News Roundup 01 November 2020
Nov 01, 2020 • 4 min Read
Amid Rolly’s onslaught, netizens ask: Where’s Duterte? | PHILSTAR.COM – What is considered as the world’s strongest storm this 2020 has hit the Philippines, and with it has also left citizens asking where the country’s leader is amid the ongoing crisis. Then Super Typhoon Rolly (international name Goni) made two landfalls in Catanduanes and Albay on Sunday morning, with its strength of 225 kph peak winds and gust of up to 310 kph. Cabinet secretaries and disaster management officials had held a briefing at 10 a.m., hours after Rolly’s landfalls, where President Rodrigo Duterte was noticeably nowhere to be seen. By the evening of October 31, social media users especially on Twitter had been asking where the President is, along with the hashtag “#NasaanAngPangulo” a trending conversation on the platform. Sought for comment, his spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte is apparently in Davao, where he is said to be monitoring the situation. By the evening of October 31, social media users especially on Twitter had been asking where the President is, along with the hashtag “#NasaanAngPangulo” a trending conversation on the platform. Sought for comment, his spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte is apparently in Davao, where he is said to be monitoring the situation. “Ang scheduled na pagbalik niya ay sa Tuesday pero siya ay nakatutok at nag-utos sa atin na mag-conduct ng ganitong press briefing,” he said, responding to whether Duterte would visit areas hit by the super typhoon. (He is set to return to Manila by Tuesday but he is monitoring and he ordered for us to conduct this press briefing.) When pressed on why Duterte did not preside over the briefing, Roque said the president could not make it back to Manila due to the weather condition.
PH COVID-19 tally surpasses 383,000 as 17,727 more recover | INQUIRER.NET – The Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday announced 2,396 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total tally to 383,113. In its daily case bulletin, the Health Department also reported 17,727 new recoveries, most of which are due to the agency’s weekly Oplan Recovery scheme which tags a patient as recovered after spending a certain amount of time in quarantine and upon the loss of symptoms, even without a confirmatory coronavirus test. This brings the total recoveries to 348,760. Meanwhile, 17 more people succumbed to the disease. The total death toll now stands at 7,238. Excluding recoveries and deaths, 27,115 are deemed active cases.
4 dead as Typhoon Rolly batters Philippines | PHILSTAR.COM – At least four people were killed as Typhoon Rolly pounded the Philippines Sunday with authorities warning of “catastrophic” conditions in the hardest-hit regions where hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. The strongest typhoon of the year so far made landfall on Catanduanes Island before dawn with maximum sustained wind speeds of 225 kilometres (140 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 310 kilometres per hour ripping off roofs, toppling trees and triggering flash floods. Rolly was downgraded from a “super typhoon” as it swept across the southern end of the most populous island Luzon towards the capital Manila, the state weather forecaster said in its latest update. “Catastrophic violent winds and intense to torrential rainfall” would hammer areas in the typhoon’s path, including provinces near the capital, it warned. “This a particularly dangerous situation for these areas.”
Typhoon causes massive power cut in Bicol | Manila Bulletin – The wrath of typhoon “Rolly” was terribly felt in all provinces of the Bicol region and consumers in the area are now groping in the dark because of massive brownouts that had been trigged by damaged power facilities. But power utility companies indicated that as the extreme weather disturbance traverse various areas in Luzon and Visayas, millions of Filipino consumers are anticipated to suffer from interruptions or would be losing their electricity supply at some point. An initial report from the National Electrification Administration (NEA) stated that 10 electric cooperatives (ECs) already lost power supply as of 8 a.m. Sunday and that was immediately after the super typhoon’s landfall in Catanduanes and Albay. Consumers affected were those in Catanduanes, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Albay, Sorsogon, and Ticao Island in Masbate. There are no definitive commitments yet from the Department of Energy and the power utilities on when the crippling brownouts will last especially in the severely battered areas of the typhoon’s path.
Typhoon Signal No. 4 raised in Metro Manila | The Manila Times – Metro Manila was places under Signal No. 4 as super typhoon Rolly made its second landfall in Albay, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said on Sunday. At 7:20 a.m. today, Pagasa said “Rolly” was in the vicinity of Tiwi, Albay, moving westward at 25 kilometers per hour. It has maximum sustained winds of 225 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 310 kph. “The center of this typhoon will cross Camarines provinces before heading towards Marinduque-Southern Quezon area this afternoon,” the weather bureau said. The super typhoon will likely exit mainland Luzon either tonight or early Monday, it said.
