News Roundup 06 September 2021
Sep 06, 2021 • 5 min Read
DOH logs new record-high 22,415 COVID-19 cases | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines on Monday listed 22,415 coronavirus cases, its new highest daily rise since the pandemic hit. September 6 marks the fourth straight day of authorities reporting more than 20,000 additional infections. It pushed the country’s total to 2,103,331. Today’s figures also saw active cases up by 2,195 from the 157,438 on September 5. The Department of Health said eight laboratories did not submit test results.
- Active cases: 159,633 or 7.6% of the total
- Recoveries: 20,109, bringing the number to 1,909,361
- Deaths: 103, or now 34,337 in total
Robredo: Duterte more focused on politics than COVID-19 response | PHILSTAR.COM – Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday said that President Rodrigo Duterte was more focused on politics than managing the government’s pandemic response. Speaking in an interview aired over ABS-CBN News Channel, the vice president pointed to the president’s past few public addresses as an example of what she said were his misguided priorities. “The last two press conferences were really frustrating for us because we are in the middle of a surge where we need all hands on deck and the urgency is most important. But for the better part of the press conference we saw him criticizing senators and the [Commission on Audit.] What comes out of his mouth gives us a sense of what his priorities are,” she said in Filipino. “We should be talking about how the problem is very serious and we should do something about it.” She also questioned whether or not the chief executive was actually informed on the coronavirus situation. His taped public addresses come directly after his meetings with the coronavirus task force. “When I read the transcripts [of the public addresses] I get the sense that he doesn’t know all the details. So the way I see it, there’s a lack of focus on the details, it’s not a lack of effort on the agencies. But the interweaving of everyone’s efforts is lacking… I don’t know what’s happening at the top, but you can feel that it’s lacking,” she said. In her weekly radio show on Sunday, Robredo went as far as saying that she was willing to lead the government’s coronavirus response if she was only given blanket authority. The vice president also pointed out the many unanswered questions remaining over the Department of Health’s purchases of overpriced personal protective equipment.
Robredo hits ‘disconnect’ between COVID-19 fight, 2022 budget priorities | INQUIRER.NET – A visibly frustrated Vice President Leni Robredo pointed on Sunday to “a lot of disconnect” between the urgent need to control the surge in COVID-19 cases and the government’s 2022 budget priorities, noting the lack of funds for health workers’ benefits and the reduced allocation for the country’s main testing center. In her weekly radio show on dzXL, Robredo said she had long wanted to volunteer to be the “conductor” for the country’s pandemic response efforts but knew it would be a futile effort, given her not-so-friendly relationship with the Palace. “We have been doing this for a long time [and] it seems there’s no conductor here,” she said. “If I can only volunteer, I would, but it’s hard. If they won’t give me blanket authority anyway, there’s no point.” Last week, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told lawmakers that the Department of Budget and Management had slashed P73.9 billion from his department’s proposed 2022 budget even as the country’s healthcare system was buckling under the strain of a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant. The amount would have covered at least P50.4 billion in health workers’ special risk allowances and hazard pay, plus other benefits and the hiring of additional personnel. Also affected was the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, the country’s main COVID-19 testing center, which had its proposed budget next year cut by P170 million. “Why would you do this? That’s our most important function right now and yet you will slash their budget?” Robredo asked. “I don’t understand. There seems to be a lot of disconnect from above.”
Collect debts of delinquent POGOs ASAP, Hontiveros prods Pagcor | Manila Bulletin – Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday, September 6, called on the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to immediately collect from Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) the P1.36 billion they owe the government. Hontiveros issued the appeal after Commission on Audit (COA) found that 15 POGOs owed Pagcor the amount. Pagcor’s legal department said that of the 15 delinquent POGOs, three were still operating as of January 12, 2021; eight had their licenses canceled, three were under review, and one was suspended. “Bakit hinayaang umabot sa ganitong kalaki ang utang ng POGO (Why has the Pagcor allowed the POGOs’ debt to balloon to such amount)? Pagcor needs to throw its weight and go after them,” Hontivero said in a statement. “Kapag nagbayad na, dapat huwag na bigyan pa ng lisensya. Kung ang mga Pilipino nga na hindi makapagbayad ng upa, sinisingil kaagad. Samantalang ang POGOs, sobra-sobrang palugit ang ibinibigay (And once they have paid, they shouldn’t be given licenses. Filipinos are rushed to pay they rent while POGOs are given respite),” she added. Hontiveros recalled that when POGOs entered the country, “we were promised investment and economic activity, but what we got was a myriad of crimes.” The senator has been calling for an end to the operations of POGOs in the country. She led the Senate investigation on the rise of POGO-related prostitution and abduction. She also rejected the preferential tax treatment given to POGOs under the tax bill approved in the Senate last June, citing the “opacity and murkiness of the industry.”
