News Roundup 06 August 2020
Aug 06, 2020 • 3 min Read
With 119,460 infections, Philippines overtakes Indonesia for most COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines saw another spike in new coronavirus infections Thursday to take its total to 119,460, overtaking Indonesia as the worst-hit country in Southeast Asia. The Department of Health reported 3,561 additional infections to take the national caseload ahead of Indonesia’s 118,753 cases as of Thursday, according to its health ministry. Manila has been reporting more daily cases than Jakarta for a time now. Currently, there are 50,473 active cases or patients who are currently ill in the country. The DOH also reported that 569 more patients had recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 66,837. The death toll, however, rose to 2,150 with the deaths of 28 more patients. Indonesia’s fatality count, meanwhile, stood at 5,452—the highest in the region.
Revived lawyers’ group file 25th legal challenge vs anti-terrorism law | PHILSTAR.COM – The Concerned Lawyers for Civil Liberties asked the Supreme Court to strike down the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 for failing to protect the people’s liberties enshrined in the Constitution. CLCL members — led by former Vice President Jejomar Binay, former Sen. Rene Saguisag, former University of the Philippines College of Law dean Pacifico Agabin and National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers President Edre Olalia — joined the legal fight against the contentious Republic Act 11479 that they said “impairs freedom of expression and its cognate rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.” “If not so voided, the assailed statute will run roughshod over the 1987 Constitution, particularly its salient provisions on the Bill of Rights,” the petitioners said. This is the 25th challenge to the law’s constitutionality filed before the SC.
Top PhilHealth exec resigns as corruption allegations hound agency | INQUIRER.NET – A top official of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has resigned as the agency is hounded by fresh allegations of corruption and subjected to congressional investigations. PhilHealth Senior Vice President for Operations retired Brig. Gen. Augustus de Villa tendered his “irrevocable resignation” to PhilHealth president and CEO Ricardo Morales on Thursday. “I hereby tender my irrevocable resignation, effective immediately, from the service of the Philippines Health Insurance Corporation,” read De Villa’s letter, a copy of which was shown to reporters by a source. De Villa, in the letter, did not elaborate on specific reasons for his decision to resign.
PH economy plunges 16.5% in Q2 | Manila Bulletin – The country slumped into recession with a 16.5 percent economic plunge in the second-quarter due to coronavirus-fuelled lockdowns, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced today. The local economy, as measured by the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), is now in a technical recession for the first time since 1991 and the nation’s worst quarterly contraction starting the 1981 series. This is also a reversal of the 5.4 percent growth logged in the second quarter last year. The Philippines’ GDP performance is the most severe contraction among ASEAN economies like Singapore (minus 12.6 percent), and Indonesia (minus 5.32 percent). Vietnam grew 0.36 percent in the second-quarter.
Makati to pilot pool testing | The Manila Times – Makati City will pilot Go Negosyo’s pooled PCR testing this month, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo Founder Jose Maria “Joey” Concepcion 3rd has announced. Iloilo Rep Janette Garin, chief private implementer of ARK-PCR (antibody rapid test kit-polymerase chain reaction); Tessie Sy-Coson, chairman of BDO Unibank Inc.; Dr. Julius Lecciones of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center; and Dr. Raymond Lo were also present during the virtual signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between Go Negosyo and Makati City Hall. “The private sector will fund a pooled PCR testing pilot for 16 cities and one municipality in NCR (National Capital Region) this month. That represents about P160,000 pooled PCR tests that will be done for this part of the research. This will be a game-changer for our country. It could speed up testing, increase the capacity and make it cheaper. Testing will create greater visibility,” Concepcion said.
