News Roundup 05 October 2021
Oct 05, 2021 • 3 min Read
DOH logs 9,055 more COVID-19 cases | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines on Tuesday saw 9,055 more coronavirus cases to bring its total count to 2,613,070. Today’s numbers saw active cases down by 3,083 from the 106,160 on October 4. The Department of Health said seven laboratories did not submit screening results. No deaths were also reported today due to “technical issues” in the agency’s COVIDKaya system. According to a tally by the John Hopkins University & Medicine, the Philippines is 7th in the world with the most number of coronavirus infections.
- Active cases: 103,077 or 3.9% of the total
- Recoveries: 12,134 bringing the number to 2,471,165
- Deaths: Not available, or still at 38,828 overall
Presidential bid a ‘show of disregard and contempt’ for Martial Law victims, groups say | PHILSTAR.COM – Martial law victims and human rights advocates on Tuesday called plans by the son and namesake of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to run for president in 2022 an affront to the victims of the dictatorship, a period that some of the family’s supporters portray as the Philippines’ “golden years”. The Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) said former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s announcement that he will run for president next year is a “brazen show of disregard and contempt for the thousands of Filipinos killed, disappeared, tortured, displaced and violated, and the Filipino nation whose economy was plundered and wrecked during the Marcos dictatorship.” “[Bongbong] is spitting on the graves of the dead and on the faces of the victims of the Marcos dictatorship,” it said.
Robredo set to make announcement about political plans on Thursday, Oct. 7 | INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo is set to make an announcement about her political plans on Thursday, October 7, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) confirmed. According to a statement from the OVP, Robredo would make her address at around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday. Robredo’s announcement is expected to end the months-long speculation about whether she would run for president, pursue a local post, or retire from politics. Recently, the Vice President said that she would wait until the last day of the filing of certificates of candidacy as she would try to forge a united opposition slate.
Lower House violated own rules in recall of passage of UP-DND accord – authors | Manila Bulletin – The decision of the House of Representatives to recall the third reading approval of a bill that seeks to institutionalize the 1989 agreement between the University of the Philippines and the Department of National Defense is in violation of the chamber’s rules. Seven House members pointed this out after the Lower House approved a motion for the reconsideration of the bill that hurdled third and final reading on Sept. 21, 2021. In a letter sent to Speaker Lord Allan Velasco on Monday, Oct. 4, Quezon City 6th District Rep. Jose Christopher Belmonte, together with six Makabayan congressmen, said the Lower House erred when it recalled the approval of the measure during a session on Sept. 30. House Bill No. 10171 sought to institutionalize the agreement that laid down the guidelines for the conduct of military and police operations inside the university. Signed on June 30, 1989 by then UP President Jose Abueva and then Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos, the Department of National Defense unilaterally terminated the agreement as defense authorities claimed that the campus has become the recruitment place for the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army. HB 10171 was authored by Belmonte and the Makabayan lawmakers. It went through the legislative process before its approval on final reading on Sept. 21. The authors said upholding the motion to reconsider approval of HB 10171 violated the Rules of the Lower House that allows such motion only on the same or succeeding day that the bill was acted upon by the plenary.
