News Roundup 13 June 2020
Jun 13, 2020 • 3 min Read
COVID-19 infections in Philippines breach 25,000 with 607 new cases | PHILSTAR.COM – The Department of Health on Saturday confirmed 607 new cases of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), raising the local total to 25,392 from Friday’s 24,787 cases. Of the newly reported cases, 504 were labeled “fresh” (results released to patients within last 3 days) while the remaining 103 were “late” (results released 4 days ago or more). The death toll stands at 1,074 following 22 new mortalities, while the recovery count is now 5,706 after 252 more survivors of the coronavirus were announced.
Gatchalian on BIR proposal to tax online sellers: ‘Ill-timed, insensitive’ | INQUIRER.NET – Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has dismissed as “ill-timed” and “insensitive” the move of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to tax online resellers who are still reeling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Gatchalian said Saturday that the proposed taxation is not only an added “unnecessary burden” to entrepreneurs, but it would also compel online sellers to pass on the additional expenses to their customers. “Importante ang tamang timing sa pagtatakda o pagtataas ng buwis. Hindi tama ang timing ng BIR na patawan ng tax ang mga online sellers na karamihan sa kanila ay nagsisimula pa lang makabangon muli dahil nawalan ng trabaho nuong kasagsagan ng Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ),” Gatchalian said. (Right timing on imposing or increase in taxes is important. It is not right for the BIR to impose tax on online sellers, most of who are starting over after losing their jobs due to the Enhanced Community Quarantine.) “Dahil sa kailangang mapanatili pa rin ang social distancing lalo na’t wala pang nadidiskubreng bakuna sa COVID-19, mas hinihikayat pa nga natin ang lahat na gumamit ng teknolohiya para lumipat na sa tinatawag na digital economy,” he added. (Since social distancing is important, especially now that a cure for COVID-19 hasn’t been discovered, we should even encourage everyone to use technology to shift to the digital economy.)
ADMU Law School issues statement on Anti-Terrorism Law | Manila Bulletin – The Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) Law School issued a statement on the Anti-Terrorism Law of 2020. In a Facebook post Friday said: “We the undersigned, register our opposition to the bill embodying the Anti-Terrorism Law of 2020.” The ADMU Law School expressed opposition to certain provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Law namely: “the unilateral power to designate any person as a terrorist in order to facilitate that person’s arrest, and to even order the warrantless arrests of persons so designated even if no charges have been filed, and to cause their detention for 14 to 24 days” and in defining terrorism in a manner that is expansive, vague, and prone to abuse, and also criminalizes new speech-based crimes such as “inciting to commit terrorism” and “proposal to commit terrorism” whose definitions are likewise unclear and sweeping.” ADMU Law School said that the provision on warrantless arrests: “transgress upon the rights to due process and to be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures protected under Article III Sections 1 and 2 of the Constitution. Further, the grant of these powers to the Anti-Terrorism Council violates the principle of separation of powers embodied in the Constitution, as it effectively allows the Anti-Terrorism Council to circumvent the issuance of warrants of arrest that are the exclusive prerogative of the Judiciary.“ The provision on the definition of terrorism for ADMU Law School on the other hand “degrade the freedom of expression protected by Article III, Section 4 of the Constitution.” Ateneo’s Law School recognize government’s need to ensure peace and order and defeat terrorism but also believe that the country already has existing laws and policies that grant the government “extensive powers to deal with these issues.”
DoST okays P9.8M for melatonin clinical trials to treat Covid patients | The Manila Times – THE Department of Science and Technology (DoST) allotted P9.8 million for research on melatonin as an effective supplement treatment for patients infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). DoST Secretary Fortunato de la Peña announced on video on Friday night that the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) approved the clinical trial. “Ito ay gagamit ng high-dose melatonin as an adjuvant or supplementary treatment for Covid-19 (This will use high-dose melatonin as an adjuvant or supplementary treatment for Covid-19.),” he said.
