News Roundup 11 July 2020
Jul 11, 2020 • 4 min Read
Philippines sees highest single-day COVID-19 recoveries as infections surpass 54,000 | PHILSTAR.COM – The Department of Health on Saturday reported 1,387 new cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), bringing the country’s total caseload to 54,222. The death toll has reached 1,372 after the Health department announced 12 more mortalities of the coronavirus. Meanwhile, a record 807 additional survivors brought the local COVID-19 recovery count to 14,037.
‘A sword of Damocles over Philippines mass media’ | PHILSTAR.COM – Senators slammed the voting at the House of Representatives denying ABS-CBN’s application for the renewal of its franchise yesterday, saying the rejection was done for purely selfish political reasons. Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said he was “deeply saddened by this episode in the history of our nation” and found it “reminiscent of the dark pages in the history of the Philippine press in 1972.” “Democracy thrives when there is free press and when journalists can exercise complete freedom to do their mandate of reporting facts without fear. But with what happened to ABS-CBN, it has shown that the ‘sword of Damocles’ can be unleashed any time,” Drilon said in a statement. “After monitoring the exhaustive proceedings in the House of Representatives, I am more convinced that the only fault of ABS-CBN is it stepped on some powerful political toes, hence the sword has been unleashed on it,” he said. “The sword of Damocles will continue to hang perilously over other media networks. Both the legislators and the executive can wield the sword at their whim and caprice. This is when democracy starts to weaken,” he added.
House panel vote ‘kills’ ABS-CBN franchise bid | INQUIRER.NET – The administration’s allies in the House of Representatives on Friday “killed” the new franchise application of ABS-CBN, which had earned the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte for its reportage on his war on drugs and for airing a campaign advertisement against him during the presidential election four years ago. Ging Reyes, head of ABS-CBN’s Integrated News and Current Affairs, said the network’s shutdown would impact on press freedom in the country because “press freedom is not just for us.” “We want our public to have a choice, in what they will watch, what they will read. Competition is part of the free flow [of information],” she said. “If this is an attempt to curtail press freedom, I believe they won’t succeed. We won’t give up, even though we will be limited in many ways,” Reyes said on dzMM radio, which continues to broadcast on Skycable, a subsidiary of ABS-CBN not affected by the lapse of its expired franchise.
House committee asked to make public list of solons who participated in ABS CBN franchise voting | Manila Bulletin – Congressmen on Friday called on the House Committee on Legislative Franchises to grant the request of media for the release of the list of congressmen who participated in the voting that led to the rejection of the ABS-CBN franchise application. Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, together with Reps. France Castro (ACT Teachers Partylist) and Ferdinand Gaite (Bayan Muna), reminded the committee leadership and secretariat that furnishing the public with records of the proceedings is part of the official duty of the House panel. Deputy Speaker and Sagip Partylist Rep. Rodante Marcoleta said he sees nothing wrong with the request, stressing that releasing the list is part of transparency. The seeming refusal of the committee to release the sought list detailing how the voting went have raised speculations that solons who rejected the ABS-CBN franchise feared the backlash of their decision.
7th petition vs anti-terror law filed | The Manila Times – Another petition seeking to declare the controversial Republic Act (RA) 11479 or “The Anti-Terrorism Law” (ATL) as unconstitutional has been filed by two labor groups before the Supreme Court. The latest petition, the seventh to be filed at the high court, was lodged on Wednesday by labor groups Center for Trade Union and Human Rights and the Pro-Labor Legal Assistance Center. It said: “The labor rights groups expressed deep concern on how the ATL will affect unionists and labor rights defenders. Because of the vague definition of terrorism and the absolute power it gives the state forces, this law can definitely be used against the labor movement. Throughout history, unionists and labor rights defenders have been perpetrated by filing trumped-up charges against them, red-tagging, accusing them of being rebels or terrorists, and other forms of harassment. This law will worsen the struggles of workers in pushing for their rights and demands.”
