News Roundup 10 February 2021
Feb 10, 2021 • 3 min Read
COVID-19 infections in Philippines hit 541,560 with 1,345 new cases | PHILSTAR.COM – The country’s coronavirus disease caseload reached 541,560 Wednesday after the Department of Health recorded 1,345 new infections. Active cases or those undergoing treatment or quarantine accounted for 30,188 or 5.6% of the total. Recoveries increased to 499,971 after 276 more people recuperated from the disease. Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 11,401 with 114 additional fatalities—the highest logged in a day since January 15.
Filipinos most disapproved of gov’t pandemic response in Southeast Asia — survey | PHILSTAR.COM – Filipinos had the lowest approval rating for their government’s response to the pandemic among Southeast Asian countries, a new survey made public on Wednesday has found. Findings by the Singapore-based ASEAN Studies Centre showed that a majority or 53.7% of its Filipino respondents had thumbed down on the Duterte administration’s handling of the health crisis at home, which has led to more than 541,000 infections and 11,401 deaths to date. Of the said figure, 17.9% said they were “strongly disapprove” of, 20.9% were neutral, while only 25.4% were okay with government’s response. Broken down, that’s 19.4% approved and 6.0% strongly approved. The Philippines has remained as the region’s second-worst hit by the pandemic. Its neighbor Indonesia which has the highest number of cases at 1.17 million and nearly 32,000 deaths, yielded a 50.4% disapproval against 24.1% approved and 25.6% neutral. In contrast, Vietnam had the highest approval rating among its citizens at 96.6%, followed by Brunei at 93.9% and Singapore at 92.4%. The study had 1,032 respondents from ten ASEAN member states with 6.5% coming from the Philippines and was held from Nov. 18, 2020 to Jan. 10, 2021. Its margin of error was not stated. Most of those who took part in it were from the academe, think tanks or research institutions at 45.4%, those from government at 30.7%, civil society, non-government organizations or media at 9.3%, business or finance at 9.2% and regional or international organizations at 5.3%. Those between 21 to 35 years old made up most of the participants at 34.9%, individuals between 36 to 45 at 30.6%, those 46 to 60 at 23%, those above 60 at 9.3% and those under 21 at a measly 2.2%.
Witness: De Lima has no link to drug trading in Bilibid | INQUIRER.NET – Another prosecution witness has claimed no personal knowledge of the alleged involvement of detained opposition Sen. Leila de Lima in drug trading inside New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa. De Lima attended on Tuesday the continuation of the hearing at Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 256, which is trying one of the three conspiracy to commit drug trading cases against her. Feb. 24 will mark the fourth year of De Lima’s detention due to what she said were “trumped-up” charges brought against her for being one of the staunchest critics of President Duterte. During the cross-examination, Bilibid-convict-turned prosecution-witness Noel Martinez said he had no involvement and personal knowledge on the drug transactions mentioned in the charge. “He also clarified that he had never made any transaction with the accused—from Sen. de Lima; her former aides Ronnie Dayan and Joenel Sanchez; former Bureau of Corrections chief Jesus Bucayu and his staff Wilfredo Elli; and police asset Jad Dera—they had no personal transaction, especially with drugs,” said Rolly Peoro, De Lima’s lawyer.
German envoy meets Robredo to tackle COVID-19 response | Manila Bulletin – The ambassador of Germany to the Philippines paid a courtesy visit to Vice President Leni Robredo on Wednesday, February 10, at the Quezon City Reception House. Robredo met German Ambassador Anke Reiffenstuel at the QCRH, where she holds office. A statement from the Office of the Vice President said the two leaders had discussions concerning the OVP’s coronavirus response efforts, including its relief operations for the victims of typhoons Rolly and Ulysses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Robredo led the way for procurement, production, and distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE), medical supplies, and relief packs to health workers and frontliners. Reiffenstuel‘s visit to the OVP was not open for media coverage, but it shared photos of them. No other details were given by Robredo’s office about their meeting.
