News Roundup 02 June 2021
Jun 02, 2021 • 4 min Read
Philippines sees 5,257 new COVID-19 infections | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines on Wednesday recorded 5,257 additional COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 1,240,716.
- Active cases: 52,132 or 4.2% of the total
- Recoveries: 6,266, pushing total to 1,167,426
- Deaths: 146, bringing total to 21,158
PDP-Laban rift continues: Pacquiao hits Cusi over Luzon blackouts | PHILSTAR.COM – Sen. Manny Pacquiao took to the Senate floor Wednesday to criticize Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi for politicking amid the rotational blackouts in Luzon, signaling a continued rift between the ruling PDP-Laban’s acting president and its vice-chairman ahead of the 2022 polls. Tensions within President Rodrigo Duterte’s party were on display last week when Pacquiao called on party members to snub Cusi’s call for a national assembly on May 31 which he said was not authorized by the national council. The assembly pushed through after presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who is not a part of PDP-Laban, revealed that it was Duterte, the party’s chairman, who directed Cusi to preside over a meeting of the party. When the Luzon grid was placed under red alert on Monday, Cusi was in Cebu, presiding over the contested national council meeting. In his privilege speech on the blackouts, Pacquiao recalled that Cusi assured senators that there would be no blackouts in the summer. He also emphasized the ill effects of the rotational blackouts on students, businesses, and the storage of COVID-19 vaccines, calling for accountability from “all concerned agencies.” The senator further lamented that three of his colleagues were unable to attend Tuesday’s plenary session through videoconference because they were affected by the blackouts. “It is sad to think that the officials who should be overseeing our problems in these times…. are putting politics first,” the boxing icon-turned-senator said in a speech delivered mostly in Filipino. “I am talking directly to Secretary Cusi… as a PDP member, a member of the party, whatever the situation, whatever the shortcomings we have affects our PDP members… We are all affected by the problems happening right now. Not just the small people but the big businessmen.” Although he was worrying over how Cusi’s handling of the blackouts might affect members of the PDP-Laban, Pacquiao also said that “now is not the time to talk about politics.” When he was asked by Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon directly if the level of accountability he was seeking from Cusi was his resignation, Pacquiao said: “I know many officials from other countries when it comes to failures like this… they deliberately resign…they no longer need to be removed by the president.”
Robredo: ‘Otso Diretso’ did well in schools surveys, but lost as students can’t vote | INQUIRER.NET – One of the reasons why the opposition’s senatorial slate in the 2019 midterm elections did not manage to even win a single seat is because some of their supporters just cannot cast their votes. Vice President Leni Robredo said this Wednesday as she recalled how “Otso Diretso” was doing well in school and university surveys in the run-up to the 2019 polls. In an interview with #ChooseDay hosted by celebrities Cesca Litton and Pia Magalona, along with former election commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, Robredo said no Otso Diretso candidate won that election because many of the survey participants were either not allowed to vote yet or not registered to vote. Thus, the Vice President highlighted the need to encourage every eligible Filipino to register and vote in the 2022 national elections. “Parehas din iyan noong—halimbawa, pinaka-close to heart iyong Otso Diretso. Iyong Otso Diretso lahat na surveys sa mga universities, mga school campuses, panalong-panalo iyong Otso Diretso pero wala ngang nakapasok sa Top 12. Walang nakapasok sa Top 12 kasi iyong mga estudyanteng bumuboto sa kanila during the surveys, hindi naman bumoboto sa real elections,” she added. (It’s the same with, for example, the one closest to heart, the Otso Diretso. Otso Diretso was winning in all the university, school campuses that we surveyed, but none of them made it to the Top 12. No one made it to the Top 12 because the students who answered the surveys cannot vote in real elections.) Robredo, chairperson of the Liberal Party, openly supported and campaigned for Otso Diretso candidates during the 2019 polls.
Achieving peace should be a part of electoral agenda in 2022 — Trillanes | Manila Bulletin – Anyone who wants to run for president next year should put achieving peace in the agenda, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV said on Wednesday, June 2. Speaking at the 1Sambayan’s virtual Townhall event “Talakayang Bayan: Kapayapaan, Makakamit Ka Pa Ba?,” Trillanes, who is now a professor, stressed that the next administration should address what others before it have failed to do. In particular, he said that his own Magdalo Party will come after President Duterte for the “extrajudicial killings, abductions, assassinations, murders, and crimes against humanity” that happened during his term. “At paparusahan natin ang mga nagkasala (And we are going to punish those who are guilty),” Trillanes said, citing his Magdalo group led the filing of the case before the International Criminal Court against Duterte and other high-ranking officials to make them accountable. The former senator added that the next administration should recognize that government forces have abused their power, and that the security forces have to be reoriented about their duties to the people.
