News Roundup 03 March 2022
Mar 03, 2022 • 6 min Read
Robredo supporters: No free lightsticks, just volunteer work for Leni sunbaenim | PHILSTAR.COM – A group of supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo refuted an allegation that light sticks, a popular Kpop merchandise, were given away in exchange for their participation in campaign rallies. Group KPopStans4Leni refuted a post by a Facebook user who claimed that the volume of people in Robredo’s rallies is because lightsticks are given away at the events. “Kaya pala karamihan puro kakampink kasi ganito mga pinamimigay. Pag BBM rider volunteer, 300 lng!” he said, also referring to “rider volunteers” of Robredo’s rival, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (Oh, that’s why many are kakampink because these are given away. for BBM rider volunteers, they only get P300) The social media user attached a photo of Robredo’s supporters in a circle showing off their lightsticks. He posted on Thursday that he deleted his post after 30 minutes and that he was only joking. Lightsticks however are used by Kpop fans during concerts and events. Each Kpop group has its own design of light stick. KpopStans4Leni said the photo was taken at the Quezon Memorial Circle campaign rally of Robredo on February 13. The event drew thousands of supporters. “Our volunteers don’t get paid for the work we do to support VP Leni and the rest of her team,” they said in a statement. The group also stressed that they do not get paid to attend sorties or launch campaigns to promote their candidates. “We don’t get paid to fight the good fight. Not in cash. Not in lightsticks. Not in anything but the sheer optimism that good governance is well within our reach,” KpopStans4Leni added. The group is composed of Kpop fans or “stans” in internet slang that have banded together to campaign for Robredo. In an earlier interview with Philstar.com, they said they will work to take their online campaign—where they dominate—to offline world.
Drilon: ‘New admin should be the one to review or change oil deregulation law’ | PHILSTAR.COM – Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said on Thursday that the new administration must be in charge of reviewing or changing the oil deregulation law- a policy which reduces the government’s control on oil pricing and trade. Although he is open to reviewing the legislation, he does not believe that it will receive careful and thorough evaluation since many lawmakers are busy with campaigning for the elections. He made these statements shortly after President Rodrigo Duterte called on the Congress to review the oil deregulation law to give the state the authority to intervene in the event of oil price spikes. The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier asked for amendments to the law, including the unbundling of prices and the inclusion of minimum inventory requirements. On Thursday, however, Sen. Drilon said that making changes to the oil deregulation law just a few months before elections will lead to a major policy shift which will “tie the hands” of the next administration. “I don’t think that has been done before where a major policy shift happens right before a sitting president steps down. We should wait for a new administration to review, amend or repeal the country’s oil deregulation law in order to find solutions on how we can mitigate the impact of the rising oil prices brought about by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine,” he said in a statement posted on the Senate website.
Robredo seeks priests’ help to fight disinformation in Oriental Mindoro | INQUIRER.NET – Presidential candidate and Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday morning sought the help of local priests to fight disinformation during her visit to Pinamalayan town in Oriental Mindoro province. In a live-streamed post on Facebook, Robredo told Diocesan priests in the second district, who were present at the meeting, that their biggest problem was “disinformation machinery” that had been installed for many years already. Robredo said they were networking with religious groups to gather best practices even if they support different candidates because the fight is for elections that are not marred with disinformation. “It doesn’t have to be a campaign for me but the truth so that the people’s decisions are based on the truth,” said Robredo. The priests pledged to “campaign for the truth” and this was followed by a blessing. Thousands of volunteers from various sectors warmly welcomed Robredo and her senatorial slate at the Pinamalayan park. Among the local personalities present in this sortie were Pinamalayan Mayor Aristeo Baldos and Vice Mayor Rodolfo Magsino, Gloria Mayor German Rodegerio, Bansud Mayor Ronaldo Morada and Vice Mayor Rico Tolentino, Roxas Vice Mayor Gualberto Magno, Mansalay Vice Mayor Lynette Postma, Bulalacao Vice Mayor Ramon Magbanua and Pola Vice Mayor Dodgie Panganiban. Thousands of volunteers expected to meet Robredo and her senatorial slate at the Divine Word College grounds in this city for another rally on Thursday afternoon.
DOH reminds public ‘virus still here’; records below 1K new COVID-19 cases | Manila Bulletin – The Department of Health (DOH) reminded the public that the threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) still remains even if the country continues to see a decreasing number of new infections. DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the imposition of Alert Level 1 in some areas of the country does not mean that COVID-19 is already gone. “Tayo po ngayon ay nasa Alert Level 1. Nakikita po natin na patuloy na bumababa ang mga kaso sa ating bansa. Ngunit gusto ko lang hong ipaalala na andito pa rin po ang virus. Hindi ibig sabihin that the virus got milder, the virus is safe (We are now under Alert Level 1. We can see that the number of cases in our country continues to decline. But I just want to remind you that the virus is still here. It doesn’t mean that the virus got milder or that it is safe),” she said in an interview with ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo on Thursday, March 3. “Kailangan mag-ingat po tayong lahat (We all need to be careful). Let us try to follow and comply with the safety protocols,” she added. Based on the latest DOH case update, 989 new people contracted the viral disease. The number of active COVID-19 cases nationwide stood at 50,458. This was the second straight day that the Philippines recorded less than 1,000 cases. Thursday’s cases were quite higher than the cases recorded in the previous day at 866 infections. Of the active cases, 45,510 have mild symptoms, 2,773 are moderate, 1,415 are in severe condition, 463 are asymptomatic, and 297 are in critical condition. There were also 1,349 new recoveries and 34 deaths. These figures pushed the recovery count and death toll to 3,557,909 and 56,538, respectively. Since the pandemic began in 2020, the Philippines has already confirmed 3,664,905 COVID-19 cases.
