News Roundup 23 May 2020
May 23, 2020 • 3 min Read
Robredo urges faster recovery of Marawi City on 3rd anniversary of siege INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo is calling on concerned agencies to accelerate efforts in the recovery and rehabilitation of Marawi City which she said is being “neglected” because of supposed inaction since its occupation by Islamic militants and the clashes to liberate it three years ago. Robredo joined the country in marking the third anniversary of the Marawi siege on Saturday. “Three years of inaction and neglect in Marawi is a thousand days too long. We call on all concerned agencies to accelerate their actions while exercising full transparency,” Robredo said in a statement on Saturday. “Marawi is not merely a tragedy to be remembered; it is an ongoing problem that needs to be solved,” she added.
US government donates medical supplies to help Zamboanga fight COVID-19 | PHILSTAR.COM – The US government, through its Department of Defense, turned over Friday ton of medical supplies for hospitals in this city to support the local government’s fight against the coronavirus disease pandemic, officials said. US Special Operations Task Force 511.2 commander Nathan Golike spearheaded the turnover of medical supplies to Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana and Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar inside the tarmac of Edwin Andrews Air Base. “Thank you very much to the US government for the untiring support to city of Zamboanga. God be with you,” Salazar said.
DFA: Filipinos overseas must not be prevented from returning despite limited quarantine centers in PH | Manila Bulletin – Inadequate quarantine facilities in the Philippines should not hamper overseas Filipinos’ from returning home amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Saturday (May 23). While overseas Filipinos who wished to return home are advised that the availability of flights might be affected by factors such as travel restrictions from their country of origin as well as the limited capacity of the facilities in the Philippines that can accommodate them upon their return, the foreign affairs department said it will keep pushing for “maximum capacity” of returning OFWs. “But we will keep pushing for maximum capacity of returning OFWs. The right to return home cannot be restricted by any consideration, even inadequate quarantine facilities. Then just let them through. But no one keeps OFWs from home. No one,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. said on Twitter.
PhilHealth move to lower testing price praised | The Manila Times – Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon has welcomed the decision of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to lower the price of its coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) test package by 50 percent. He earlier questioned the overpriced package amounting to P8,150 per test as he feared of potential loss from taxpayers’ money of around P8.3 billion. Following public uproar over the “overpriced” package, Drilon said PhilHealth scaled down the price of its Covid-19 test package from P8,150 to P4,210. “If Covid-19 tests could be done for as low as P3,500, as proven by Red Cross, which emerged as the lead testing center for Covid-19, then there is no justification for higher rates set by PhilHealth,” Drilon said in a statement on Friday. He also revealed that the complete cost structure of the package showed questionable expenses, which, if removed, could bring down the cost by more than half.
