News Roundup 22 May 2020
May 22, 2020 • 3 min Read
Gov’t eyes to limit lockdowns to zones by June | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines may limit community quarantines to specific areas with cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by June instead of implementing widespread lockdowns, the chief implementer of the national action plan against COVID-19 said. Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said communities may be divided into zones based on incident rate and doubling time of cases. The national government began relaxing coronavirus restrictions last week to revitalize the economy paralyzed by a two-month lockdown. Virus hotspot Metro Manila along with Laguna, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Zambales shifted to a modified enhanced community quarantine that allowed more industries and sectors to open. Galvez earlier said that the government may implement lockdowns at the barangay level to minimize the impact of the pandemic on the economy.
Drilon: Probe PhilHealth virus test package | INQUIRER.NET – Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Thursday said he believed some people in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) tried to make money off the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test package, which he earlier described as “overpriced.” Drilon said he expected PhilHealth President and CEO Ricardo Morales to get to the root of the matter. PhilHealth’s COVID-19 package costs P8,150, which is too high, Drilon said, as the Philippine Red Cross test kit costs P3,500. The possible overpricing could reach P8 billion if the government would test 2 million Filipinos, he said. “There really are shenanigans. Someone planned to earn off it. In fairness to General Morales of PhilHealth, he said no payments had been made,” Drilon said in a radio interview. Drilon said it was a good thing there had been no payments yet and that PhilHealth had not lost money. “But it is really clear that the unscrupulous persons in PhilHealth had a plan—I am not saying it is their president—to try to pull something off,” he said.
Group asks DepEd to ‘postpone’ school opening amid issues on access | Manila Bulletin – If the government cannot ensure that distance learning will be fully accessible to all learners, a federation of teachers on Friday said that it would be best to “postpone” the scheduled school opening in August. The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to postpone its planned school opening for School Year (SY) 2020-2021 on August 24 amid the continued threat of COVID-19, as well as other issues on access to education in the “new normal.” Given the anticipated disruptions in face-to-face holding of classes and the need for social distancing, Education Secretary Leonor Briones earlier said that “distance learning will be a major component of learning delivery for the incoming school year.” For ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio, unless the DepEd can ensure that distance learning will be fully accessible to all learners, especially to poor students, “they might as well postpone the planned school opening [instead] having a sizeable portion of your school children drop out for a year will [which will] bring bigger problems to education access and quality the following year.”
Catholic church social arm running out of funds | The Manila Times – The worldwide pandemic and the recent typhoon have taken its toll on the finances of Caritas Philippines, the Catholic Church’s humanitarian arm, amid increased demand for its services. Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, who chairs Caritas Philippines, on Friday appealed for funding support, saying that the lockdown has affected its Lenten fundraising called “Alay Kapwa” (AK). AK is a yearly campaign of the Catholic Church that supports the social services for the poor and in need especially during times of disaster.
