News Roundup 11 May 2021
May 11, 2021 • 4 min Read
DOH sees 4,734 more COVID-19 infections | PHILSTAR.COM – Health authorities on Tuesday said 4,734 more Filipinos contracted the COVID-19, raising the total count to 1,113,547. Active cases saw a decrease of 3,145 from yesterday’s 59,897, as more recoveries are seen under a daily “time-based” reporting. The last time this count was below 60,000 was in March 16. The Department of Health said too that 12 laboratories did not submit testing results.
Active cases: 56,752 or 5.1% of the total
Recoveries: 7,837, bringing the number to 1,038,175
Deaths: 59, or now 18,620 in total
Green group says Nayong Pilipino urban forest a ‘critical safe space’ in Metro Manila | PHILSTAR.COM – An environmental activist group called for the protection of the Nayong Pilipino Foundation’s urban forest park, which it said is an important green space in the concrete jungle that is Metro Manila. In a statement Tuesday, Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment said the thriving urban forest on the NPF property in Parañaque City is a “critical safe space” that will benefit 1.2 million residents of the city and neighboring Pasay. A massive vaccination center is proposed to be built on the park’s property located within a gaming and entertainment complex. Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said the temporary inoculation facility will “help accelerate” the country’s slow COVID-19 vaccine rollout. “Experts concluded last year that we need more green open spaces now more than ever to provide the public with socially distanced breathing and recreation space, pollution and disease control, and long-term climate resilience,” said Leon Dulce, national coordinator of Kalikasan PNE. The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a huge demand for more publicly-accessible open spaces especially in cities such as the densely populated Metro Manila. In a statement on May 6, the NPF said the urban forest hosts a variety of wildlife as it serves as a bird flyway network. It is also the “last remaining grassland” in the reclaimed area of Parañaque. The government-owned and controlled corporation said 500 trees are expected to be cut to give way to the mega vaccination center.
OVP’s Swab Cab arrives in Marikina City | INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday led the rollout of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) Swab Cab, a mobile COVID-19 testing center, in Marikina City. These swab cabs are currently stationed at the Concepcion Integrated School in Marikina City where an ambulance is also on standby. “Kung nakikita n’yo po tatlong swab cab ang nandito, tapos sa dulo po may ambulansya.” Vice President Leni Robredo said in a live video on Facebook. (There are three swab cabs here, then an ambulance at the end.) “Kasi ‘yung protocol po natin, pag may nag-positive, diretso na sa quarantine. Ihahatid ng ambulansya,” she added. (Because our protocol dictates that once someone tests positive, they are immediately taken to an isolation center by the ambulance.) Once someone tests positive, contract tracing will also immediately begin, according to Robredo. A stationary testing site was also placed in one of the school’s classrooms. “Just in case mag-overflow and para hindi magsiksikan (so it won’t get crowded),” Robredo said. The Vice President said she first met with Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro and Rep. Stella Quimbo to discuss their collaboration on her office’s community testing project. She added that they signed a memorandum of agreement for their partnership in the Swab Cab initiative. Robredo explained that it is the city government that did the groundwork by finding volunteers who will administer the swab tests, and those at-risk people to be tested, and providing an isolation facility for those who will test positive.
Del Rosario declines Roque’s debate invitation, questions his credibility as President’s spokesman | Manila Bulletin – Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario on Tuesday declined the invitation of Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque for him and Vice President Leni Robredo to join in the debate on the West Philippine Sea. In a statement, Del Rosario said such a debate, which Roque is “endeavoring to promote”, is not the best way to spend the time of Filipinos since “it will only manifest to the world that we are not united and we do not know what we are doing”. The former DFA secretary, who was one of the architects of the Arbitration case filed by the Philippines against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, even questioned Roque’s credibility as a spokesperson for President Duterte. “We are made to understand, however, that Secretary Roque’s own department is undergoing serious credibility challenges. The question arises – Is the problem with the marketer, or is it the product, or both?” he said.
