News Roundup 18 June 2021
Jun 18, 2021 • 4 min Read
Active COVID-19 cases hit 61,776 after Philippines logs 6,833 new infections | PHILSTAR.COM – Local health authorities on Friday reported 6,833 more COVID-19 infections, bringing the national caseload to 1,346,276.
- Active cases: 61,776 or 4.6% of the total
- Recoveries: 3,441, pushing total to 1,261,115
- Deaths: 110, bringing total to 23,385
Fact check: No, the US did not designate former ICC prosecutor Bensouda a terrorist | PHILSTAR.COM – Sen. Francis Tolentino on Thursday claimed that former International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda was designated a terrorist by the US. Tolentino, an administration senator, said this as he raised concerns over Bensouda’s “official credibility” to seek an investigation into alleged extrajudicial killings in the government’s “war on drugs”. “We should note that previously Madame Bensouda was included in the SDN (specifically designated national) list of the US government under President Trump,” Tolentino said in a statement on the Senate website. “Besouda [sic] as a US-designated ‘terrorist’ was considered as a threat to US national security and foreign and economic policies.” While it is true that the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Bensouda and the ICC’s head of jurisdiction Phakiso Mochochoko, including them in the Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Nationals, the court officials were never designated by the US government as terrorists. It was a move that Bensouda is quoted by the Associated Press as calling “a dangerous precedent for a rule-based international system.” The sanctions were reversed by the Biden administration in April.
Luzon brownouts loom anew; energy execs grilled | INQUIRER.NET – More brownouts are expected to hit Luzon until early August as big power plants remain closed and demand for electricity picks up with the gradual reopening of the economy. Mario Marasigan, director of the Department of Energy (DOE) Electric Power Industry Management Bureau, told a Senate energy committee hearing on Thursday that based on their latest Luzon power outlook, capacity reserves or available supply would be critically thin in the fourth week of June, third week of July and first week of August, thus red alerts for the Luzon grid were expected during these periods. He said that this scenario assumed the continued shutdown of the 345-megawatt Unit 1 generator of the GNPower Mariveles coal-fired power plant in Bataan and the 300-MW Unit 2 of the Sem-Calaca coal-fed complex in Batangas. The Calaca facility has been on forced shutdown since December 2020 due to a technical problem while the Mariveles plant conked out last February due to a boiler leak. Both power plants contributed at least 475 MW to Luzon’s supply, without which peak demand might exceed available capacity in Luzon. When this happens, the privately owned transmission network operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) would have to resort to rotating brownouts. Marasigan added that 600 MW or half of the generating capacity of the natural gas-fired Ilijan complex in Batangas and the 382-MW Unit 2 of the Pagbilao coal-fired power complex in Quezon province would be out of service. The 600-MW Unit 1 of GNPower’s Dinginin coal-fired power complex also in Bataan would also be unavailable, he added. Officials led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said during the hearing that a supply shortage might be avoided if Dinginin would deliver to the grid, but the generator was still in its commissioning stage, which is a trial run prior to commercial operations. This prompted senators to urge all stakeholders in the country’s energy sector, led by the DOE and private power companies, to activate emergency measures to avert the impending power outages. They also expressed dismay at how the DOE, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), National Transmission Corp., and NGCP pointed fingers on whose responsibility the country’s dismal power situation rested.
CHR to pursue justice on deaths of 2 minors | Manila Bulletin – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) declared it will be “in pursuit of justice” together with the families of two minors killed in separate incidents. Last June 15, a 12-year-old girl who was a member of the Lumad indigenous people (IP) in Zamboanga del Sur was killed reportedly by the military. Last June 17, a 16-year-old boy was killed during a police operation against illegal drugs in Binan, Laguna. Killed in Zamboanga del Sur, together with two farmers, was minor Angel Rivas. The Philippine National Police (PNP) report in Laguna stated that Johndy Maglinte, 16, and his companion, Antonio Dalit, were another case of “nanlaban” (someone who fought back) while they were serving a warrant for a drug charge against Dalit. The PNP said an exchange of gunfire with the police eventually led to their deaths. However, Maglinte’s live-in partner, who is also a minor, had a different recollection. She said during several media interviews that the policemen killed Dalit first, and since Maglinte witnessed the killing, the police handcuffed him, dragged him into a muddy area, and shot him face down.
