News Roundup 04 December 2021
Dec 04, 2021 • 3 min Read
PH records 517 new COVID-19 infections; active cases now at 14,338 | INQUIRER.NET – The Philippines logged 517 additional COVID-19 cases, driving the overall case count to 2,834,294 on Saturday. The Department of Health (DOH) likewise reported 1,139 more recoveries and 243 new fatalities, raising the recovery tally to 2,770,726 and the death toll to 49,230. With the new figures, active cases in the country are now 14,338. Of these, 6,350 are mild cases, 3,837 are moderate cases, 2,425 are severe cases, 911 are asymptomatic, and 815 are critical. The DOH noted that seven duplicates were pulled out from the total case count, six of which were recoveries. “94 cases were found to have tested negative and have been removed from the total case count. Of these, 93 are recoveries,” the DOH said. “Moreover, 228 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation,” the health agency added in a statement. The DOH likewise posted a 1.8-percent positivity rate among the 35,238 tests conducted on December 2. Two laboratories were not operational while one laboratory was unable to submit their data to the COVID-19 Repository System.
Students, doctors still see problems as more schools reopen | PHILSTAR.COM – Progressive student organizations and some doctors flagged potential problems that may arise as more schools welcome students again after one of the longest school shutdowns in the world due to the coronavirus pandemic. Students have welcomed the Commission on Higher Education’s decision to expand face-to-face classes for all degrees in areas under Alert Level 2, but they remain critical of its attempt to place the burden of a safe reopening of schools on the shoulders of higher educational institutions. For Tierone James Santos, a co-convenor of Rise for Education, the CHED is obviously passing the buck to colleges and universities, who are required to retrofit their facilities despite budget cuts for several state universities and colleges. “With the budget cuts, the schools will have a hard time, whether these are SUCs, HEIs, or even public schools,” Santos said. Coleen Mañibo, the national secretary general of the National Union of Students of the Philippines, said universities should not be given these responsibilities given that they do not have the needed funds for this. “If the government will continuously let school administrators and education sector carry the responsibilities, then it will not be sustainable,” Mañibo told Philstar.com.
NUJP: Cusi, Uy libel suits meant to ‘intimidate’ journalists | Manila Bulletin – The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) on Saturday, Dec. 4, decried the cyber libel complaints filed by Department of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and businessman Dennis Uy against 18 officials and reporters of seven news outlets who published articles about a graft suit filed against the two officials. On Friday, Dec. 3, Cusi filed charges against 18 officials and reporters of Manila Bulletin, ABS-CBN News, BusinessWorld, Rappler, Philippine Star, GMA News, and Business Mirror. The Energy Secretary is demanding at least P200 million from news organizations for the “damages” he suffered as a result of the article posted. In a statement, NUJP said the complaints are “meant to intimidate and chill the press” and the P200 million in damages from each of the seven media outfits “could cripple news organizations if enforced.” The Union said the stories published by the reporters were based on a press conference, a press release, and a complaint field before the Office of the Ombudsman. “For Secretary Cusi to say in his complaint that the journalists ‘accused [him] of graft]’ is a total misunderstanding, if not a deliberate way to mislead the public, of the role of journalists. The journalists did not accuse him; the complainants did. The journalists only covered the complaint,” NUJP said. “Journalists are not businessmen, politicians, brokers, or lobbyists out to find a way to ‘settle misunderstandings and differences.’ We are the public guardians — out to report on matters like this, a difference of opinion between the executive and the legislative, the latter pointing out that there were shortcuts to approve the sale of billion-peso shares of the Malampaya project, a crucial public infrastructure,” it added.
