News Roundup 29 November 2020
Nov 29, 2020 • 4 min Read
Philippines adds 10,579 COVID-19 recoveries as cases exceed 429,000 | PHILSTAR.COM – The health department recorded 2,076 more coronavirus infections and another mass recovery of 10,579 new survivors on Sunday, bringing their totals to 429,864 and 398,624, respectively. In its latest case bulletin, the Department of Health also tacked on 40 more casualties. The coronavirus death toll in the Philippines now stands at 8,373 as a result. Accounting for both deaths and recoveries, there are still 22,867 active cases of the pathogen in the Philippines or patients who are still confined in hospitals and quarantine centers who have neither recovered nor passed away.
Robredo: Disinformation peaks when we do our jobs right | PHILSTAR.COM – Disinformation against the vice president seems to be rampant when she does her job well, including her relief drives for victims of the past three typhoons in the country, she said Sunday. Speaking on her radio show on Sunday morning, the Vice President Leni Robredo recounted that disinformation against her also spread like wildfire during her stint as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs, something that she said repeated itself amid her office’s initiative in the aftermath of Typhoon Ulysses. “It’s nothing new. Since 2016, the disinformation drive has gotten worse… and time and again, almost everything they say has been lies,” she said in mixed Filipino and English. “If you study it, it peaks whenever we do something relatively well… So now that we’re doing relief operations, it’s the same thing,” she also said. Over the coronavirus pandemic, Robredo has been no stranger to disinformation hurled at her and has often found herself on the receiving end of disinformation being peddled online. Just the day before, Robredo warned on social media of a fake Facebook account masquerading as her daughter, an account she said was “obviously being promoted by sick minds.” “The trolls don’t always react right away. It’s like they’re waiting for a command from their higher-ups,” the Vice President said. “But ultimately you can see where all this is coming from…the thinking is really evil, and it’s all made up,” she added.
‘Devious’ PITC scheme kept P1 billion from gov’t coffers – Drilon | INQUIRER.NET – The state trading company Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) is using “a devious scheme” to illegally keep at least P1 billion in government funds instead of remitting the money to the nation’s coffers for possible spending for urgent pandemic or disaster response, according to Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon. In a statement on Saturday, Drilon said the PITC had “shortchanged” the government by holding on to the interests generated by the money it had received from various state agencies for purchasing goods and services in violation of the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, or Presidential Decree No. 1445. “We are being taken for fools. What they are remitting to the government is loose change compared to the billions of pesos that they are able to rake in,” he said. It was the latest disclosure of alleged irregularities by the PITC made by Drilon in the course of his scrutiny of the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget.
True leaders inspire supporters, says Leni | Manila Bulletin – Vice President Leni Robredo said Sunday that true leaders should inspire their supporters to do good and not the opposite, especially now the country is battling the coronavirus pandemic and reeling from the impact of recent typhoons. In her weekly radio show, “BISErbsiyong Leni,” Robredo said the behavior of some public officials’ followers, who spread lies and misinformation, reflects their type of leadership. “Kapag nai-inspire mo iyong tao na maging sinungaling, kapag nai-inspire mo iyong tao na lahat kabastusan iyong lumalabas sa bibig, reflection iyon sa iyo (When you inspire people to become liars and spew foul words out of their mouth, that reflects on you),” she said. On the same day, Robredo also tweeted, “Leaders who bring out the worst in people are not what our country needs.” The past weeks saw the Vice President addressing trolls who were spreading fake news and hurling threats against her and her family on social media platforms.
Metro Manila should remain under GCQ | The Manila Times – Metro Manila should remain under general community quarantine (GCQ) until the end of the year as it is not yet ready to further loosen restrictions, according to the team that tracks the country’s coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) numbers. Metro Manila, alongside Batangas, Iloilo City, Bacolod City, Tacloban City, Davao City, Iligan City and Lanao Del Sur, was placed under GCQ by President Rodrigo Duterte, while the rest of the country, except Laoag City, which was placed under a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) status, is under modified GCQ or MGCQ. In a television interview, Professor Guido David, one of the fellows of the Octa Research Group, said Metro Manila should not go into MGCQ yet as the number of cases have increased by 15 percent as opposed to last week.
