News Roundup 16 July 2020
Jul 16, 2020 • 4 min Read
2,498 new cases push Philippines’ COVID-19 tally to 61,266 | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines reached a troubling milestone of crossing 60,000 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases Thursday after the Department of Health reported 2,498 new infections nationwide. To date, the COVID-19 pandemic has afflicted 61,266 people in the country. The DOH also reported 467 additional recoveries, pushing the total number of COVID-19 survivors in the country to 21,440. But the fatality count also rose to 1,643 with the addition of 29 deaths.
Half of DOH budget for COVID-19 response unaccounted for — think tank | PHILSTAR.COM – As the country on Thursday logs another daily tally of over 2,000 new COVID-19 infections, the health department is facing more scrutiny for an alleged lack of support for hospitals and medical frontliners. Non-profit policy think tank Institute for Leadership, Empowerment and Democracy (iLEAD) on July 8 called on the Department of Health to account for the budget alloted for the country’s COVID-19 response. “We call on DOH to share progress on their budget spending, especially the [P45 billion] additional budget given to them for PPEs and test kits. How much of that budget has been utilized?” iLEAD Executive Director Zy-za Suzara asked. The think tank estimated that there should be around “10.5 million [personal protective equipment] sets, or at least 200 PPE sets for each of the 42,046 barangays in the country, purchased by the government for frontliners’ use.” However, latest government data shows that only 6.1 million PPE sets have been purchased, while around 1.7 million sets have been delivered. The non-profit highlighted that the DOH has not provided any details on PPE distribution. “Slow spending of DOH in this time of crisis is unforgivable. DOH spent [P 27 billion] from January to May. That is only 50% of their total budget. They have around [P100 billion] in their 2020 budget and [P48 billion] additional funds for COVID-19,” Suzara added.
Petitions vs Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 mounting | INQUIRER.NET – More petitions are being lodged before the Supreme Court against Republic Act 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (ATA). On Thursday, the legal action of the Federation of Free Workers members added to the string of previously filed cases against the new law. Joining them are members of the Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, Church Labor Conference, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Uni Global Union-Philippine Liaison Council, and the Kilusang Artikulo Trese. In their petition, they questioned the constitutionality of the ATA saying it “will have a destructive chilling effect” on the workers’ right to organize and conduct activities to petition the government to address their grievances. They asked the Supreme Court to stop the implementation of the law through a temporary restraining order. The anti-terror law is set to take effect on July 19. For them, “the vague and overly broad provisions of law particularly those which are penal in nature such as RA 11479 is a deprivation of the people’s right to due process.” “While petitioners recognize the efforts of those who sincerely keep our people safe; we strongly oppose the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020…in its present form which runs contrary or repugnant to the Constitution,” they said. Petitioners are also concerned about the “unrestrained power given to the Executive department” which could become an instrument to terrorize the ordinary citizens.
Pangilinan urges DepEd, LGUs to help students this coming school year | Manila Bulletin – Opposition Senator Francis “Kiko” N. Pangilinan on Thursday urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to make available more financial aid and other assistance to both students and teachers as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused enrollment to drop this school year. Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party (LP), said local government units (LGUs), through their Special Education Fund (SEF), should offer a wide range of support such as scholarships for their constituents who want to study under the new normal setup. He also urged the public to donate smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers to Vice President Leni Robredo’s campaign to assist in distance learning. At the same time, Pangilinan also encouraged young people to study agriculture and go into farming and help make the country food-secure, especially during the pandemic.
Duque flip-flops on ‘flattened’ curve | The Manila Times – The country has flattened the pandemic curve, Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd said on Wednesday, pointing to longer case doubling time and moderate mortality rate. “We have successfully flattened the curve since April, and the metrics that we are saying arriving at that conclusion is actually the case doubling time, and also the mortality doubling time has gotten longer and is now in the moderate risk classification,” Duque said during the Pre-State of the Nation Address (Pre-SONA) virtual press conference. Case doubling time has improved to eight to 12 days as opposed to 2.5 days before the enhanced community quarantine period began. “Over time, we have managed to stabilize the number of new cases being reported at anywhere to 220 cases per day,” Duque said. But he backtracked hours later, explaining that the epidemic curve “bent” during the early stages of the lockdown in April. “Lumiko ‘yung curve dahil nga bumaba ang ating mga kaso after tayong nag-impose ng lockdown. (The curve bent as cases decreased after we imposed lockdowns),” Duque said. He added that there was a “lull” during the lockdown period, but cases increased after quarantine restrictions were relaxed.
