News Roundup 11 October 2021
Oct 11, 2021 • 4 min Read
DOH reports 8,292 more COVID-19 cases | PHILSTAR.COM – Health authorities on Monday posted 8,292 new coronavirus cases, bringing the Philippines’ overall count to 2,674,814. Today’s figures saw active cases upby 7,967 from the 90,927 on October 10. DOH said two laboratories did not submit screening results.
- Active cases: 98,894 or 3.7% of the total
- Recoveries: 302 bringing the number to 2,536,260
- Deaths: 36, or now 39,660 overall
Citing ‘racket’ claims, senator urges COA to check funds Lao spent as housing exec | PHILSTAR.COM – Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Monday urged the Commission on Audit to scrutinize P1.8 billion in funds reportedly spent by Lloyd Christopher Lao from 2018 to 2019 when he was head of the now-defunct Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board. Hontiveros said these funds were sourced from the P5 billion collected from the private housing developers in compliance with the Urban Development and Housing Act which she also urged COA to track. Some of the developers have accused Lao of running an extortion racket, filing a case against him with the President Anti-Corruption Commission, according to a report from Rappler. PACC then endorsed the complaint to the housing department but its chief, Eduardo del Rosario, said at a Palace briefing last month that Lao had already left the HLURB by then. After his stint at the housing department, Lao in 2020 moved on to the Department of Budget and Management where he headed the procurement service. When the pandemic broke out later that year, he awarded large contracts to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. that are now the subject of legislative inquiries as well as a special audit by COA. “A staggering P5 [billion] has been collected from private housing developers since Usec Lao joined HLURB, which is a burden to many small developers. It is impossible to explain and find where large chunks of it were spent during the Lao era,” Hontiveros said in Filipino.
Flood of support shocks Robredo | INQUIRER.NET – Three days after she declared her presidential bid for the 2022 elections, Vice President Leni Robredo admitted to still “being in shock” by the outpouring of support, both online and offline, for her plans. “I really did not expect the overwhelming reaction,” she said on her weekly radio show. “I thought that, once I announced, only my longtime supporters would be happy. But we saw something completely different: So many signed up to be volunteers, so many donated money.” “It was like an affirmation that we made the right decision,” the Vice President said. “When I saw how the people reacted, I got emotional.” “It’s really hard to penetrate social media where there is a lot of propaganda and fake news,” she said. “So my request to my supporters is to not be content with shaking up those within their circles but to expand our ranks.” On Thursday, Robredo officially threw her hat in the 2022 presidential race, ending months of speculations about her plans and pitting her once again against the late dictator’s son, former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., whom she defeated in 2016 for the vice presidency.
Pangilinan on 2022 polls: Problem is COVID-19, not political colors | Manila Bulletin – Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said Monday, Octorber 11, said solutions to address the hunger and joblessness brought by the pandemic should be the focus in the upcoming elections and not political colors. “Our problem is not colors, our problem is COVID-19…Unless we contain COVID and manage it with interventions, everything else will remain stagnant,” Pangilinan said in response to question on Vice President Leni Robredo’s use of pink instead of the Liberal Party’s (LP’s) yellow. In an online media interview, the aspiring vice president stressed that efficient COVID response would be key to addressing hunger and joblessness, given the worst economic contraction in 40 years. He noted the July, 2021 Social Weather Station (SWS) survey which stated that some 4.2 million Filipinos experienced hunger in May 2021, 16.8 percent of Filipino families experienced hunger due to lack of food at least once in the past three months or “involuntary hunger.” Recent data also show that unemployment ballooned to almost 3.9 million in August 2021- nearly a million more than the July 2021 record of 3.07 million, according to the PSA. This is credited to stricter lockdown measures that have led to the closing of establishments and fresh college graduates seeking out employment for the first time. For Pangilinan, hunger and joblessness are issues of food security that require strengthening support for the agriculture sector.
