News Roundup 22 September 2021
Sep 22, 2021 • 4 min Read
Philippines’ COVID-19 count up by 15,592 more cases | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines on Wednesday recorded 15,592 more coronavirus cases to bring its total count to 2,417,419. Figures today brought the active cases down by 8,562 from the 171,142 on September 21. The Department of Health said four laboratories did not turn in screening results.
- Active cases: 162,580 or 6.7% of the total
- Recoveries: 24,059, bringing the number to 2,217,611
- Deaths: 154, or now 37,228 in total
Senate bill extending voter registration until October 31 approved on 2nd reading | PHILSTAR.COM – The Senate on Wednesday approved on second reading a bill seeking to extend the voter registration period by a month, moving the looming September 30 deadline to October 31, 2021. Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri filed Senate Bill No. 2408 on Monday after the body agreed that the Commission on Elections needed to be compelled to move the deadline after its continued rejection of the proposal. Senators note in the measure that almost six months of the registration period was lost when the pandemic began and the country was under stringent lockdown. More days were lost too when areas were reverted back to enhanced community quarantine or modified ECQ. “Given the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic, it is necessary to extend the voter registration, in order to give unregistered Filipinos of voting age ample time to register, and eventualiy exercise their constitutional right to vote,” they said. The lawmakers also cited the Filipino people whom they said “have been clamoring for the extension” and cautioned against the “disenfranchisement of [a] large number of qualified voters.”
Gordon: Senate uncovered ‘mother of all corruption’ under Duterte admin | INQUIRER.NET – The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee uncovered the “mother of all corruption” in the Duterte’s administration’s pandemic supply deals with a foreign-led company, Senator Richard Gordon said Wednesday. As long as more anomalies are discovered, Gordon said his committee will not stop investigating the government’s transactions with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. Pharmally bagged over P8.6 billion worth of contracts from the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) in 2020. “Hanggang may hinahanap kami, tutuloy namin. ‘Di na kami titigil diyan sa dami,” Gordon said in an interview on Teleradyo. (Until we still have more things to uncover, we will continue. We will not stop because of the many anomalies that keep popping up.) “Ang laki-laki nito, biruin mo break the record ito sa corruption, this is the mother of all corruption, sa Duterte administration pa nangyari. Inaasahan ng tao isasalba ang tao sa kahirapan,” he added. (This is massive, this is record-breaking, this is the mother of all corruption and this happened under the Duterte administration when people are expecting that they will be rescued from poverty.) The Senate, particularly Gordon, has been at the receiving end of backlash from the President as the chamber continues to look into the controversial purchases made by the government last year. “Ang ayaw mo, masabihan na may mga corrupt kang tao. Ayaw mong marinig yon. Sapagkat akala mo perfect ka, attorney.)he added, referring to the President, who is a lawyer. You don’t want to be told you have corrupt people. You don’t want to hear that. Because you think you’re perfect, attorney.) Gordon said the Philippines seems to have reverted to being the “sick man of Asia again” as corruption has supposedly thrived under the Duterte administration.
Hontiveros to PS-DBM: Stop all transactions and contracts with Pharmally | Manila Bulletin – Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday, Sept. 22 demanded the suspension by the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) of all active transactions and contracts with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation. Because of the many lies Pharmally has allegedly given to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, Hontiveros said it is not right for government to continue giving Pharmally contracts that are paid for by Filipino taxpayers. Latest figures computed by senators show that Pharmally was given more than P10 billion in ‘’overpriced’’ contracts for the delivery of emergency medical supplies related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hontiveros recalled that she had asked PS-DBM to stop proposals from Pharmally after she discovered that Pharmally officials have pending warrants of arrest issued in Taiwan. In yesterday’s seventh hybrid public hearing by the Senate committee chaired by Senator Richard J. Gordon, it was learned that Pharmally still has transactions with PS-DBM. This surfaced after Hontiveros asked Mohit Dargani, Pharmally president, on Pharmally’s transactions.
