News Roundup 05 August 2020
Aug 05, 2020 • 3 min Read
Philippines adds 3,462 new COVID-19 cases; total climbs past 115,000 | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines recorded another huge increase in coronavirus infections Wednesday, taking the country’s caseload past the 115,000-mark. The Department of Health logged 3,462 new COVID-19 infections, with most of the new cases from outbreak epicenter Metro Manila. To date, the novel coronavirus has sickened 115,980 people in the country. The number of active cases or patients who are currently ill was at 47,587. The DOH also reported that total recoveries increased to 66,270 after 222 more people were given clean bill of health. But nine more patients succumbed to COVID-19, raising the death toll to 2,123.
Duterte won’t fire PhilHealth chief until he has evidence of corruption — Malacañang | PHILSTAR.COM – Despite the allegations of fraud swirling around Philippine Health Insurance Corp. amid the COVID-19 crisis, Malacañang on Wednesday said President Rodrigo Duterte will not fire the state-run agency’s chief until he has evidence of corruption. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque told CNN Philippines that, for now, PhilHealth President and CEO Ricardo Morales still enjoys the president’s trust and confidence.
CHR: No ‘compelling reason’ to revive death penalty | INQUIRER.NET – There is no compelling reason to reinstate capital punishment in the country, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said Wednesday. During a House panel hearing on bills pushing for the death penalty, CHR Commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit pointed out that under the Constitution, the death penalty shall not be imposed “unless, for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes” – not even due to drugs because “drugs are not found on the list” of so-called most serious crimes in international law, according to the CHR official. “The Constitution says for compelling reasons, and it is our position that there is no compelling reason to reintroduce the death penalty,” she said. “In the most serious of crimes in international law, if you will have a listing of that, drugs are not found on the list. So we believe there is no compelling reason to impose the death penalty,” Gomez-Dumpit added. She further pointed out that the Philippines would violate international law if it reimposes the death penalty as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Second Optional Protocol to ICCPR, to which the Philippines is a signatory, bar the reintroduction of the capital punishment. “If we go ahead and reimpose the death penalty, we will be found to be in serious breach of international law,” she said. “It is a state obligation to be able to comply with the human rights treaties that we have acceded to or we have ratified,” she added.
Anti-Terror Law does not include social media regulation, says defense chief | Manila Bulletin – Lorenzana was reacting to the remarks of newly installed Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief Lieutenant General Gilbert Gapay who suggested the inclusion of specific provisions on the regulation of social media in the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Anti-Terrorism Law of 2020. “It is not part of its mandate and it would violate freedom of speech and discourse,” Lorenzana emphasized. Lorenzana said he talked to Gapay to clarify what the latter meant in his proposal. “I asked Gen. Gapay yesterday (Tuesday) what he meant because I was likewise surprised to hear him say it,” Lorenzana said. “According to him, he meant the darknet, the clandestine network that peddles drugs, traffic people, sells guns and explosives, hire assassins and other illegal activities,” he continued. “But even this is difficult to regulate because it is underground and operates illegally,” he stated.
2 Filipinos killed, 8 injured, 11 missing in Beirut blast — DFA | The Manila Times – Two Filipinos were reported killed, eight were injured, and 11 others are missing after a powerful explosion rocked Beirut, Lebanon on Tuesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. “All were in their employers’ home during the explosion,” DFA Assistant Secretary Eduardo Meñez said in a text message on Wednesday. There are about 33,000 Filipinos in Lebanon, 75 percent of whom “are in the greater Beirut area,” he added.
