 30 April 2020
Apr 30, 2020 • 2 min Read
DILG asked about 100 barangay chiefs, five mayors to explain supposed quarantine violations | PHILSTAR.COM – Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Thursday the department has asked about 100 barangay chiefs and five mayors to explain their supposed violation of quarantine guidelines. He explained in Filipino that they issued show cause orders to barangay captains “for failing to implement quarantine and for not observing and violating quarantine rules.” They are also looking into those whose barangays failed to enforce social distancing or where gambling and jueteng are still being held. Mayors, meanwhile, are asked to explain their respective executive orders that are against the guidelines issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Quarantine restrictions based on age slammed | INQUIRER.NET – Lawmakers and employers on Wednesday blasted as “arbitrary” the Department of Health (DOH) guidelines barring teenagers and senior citizens from going out of their homes even after the easing of quarantine measures in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, which are currently on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic “Putting the age bracket of 19 years old and below, plus 60 years old and above to be covered by the extended lockdown period is again typical of the arbitrariness of [the] DOH, which provides the [Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases] inputs,” said 1-Pacman Rep. Enrico Pineda, head of the House of Representatives’ committee on labor and employment.
School opening amid COVID-19 has many considerations — DepEd | Manila Bulletin – Aside from the actual date of school opening for the coming School Year (SY) 2020-2021, the Department of Education (DepEd) stressed that there are many other considerations that have to be carefully studied by its concerned agencies. While the biggest consideration of DepEd to date is the actual school opening, initially eyed on August based on its consultations with stakeholders and existing law, DepEd Undersecretary and Spokesperson Annalyn Sevilla said that there are considerations that have to be addressed in relation to the opening of classes amid the public health emergency. As it develops the Learning Continuity Plan (LCP) as a response to COVID-19 related disruptions, Sevilla noted that the change management aspect is very crucial. This will greatly affect the transition into the new normal.
Don Bosco grads create cheap ventilator | The Manila Times – Alumni of Don Bosco Technical College (DBTC) have teamed up to create a low-cost ventilator to meet the increasing demand of the medical appliance because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. The Don Bosco Ventilator (DB Ventilator) is 28 times cheaper than its commercial counterparts. The group, dubbed as BRO72 BosconianReachOut, said their ventilators would cost P25,000 to P35,000, while commercial ventilators could cost up to a million pesos each. The inventors said they aim to provide cheap ventilators to public and rural hospitals that can’t afford the equipment.
