News Roundup 24 March 2021
Mar 24, 2021 • 4 min Read
Philippines logs 6,666 new COVID-19 cases | PHILSTAR.COM – Health officials on Wednesday reported 6,666 new coronavirus cases, pushing the country’s total count to 684,311. The number of active cases continued to be on a record-high since the pandemic began with additional 5,554 from yesterday’s 86,200.
– Active cases: 91,754 or 13.4% of the total
– Recoveries: 1,072, bringing the overall count to 579,518.
– Deaths: 47, or the total now reaching 13,039
Manila bishop asserts right to worship, questions ‘mass gathering’ definition | PHILSTAR.COM – With Holy Week drawing closer amid the spike in coronavirus cases, a Manila bishop asserted the Church’s right to worship amid the stricter general community quarantine imposed over the “NCR+ bubble.” In a pastoral letter Wednesday, Bishop Broderick Pabillo, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Manila, scorned the government’s coronavirus task force for what he said was its unnecessary hampering of religious activities along with its failure to consult with religious groups affected by its new restrictions. As it currently stands, only a maximum of 10 people can participate in weddings, baptisms, funeral services, and other religious events, according to the latest IATF resolution signed by President Rodrigo Duterte. “This is a pastoral instruction, that is, it is meant to help the pastors and their flocks how to worship the Lord in this important season of the year in the face of the pandemic. The pastoral instruction also asserts our right to worship but setting a limit to the physical attendance of those who feel the need to do [so],” the letter read. “We come to this limit of 10% of our church capacity because we feel that this number does not constitute a ‘mass gathering’. We have the experience of one year of having our health protocols in place in our churches, and as is experienced by those who come to church, these are well-observed.”
We cannot accept anyone within Duterte ‘political dynasty’, says Carpio | INQUIRER.NET – Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio of the unity coalition 1Sambayan reiterated his group’s position that they cannot accept anyone within the “political dynasty” of President Rodrigo Duterte to run under their banner in the 2022 national elections. Carpio cited the clear and unequivocal stance of the coalition against extra-judicial killings, violation of human rights, and political dynasties. “We have made our position clear. We are against extra-judicial killings, we are against the violation of human rights. We are against political dynasties and all of these can be attributed to the president,” Carpio said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel. “We cannot associate ourselves with this kind of program, even how laudable it is from their point of view, they admit it has failed. And of course, President Duterte is the head of this political dynasty and so we cannot accept anyone within that political dynasty to again run this county in the next term,” he added.
Senate joins SC in condemning brazen attacks vs lawyers, judges | Manila Bulletin – The Senate on Wednesday, March 24 adopted the resolution condemning the widespread killings and acts of violence against lawyers, judges and other members of the legal profession. Senate Resolution No. 691, which was filed by Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senators Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, Pia Cayetano, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Francis “Tol” Tolentino also called on President Duterte to take the necessary steps to ensure their safety and protection. “We condemn, in the strongest sense, the killings of and acts of violence against members of the bar and bench. To not act nor speak will be an act of cowardice,” Drilon said in his sponsorship speech of the resolution. “We further urge the President to undertake the necessary steps in ensuring the safety and protection of the judges, prosecutors and lawyers. We ask that he lays out definitive solutions and actions to address the rampant and unspeakable violence and killings,” he further said. Other senators were made co-author of the resolution introduced by the eight senator-lawyers. According to Drilon, 100 lawyers have been murdered in the last 20 years. He also cited data from the Department of Justice (DOJ) which also showed that 54 members of the legal profession had been killed since 2016. Of that number, the minority leader said 13 were prosecutors and eight were judges. The DOJ data showed that only five of the cases had actually reached the courts.
