News Roundup 22 December 2020
Dec 22, 2020 • 4 min Read
DOH: 1,314 new cases as COVID-19 deaths in Philippines breach 9,000 | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines reached another grim milestone three days before Christmas with its death toll from COVID-19 surpassing 9,000 on Tuesday. The Department of Health reported 66 new fatalities due to the respiratory disease, the highest single-day death count since December 8 when 98 deaths were reported. Cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines now total 462,815 after the DOH reported 1,314 new infections. The DOH also reported 247 new recoveries, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 429,419. With the new infections, deaths and recoveries, the number of active cases stands at 24,375. The Philippines has the second highest largest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia behind neighboring Indonesia.
Lawyers demand action over rise in attacks on colleagues | PHILSTAR.COM – Legal practitioners on Tuesday demanded that the Supreme Court act on the rise in killings of lawyers in recent years, citing the adverse impacts of the attacks against the legal profession and on the independence of lawyers. “The continuing, increasing and more brazen killings on Filipino lawyers and judges have been going for many years now but we noticed a sharp increase since President Rodrigo Duterte came to office in 2016 and has made the legal profession one of the most dangerous careers in the country,” over 70 signatories said in a letter addressed to Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta. “When lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and workers in the justice sector are murdered with impunity and alarming regularity, no one feels safe, our people lose trust and faith in our government and its justice system, and the unscrupulous are emboldened to take the law in their criminal hands,” the Integrated Bar of the Philippines also wrote in a separate letter sent to Vice President Leni Robredo and to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. In their letter to the high court, the lawyers called for “a thorough, prompt, impartial, and independent investigation into all the killings of lawyers,” a dialogue between the SC and state security forces, and accountability for the victims of extrajudicial killings and of violence against lawyers and judges.
Red-tagged Negros Occidental doc, husband buried |INQUIRER.NET – A government doctor at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19 and her husband, who were assassinated in Guihulngan City, were buried on Tuesday (Dec. 22). Dr. Mary Rose Sancelan and her husband, Edwin, were brought to the Our Lady of Buensuceso Parish Church in Guihulngan City for the funeral Mass before they were buried. San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, who celebrated the Mass, called for an end to the killings and justice for the couple. “Our people’s doctor dedicated her life to end both the COVID pandemic and the pandemic of injustice,” said Alminaza. “Committed to social justice, she tirelessly and prophetically spoke against human rights violations, militarization, and the political imbalance in our locality—consistently insisting on the need to address the roots of our social crisis to achieve just peace,” he said. “Our beloved martyr, Dr. Mary Rose, took eight bullets on our behalf,” the bishop said. “Her husband, Edwin, took five. Sadly, their son, Red Emmanuel, bears all the pain of the violent demise of his parents. Together, we accompany him in his quest for justice,” he said. Alminaza said the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other human rights agencies have more reasons to demand from the Philippine government accountability for rampant human rights violations like unbridled summary killings and the absence of the rule of law.
Youth groups decry ‘brutal’ killing by cop of mother, son in Tarlac | Manila Bulletin – Various youth groups and individuals addressed the death of a mother and her son in Tarlac with a unity statement against police brutality and a call for justice. The suspect, Police Senior Master Sgt. Joel Nuezca, shot dead Sonya Gregorio, 52, and her son Frank Anthony, 25, in Paniqui, Tarlac last Sunday. A mobile phone video that went viral showed the policeman shot the Gregorios at point blank range in front of his young daughter. “We cry for justice for Sonya, Frank and the thousands of victims of police brutality and senseless killings,” read the statement. “We call on the government to immediately fire and probe Nuezca. Nuezca should be imprisoned for murdering two unarmed civilians,” it said. The unity statement was signed by Akbayan Youth, YouthResist, Tindig Kabataan, Youth and Students Advancing Gender Equality (YSAGE), Kabatiran, and The Ateneo Assembly, among others. Several individuals were also signatories.
