News Roundup 02 December 2020
Dec 02, 2020 • 4 min Read
1,438 new COVID-19 cases bring Philippine tally to over 434,000 | PHILSTAR.COM – The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Philippines reached 434,357 Wednesday after the Department of Health registered 1,438 new infections. Data from the DOH showed that of the total number of confirmed cases, 26,916 or 6.2% are currently undergoing treatment or quarantine. The department also logged 232 new recoveries, with the country’s recovery count rising to 399,005. Total recoveries accounted for nearly 92% of the country’s confirmed cases. The death toll, however, reached 8,436 as 18 more people died from the respiratory illness.
Hontiveros seeks loan documents for SEA Games facilities | PHILSTAR.COM – The Development Bank of the Philippines is being asked to disclose to the Senate documents relating to an allegedly anomalous P9.5-billion loan for facilities for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. Hontiveros in a speech delivered to the Senate in plenary early in November said there were issues surrounding the multibillion-peso credit arrangement involving the Bases Conversion Development Authority and Malaysian developer MTD Capital Berhad, which entered into what she characterized as a suspect Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) for the construction of sports facilities in New Clark City. She filed Senate Resolution No. 567, which urges the upper chamber to look into the matter amid supposed signs that the project was a “fake joint venture” funded with a “behest loan” — or a loan granted to firms favored by top government officials — disadvantageous to the Filipino people.
Red-tagging a cover-up for ‘incompetence’ – Makabayan | INQUIRER.NET – President Rodrigo Duterte’s red-tagging of leftist members of the House of Representatives and activist groups endangers their lives and is meant to cover up his “incompetence” in solving problems created by the pandemic and recent typhoons, the Makabayan congressional bloc said on Tuesday. Zarate, in an online press briefing on Tuesday, said he would not respond to the President’s insults because “it will divert the public from the real issues in the country.” “We think all of these are just meant to cover up the incompetence and the significant problems in the country now and they are trying to cripple us and to silence us, especially in our active role as lawmakers in Congress,” he said. Aside from Bayan Muna, the progressive bloc includes the party list groups Gabriela, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Kabataan and Anakpawis. Also reacting to the latest statements from the President, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said Red-tagging would endanger lives. CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said there was nothing wrong with identifying politically as leftist, a constitutionally guaranteed freedom. “The CHR does not really delve into who is communist or not. That is something we are clear about. We would just like to caution the government against making sweeping generalizations,” she said in a television interview.
Robredo busy debunking fake news in social media | Manila Bulletin – Trolls are it again. And so Vice President Leni Robredo has been busy debunking them. Robredo on Wednesday addressed again a fake post about her office’s relief efforts that has been making its rounds on social media. For the past weeks, she has been debunking fake news and she has never thought of stopping. “I was alerted by a Facebook post/comment accusing us of lying about the help we extended to typhoon victims in Rizal. “The comment itself is full of untruths that we should correct,” she said in a Facebook post. The vice president shared a screenshot of the post which read: “She only went to an evacuation center in San Mateo, Rizal for photo ops and didn’t even last 30 minutes.” Robredo vehemently denied this. She had not yet visited the municipality as falsely claimed. “I have not personally visited a San Mateo evacuation center. But our team has been in 9 sites in San Mateo on different dates to give relief goods and hot meals,” she wrote. In response, Robredo even attached a copy of the Excel file of all her typhoon-related activities in the province to disprove the troll’s claim.
Duque: Health protocols violated in Bantayan, Batangas events | Malaya Business Insight – Health Secretary Francisco Duque III yesterday said violations of minimum health standards, especially physical distancing, marred the recent crowd-drawing events attended by Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao and presidential spokesman Harry Roque. “There is (a) clear violation of minimum health standards as there was no one meter distancing. The point is we can see that there has been a flagrant violation as we are looking at it right now,” Duque said while referring to the images of Roque and Pacquiao that have gone viral in social media platforms. “Clearly, from my standpoint, there appears to be violation of the physical distancing that we have been harping on,” he added.
