News Roundup 28 September 2020
Sep 28, 2020 • 4 min Read
Philippines posts 3,073 new COVID-19 cases; total at 307,288 | PHILSTAR.COM – The country’s total coronavirus caseload reached 307,288 Monday after the Department of Health reported 3,073 additional cases. The country is still reporting thousands of cases every day despite implementing the world’s longest lockdown. Researchers studying the coronavirus outbreak in the country noted a decline in the number of cases in the country, including the capital region. But they warned that premature relaxation of quarantine measures in Metro Manila would result in an “exponential” rise in cases by Christmas time. Meanwhile, the number of recoveries rose to 252,665 after 163 more people recovered from COVID-19. But 37 new fatalities were recorded, most of which from Western Visayas, bringing the total number of COVID-19-related deaths to 5,381.
Robredo concerned China out to meddle with Philippine polls in 2022 | PHILSTAR.COM – Vice President Leni Robredo has raised the concerns on China’s potential role in spreading propaganda through social media to influence the Philippines’ national elections in 2022. “What is China doing with our domestic affairs? We should be afraid,” Robredo said on her weekly radio show on Sunday. “Does their interest show because this will also protect their own interest? I think this is frightening because it involves our sovereignty,” she said in Filipino. Last week, Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy at Facebook Inc., said the social media giant removed two networks of accounts, pages and groups from its platform for violating rules on coordinated inauthentic behavior. One network is linked to the Philippine military and police, while the other was traced to China. Among accounts shutdown by Facebook showed a network supporting Davao Mayor Sara Duterte’s potential presidential bid for 2022 to succeed her father.
Carpio accuses China of ‘double standard’ in conduct of naval drills | INQUIRER.NET – Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has accused China of “double standard” in the conduct of naval exercises after Beijing’s top diplomat in Manila insisted that external powers should not be allowed to “roil the waters” in the South China Sea. In an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel on Monday, Carpio noted that the United States and China have differing views in the conduct of freedom of navigation operations. “China is saying that freedom of navigation and overflight does not include the conduct of naval exercises but when Chinese vessels go to the Mediterranean Sea, when they go to the Baltic Sea, when they go to the exclusive economic zone of Alaska, they follow the US position that the freedom of navigation involves naval drills,” he said. “They are adapting to a double standard. They’re saying ‘Not in the South China Sea because this is exclusively ours.’ We cannot allow that because the moment we agree to that, we are giving China a special right to the South China Sea and that can balloon into a claim to the resources of the South China Sea,” he added.
‘Act swiftly to curb hunger, poverty,’ senators urge gov’t | Manila Bulletin – Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros today urged the government to act swiftly against the growing epidemic of hunger and poverty affecting 7.6 million Filipino households as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) stalks the country. ‘’This record-high number of families experiencing hunger is a symptom of the deepening economic crisis that we must take seriously,’’ Hontiveros said. Earlier, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon expressed serious alarm over the increasing number of Filipinos families who experienced hunger amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, warning of a looming hunger crisis if proper measures are not put in place. Hontiveros said the degradation of the economy followed closures and business failures of many businesses and employers.
Robredo: Govt must invest in agriculture | The Manila Times – The government should invest in agriculture to ensure that the health crisis does not become a food crisis, Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo said. She pushed for agriculture on Saturday as she spoke at the AgriCOOPh Virtual Partnership Forum and 2nd General Assembly. “May mga bagay na talagang gobyerno lang ang may pondo na malaki at makinaryang magsulong. Malinaw ang next steps na kailangang gawin: dapat mag-invest sa agrikultura para masigurong this health crisis does not turn into a food crisis (There are things that only the government has large funds and machinery to advance. The next steps that need to be done are clear: invest in agriculture to ensure that this health crisis does not turn into a food crisis),” Robredo said.
