News Roundup 18 February 2021
Feb 18, 2021 • 5 min Read
Philippines logs 1,744 new COVID-19 cases as tally rises past 555,000 | PHILSTAR.COM – The Department of Health reported that 1,744 more people contracted COVID-19 in the Philippines, pushing the caseload to 555,163 on Thursday. Of the total cases, 31,115 or 5.6% are active, latest figures showed. At least 512,375 individuals have recovered from COVID-19 in the country after the department recorded 412 additional recoveries. Meanwhile, the death toll reached 11,673 with 96 more patients succumbing to the respiratory illness.
With 15-M eligible voters still unregistered, Comelec urged to extend registration period | PHILSTAR.COM – Sen. Francis Pangilinan on Thursday urged the Commission on Elections to extend its registration period to accommodate 15 million eligible voters who are still unregistered. During a hearing held by the Senate committee on electoral reforms, Pangilinan asked the poll body to consider an extension of 30 to 45 days. If Comelec chooses not to extend it, registration will end on September 30. “This is a big deal because let us remember that in the May 2016 elections… 16 million voters voted for President Duterte,” he said in Filipino. “The presidency, the composition of the Senate, the composition of the House can very well depend if we are able to register or not more of those not registered.” Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority shows that 73 million voters are qualified to participate in the 2022 elections. Comelec told senators that only 58 million have registered thus far, leaving 15 million unaccounted for. Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo said the poll body was not “closing its doors” on a possible extension but warned that pushing back the deadline for registration would result in a “tight schedule.” Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon early in February took to Twitter to plead with the country’s three million 18-year-olds to register before September 30. She noted the overall low rate of registrants, citing Metro Manila where only 260,000 of the targeted 462,499 had registered. “Regional election directors of the Comelec, wake up. We need to register three million 18-year-olds before September 30,” she said. Pangilinan similarly urged the poll body to improve its voter registration efforts.
Group exhorts Filipinos: Stay vigilant vs ‘attempts’ of Marcoses to return to Malacañang | INQUIRER.NET – Remain vigilant of alleged attempts of the Marcoses to return to the nation’s ultimate seat of power – Malacañang. This was the stern warning of a group crusading against the return of the Marcoses and martial law, despite the recent setback that Bongbong Marcos received when the Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), tossed out his poll protest against Vice President Leni Robredo. The Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) said that although the SC decision is a welcome development, the public should not be complacent, hinting that there are alleged persistent attempts by the Marcoses to return to the “highest seat of power.” “CARMMA welcomes the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss Bongbong Marcos’ electoral protest […] However, even if this particular path towards Malacañang has been closed, the people should remain vigilant against continued attempts of the Marcoses to return to power,” CARMMA said in a statement. “CARMMA reminds the people that the objective of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ family remains – to entrench themselves once more in the highest seat of power and regain the powers that were taken from them by the people,” it added. CARMMA, a group composed of activists and victims of dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ martial law, also implied that the government tried to interfere with the poll protest lodged by Marcos’ son and namesake against Robredo. “It (SC decision) is doubly welcomed because the Duterte administration through Solicitor General Calida had several times attempted to influence the decision in favor of Marcos,” the group also said. “This is a long-delayed but satisfying outcome of the electoral protest filed by the Marcos camp questioning the results of the May 2016 elections.”
Open roads to more public vehicles, Binay asks gov’t | Manila Bulletin – Senator Nancy Binay on Thursday appealed to the government to allow more public transport vehicles on road to accommodate more workers and help in further reopening the economy. “Ang call nga ngayon is to open up the transport sector because at the moment, ang mga jeepney drivers natin majority of them hindi pa nakakapasok. So, how do we expect the labor force to go to work if wala silang transportation (My calls is to open up the transport sector because at the moment, our jeepney drivers, majority of them, are still not able to get back on the roads. So how do we expect the labor force to go to work if they have no means of transportation)?” Binay said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on February 18. “Kasi ang naririnig ko ang suggestion lang nila is to allow bigger capacity for our transport, for different types of transportation. Ang call ko, is to allow more public transportation sa ating mga kalsada ngayon kasi nga iyong mga jeepney drivers natin, hanggang ngayon majority of them hindi kumikita (Because what I have been hearing is they are only suggesting bigger capacity for our transport, for different types of transportation. My call is to allow more public transportation on our roads because majority of our jeepney drivers are still without earnings),” she added.
Featured Photo: Mt Samat National Shrine of Valor (Dambana ng Kagitingan), Pilar, Bataan, Philippines
Photo Source: By IJVelas – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28613751
