News Roundup 17 February 2021
Feb 17, 2021 • 4 min Read
COVID-19 cases in Philippines top 550,000 with 1,184 new cases | PHILSTAR.COM – The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country has reached 553,424 with the Department of Health reporting Wednesday that 1,184 more people contracted the disease. Of the total, the DOH said that 29,814 or 5.4% are still active, or patients who are still being managed in isolation facilities or hospitals. The DOH also reported 53 new fatalities due to the respiratory disease, bringing the death toll to 11,577 or 2.09% of all cases. It also said that 271 more people recovered from the disease, pushing the total number of survivors to 512,033, representing 92.5% of all cases.
De Lima acquitted in 1 of 3 drug cases | PHILSTAR.COM – Sen. Leila de Lima has been acquitted in one of the three drug cases she is facing, but the trial with two others will continue as the Muntinlupa court granted only one of her bids challenging the sufficiency of evidence against her. De Lime is facing two conspiracies to commit illegal drug trading cases before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205. In both cases, De Lima had filed a demurrer to evidence, but the court had granted only one motion, in the case where he is facing charges with Jad Dera, previously said to be her nephew but claimed to be a police asset. “The Demurrer to Evidence filed by Accused Leila De Lima is hereby granted. The petition for bail is rendered moot and academic as the grant is tantamount to her acquittal,” the ruling read, as posted by News5. A demurrer to evidence is a challenge to the prosecution’s evidence that, when granted, will lead to case dismissal without the accused having to present their defense. The same court, however, junked De Lima’s demurrer to evidence on the case where her former aide Ronnie Dayan stands as co-accused was denied. The court had also denied her and Dayan’s Petition for Bail. “Let the initial reception of defense evidence set on March 5, 2021 at 9:00 in the morning proceed as scheduled,” Presiding Judge Liezel Aquiatan said. This means that De Lima essentially has been acquitted in one of the three drug cases filed against her, but she still faces two drug cases.
SC throws out Marcos electoral protest vs Robredo | INQUIRER.NET – The Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously upheld the 2016 election victory of Vice President Leni Robredo, tossing out allegations by former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that she won through poll fraud. All the magistrates, convened as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), agreed to jettison the former senator’s electoral protest and, after nearly five years, legally sealed the electoral defeat of the son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos. “Out of the 15 members of the tribunal who were present in today’s meeting, I was informed that seven members fully concurred in the dismissal [of the poll protest] while eight concurred with the result,” Brian Keith Hosaka, the high court’s spokesperson, said in an online press briefing. “With regard to (the case) … the 15 members of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal unanimously dismissed the entire electoral protest,” the high court’s Public Information Office said in a brief statement. Quoting from the ruling, it added that the PET dismissed the election protest “for lack of merit” and “likewise dismissed” Robredo’s counterprotest.
‘Why give PhilHealth P500-M when it has P116-B reserve?’ Recto asks amid talks on vaccine indemnity | Manila Bulletin – Senator Ralph Recto questioned on Wednesday the need to grant a P500-million indemnity fund to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), saying the state insurer has enough money in its coffers to compensate those who will suffer from the possible side effects of COVID-19 vaccines. During the chamber’s plenary debates on the proposed “COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act”, the Senate President Pro Tempore raised that the PhilHealth has a P116-billion reserve fund that could be used for indemnification in case of adverse effects following the immunization from the novel coronavirus. Aside from this, the PhilHealth also had a P5.3-billion net income, he said, citing the corporation’s financial statement as of September 30, 2020. “So why is there a need to provide them an additional subsidy of P500 million?” Recto asked Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, who was sponsoring the bill. “I think there is no need to provide them with P500 million when they have a P116-billion reserve,” he said later.
Photo: Miag-ao Church, Miag-ao, Iloilo Philippines
Photo Source: By Nickrds09 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16330866
