News Roundup 10 December 2020
Dec 10, 2020 • 4 min Read
COVID-19 cases in Philippines climb to 445,540 | PHILSTAR.COM – The country’s coronavirus caseload rose to over 445,000 Thursday, with 1,383 additional infections added to the tally. With a total of 445,540 COVID-19 cases, the Philippines now ranks 27th globally in terms of coronavirus infections, according to Johns Hopkins University coronavirus dashboard. In Southeast Asia, it has the second most number of COVID-19 cases next to Indonesia. Thursday’s figures were based on the data from all testing laboratories except nine that did not submit on time. The department also announced 133 additional recovered patients, pushing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 409,058. However, 24 more patients died from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 8,701. Active cases or those who are still undergoing treatment and quarantine stood at 27,781 or 6.2% of the confirmed cases.
Palace official urged to talk to ‘drug war’ victims’ kin before dismissing rights concerns | PHILSTAR.COM – To claim that extrajudicial killings and abuses linked to the government’s “war on drugs” is just a narrative peddled by the political opposition ignores the experiences of the victims of these abuses, a Catholic priest critical of the killings said Thursday. Fr. Flavie Villanueva, SVD, in a message to reporters, invited presidential undersecretary Severo Catura to listen to the many stories of those who have lost loved ones in the “drug war” before dismissing them as a political ploy. Villanueva was responding to the remarks of Catura, who serves as executive director of the Presidential Human Rights Committee, and who claimed on Monday, December 7, that concerns over documented human rights abuses by police officers were just a narrative pushed by the administration’s political opposition. “The accusation of [Undersecretary] Catura that government’s critics are spreading fake news on killings is entirely baseless. The so-called critics are actually the caregiver, providing sincere efforts to defend and console victims of human rights violations to hundreds, if not thousands of widows and orphans, who have been left due to the systematic campaign to kill, kill, kill,” he said.
Journo Lady Ann Salem from red-tagged site arrested on Human Rights Day | INQUIRER.NET – A female journalist from red-tagged alternative news site Manila Today was arrested on Thursday, media organizations National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) and International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) confirmed. The information posted by NUJP on its Facebook page showed that Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem was “among those arrested” in operations conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday morning, December 10 — which also coincides with the global Human Rights Day. Salem’s Manila Today is a part of the NUJP, while she is also the communications officer of IAWRT. NUJP added that the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) arrested Salem in her Mandaluyong home. “Journalist and Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem was among those arrested in a wave of arrests conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) this morning. The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the PNP arrested Salem at her house in Mandaluyong City at approximately 9 AM this morning,” NUJP said. “The police has yet to release details of the charges against the journalist,” they added.
Enrolled copy of ‘Doktor para sa Bayan Act’ awaits President’s signature — House leader | Manila Bulletin – The enrolled copy of the proposed “Doktor para sa Bayan Act” is awaiting the signature of President Duterte, according to House Higher and Technical Education panel Chair Baguio City lone District Rep. Mark Go. The House leader said the enrolled copy of the measure seeking to grant full medical scholarships to qualified and deserving Filipino students has been transmitted to the Palace for Duterte’s signature. “Soon to become a law is the much-awaited Medical Scholarship and Return Service bill, known as Doktor para sa Bayan, which was already received by the Office of the President last Nov. 25, 2020,” Go said during his panel’s virtual meeting.
DOH WARNS: Increased mobility, increased transmission | Malaya Business Insight – Health Secretary Francisco Duque III yesterday said coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases are expected to rise as people become more and more mobile during the Christmas Season. In a virtual press briefing, Duque said the increased mobility of the public in recent weeks are among the main causes of the surge in COVID-19 cases. “The increased mobility of people because of the holiday seasons leads to increased contact rate, transmission has increased. This is what we see,” said Duque, adding: “Once we let our guards down, you are going to really see what we’ve been saying all along: a surge in the number of cases.” Duque’s pronouncement was backed by the OCTA Research Team, which said that allowing conferences and seminars to physically take place can result to it becoming “superspreader” events.
