News Roundup 19 January 2021
Jan 19, 2021 • 4 min Read
COVID-19 infections in Philippines hit 504,084 with 1,357 new cases | PHILSTAR.COM – The country’s COVID-19 caseload reached 504,084 Tuesday after the Department of Health recorded 1,357 new infections. The decrease in the additional cases is attributed to the “increased number of non-operating laboratories during the weekend,” the DOH said. Recoveries increased to 466,249 after 324 patients recovered from the respiratory disease. Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 9,978 with 69 additional fatalities. Active cases or the people undergoing treatment or quarantine accounted for 27,857 or 5.5% of the total infected.
7 senators assail scrapping of UP-DND accord | PHILSTAR.COM – Several lawmakers on Tuesday urged the Senate to oppose Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s abrogation of a decades-old agreement with the University of the Philippines (UP) which bars security forces from entering its campuses without coordination. Proposed Senate Resolution 616 expresses the “sense of the Senate” to object to the unilateral termination of the 1989 accord. It was authored by Sen. Francis Pangilinan and signed by Sens. Risa Hontiveros, Nancy Binay, Ralph Recto, Leila de Lima, Fraklin Drilon and Joel Villanueva. Sen. Richard Gordon has since expressed his intent to be made a co-author of the resolution, Pangilinan’s office said, adding that this “will be manifested on the floor once the resolution is scheduled for sponsorship.” The senators also called on the UP and the Department of National Defense to “commence a dialogue and find common ground that promotes peace and security and protects academic freedom, and the pursuit of excellence.” Pangilinan, Drilon and Binay are all UP graduates. Although he did not sign the resolution, Sen. Sonny Angara earlier Tuesday released a statement urging Lorenzana to reconsider the termination of the accord. But four other senators who graduated from UP, namely Aquilino Pimentel III, Pia Cayetano, Cynthia Villar, Juan Miguel Zubiri, did not sign the resolution and released no statement on the matter.
DND’s termination of accord with UP designed to ‘sow fear, silence criticism,’ says Robredo | INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday slammed the Department of National Defense’s (DND) move to unilaterally terminate the 1989 agreement with the University of the Philippines (UP) which she said was meant to “sow fear” and “silence criticism.” Robredo questioned why the DND had to scrap the agreement requiring them to notify school officials for the entry of police and military in UP campuses when previous presidents of the country had no problem implementing it. “This is neither a difficult nor onerous rule, and five Presidents since 1989 have managed to protect both the UP community and the Republic without breaking it,” Robredo said in a statement. “Clearly, then, this is not a practical gesture, but a symbolic one. One designed to sow fear. One designed to discourage dissent. One designed to silence criticism.” “It is now up to us to decide whether we will give in. Or whether, at long last, we will stand our ground and speak out. In this, my faith remains firm, we will find our courage and do what needs to be done,” she went on. In a letter to UP President Danilo Concepcion, DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the agreement had been a hindrance to counterinsurgency operations, especially with the supposed recruitment of cadres in the university. But for Robredo, the accord was “not to exempt UP or its community from any law, but to send the clear message that in a democracy, even a fledgling one, law enforcement was conducted following clear rules, within defined limits.” “That in a democracy, there was no place for relentless war waged across all borders, without oversight or accountability, against any person those in power had decided to brand ‘an enemy,’” she added.
Fisherfolk to military: Patrol West Philippine Sea, not UP campus | Manila Bulletin – A militant fisherfolk group on Tuesday said Defense chief Delfin Lorenzana should deploy troops in the disputed West Philippine Sea and not in the University of the Philippines. The Department of National Defense (DND), headed by Lorenzana, unilaterally terminated a 1989 agreement with UP, which keeps State forces from entering the university premises, effective January 15. Its move was publicized on Monday night, after UP posted on social media a copy of Lorenzana’s letter to UP President Danilo Concepcion. “Mr. Lorenzana should instead deploy his troops in the contested and militarized West Philippine Sea, wherein armed Chinese militias have been harassing and threatening the livelihood of Filipino fisherfolk, and moreover, our national sovereignty,” Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap said in a statement. He asserted that the police and military should be patrolling in the country’s “Chinese-occupied marine territory, not inside campuses that threaten the academic freedom and students’ movements.
