News Roundup 28 May 2021
May 28, 2021 • 3 min Read
COVID-19 deaths in the Philippines top 20,500 | PHILSTAR.COM – Health authorities on Friday recorded 8,748 additional coronavirus infections, bringing the national caseload to 1,209,154.
- Active cases: 53,770 or 4.4% of the total
- Recoveries: 3,017, pushing total to 1,134,818
- Deaths: 187, bringing total to 20,566
Witness in teen’s shooting surfaces | PHILSTAR.COM – A witness has surfaced belying the police narrative that teenager with autism Edwin Arnigo scuffled for the service firearm of Senior M/Sgt. Christopher Salcedo during a raid in Valenzuela City. The witness was one of those rounded up by police during a raid on a tupada or illegal cockfight in Barangay Lingunan, Mayor Rex Gatchalian said yesterday. “The witness was in close proximity, literally less than an arm’s length away from the victim when it happened,” Gatchalian said on Twitter. The witness told National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) probers that there was no scuffle over the gun between Arnigo and Salcedo, according to Gatchalian. “Walang agawan ng baril,” Gatchalian said, referring to the usual police narrative in justifying suspects killed in police custody. The witness also testified seeing the reaction of Salcedo when the gun was fired. The witness believes that the shooting was “accidental,” Gatchalian said. “He is adamant in saying that though the account he saw is different from the statement of the policemen involved, he knows it was accidental because he saw the reaction of the police officer after the shooting,” he said. Gatchalian vowed a speedy resolution of the case and justice for Arnigo’s family.
Woman who hit Manila traffic enforcer an alleged drug courier — MPD | INQUIRER.NET – The female model who was arrested after hitting a Manila traffic enforcer is supposedly a drug courier, the Manila Police District (MPD) said on Friday. Reports shared by the Manila Public Information Office (MPIO) said that the MPD’s Special Mayor’s Reaction Team (SMaRT) showed that the woman, who was initially arrested for driving without a license and direct assault, is a part of a team whose members were also previously arrested on a separate occasion. MPD-SMaRT said that the other suspects were arrested in front of the University of Manila. “Napag-alamang drug courier ang babaeng traffic violator na nagmaneho nang walang lisensya at nanakit ng enforcer sa Malate, ayon sa ulat ng MPD SMaRT,” MPIO said in a Facebook post. (It was revealed that the female traffic violator who drove without a license and who punched a traffic enforcer in Malate is a drug courier, according to reports from the MPD-SMaRT.) “Arestado rin ang mga kasabwat nito sa isang operasyon na naganap sa tapat ng Universidad de Manila,” MPIO added. (Her cohorts were also arrested in a separate operation which happened in front of the Universidad de Manila.)
Sudden suspension of Saudi deployment leaves over 200 OFWs stranded at NAIA | Manila Bulletin – More than two hundred overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are left stranded at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 Friday, May 28 after the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) suddenly suspended the deployment of workers to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). “In the interest of the service,, you are hereby instructed to effect the temporary suspension of deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia effective immediately and until further notice,” read a DOLE memorandum addressed to Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Bernard Olalia. The memo was posted on the DOLE reporters’ viber group Friday morning and had Secretary Silvestre Bello III’s signature. “The Department received reports that departing OFWs are being required by their employers /foreign recruitment agencies to shoulder the costs of the health and safety protocol of COVID-19 and insurance coverage premium upon their entry in the Kingdom,” added the memo dated May 27, 2021. On Friday morning, over 200 OFWs bound for Riyadh and Dammam via separate Philippine Airlines (PAL) flights lined up at airline counters in NAIA desperately waiting for clearance from DOLE.
