News Roundup 05 August 2021
Aug 05, 2021 • 5 min Read
Philippines sees 8,127 new COVID-19 cases | PHILSTAR.COM – The Department of Health on Thursday reported 8,127 more coronavirus cases in the country, bringing the total count to 1,627,816. Today’s numbers saw active cases up by 3,724 from August 4’s 63,171. DOH said three laboratories did not turn in screening results.
- Active cases: 66,895 or 4.1% of the total
- Recoveries: 4,343, bringing the number to 1,532,494
- Deaths: 196, or now 28,427 in total
Ex-Inquirer top editor: Compromise on pork barrel stories says paper won’t back staff | PHILSTAR.COM – A former top editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer chastised the broadsheet’s current management for entering into a compromise agreement to settle a libel case over several stories on the pork barrel scam involving a radio broadcaster, saying this sends a “chilling effect” on journalists of the paper and other news outlets. “This is about the PDI management’s refusal to defend excellent journalism, press freedom, freedom of speech, the people’s right to be informed about issues of public concern like the P10-billion pork barrel scam,” former Inquirer executive editor Jose Ma. Nolasco told ABS-CBN News Channel’s Rundown on Thursday. Nolasco said the settlement entered into by the Inquirer tells its reporters that it would not stand by stories which are subject of a libel complaint, will delete these from the archive even if these have won awards and will not provide legal assistance should they dissent from the compromise. “What could have a more chilling effect than these three bad messages of the PDI management to the Inquirer editorial staff? How can these editors and journalists and reporters be expected to do a good job in covering news and issues that matter most to people?” Nolasco said. In a statement on Wednesday, Nolasco said the settlement with DZBB broadcaster Melo del Prado involved running an apology on the front page of the Inquirer, deleting from the Inquirer archives 10 stories related to the radio personality’s libel complaint, and paying him P1.5 million in ad space. In exchange, Del Prado agreed to drop his libel complaint against Nolasco former Inquirer news editor Artemio Engracia Jr., Inquirer.net editor-in-chief Abel Ulanday, Inquirer reporter Christine Avendano and former Inquirer reporter Nancy Carvajal. Nolasco, Engracia and Carvajal did not sign the compromise agreement, which resulted in them losing the services of the Inquirer’s lawyers from the Ortega, Bacorro, Ofulio, Calma & Carbonell law firm. Nolasco called the settlement “demeaning to the brand” and “lopsidedly favorable” to Del Prado, who was alleged to have received ad payments from the National Agribusiness Corp. in relation to the pork barrel scam. The Inquirer ran on July 30 the apology to Del Prado, saying that documents show that the ad payments did not come from lawmakers’ pork barrel, formally known as Priority Development Assistance Fund, and that they do not show that the broadcaster received payoffs or benefitted from this. “We regret the inconvenience and adverse effects that the news reports may have caused Mr. Del Prado, his family, GMA Network and colleagues in the media,” the Inquirer said.
Ana Patricia Non’s group to deliver food aid to QC households during ECQ | IQUIRER.NET – Food aid will be distributed house-to-house within Quezon City during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to eliminate long lines in the face of the COVID-19 Delta variant threat. Community Pantry founder Ana Patricia Non explained that the pantry organizers made this decision to “ensure the safety” of the pantry’s beneficiaries. “So amin po, ‘yung mga pantry po malinaw sa amin na hindi kami magpapapila, iha-house to house po namin, hahanap po kami ng transpo, tapos contactless na distribution,” said Non over Teleradyo when asked on the scenario of the community pantries in QC during the first day of ECQ on Friday. (So here in our pantries, it is clear that there will be no lines, it will be distributed on a house-to-house basis, we will find transportation, and the distribution will be contactless.) ‘Yung mga magdo-donate ida-drop off nila sa mga community pantries, ire-repack, tapos ‘yung mga organizers and volunteers ihahatid sa mga poorest of the poor families,” she added. (The community pantries will be the drop-off area, the goods will also be repacked there, then the organizers and volunteers will bring it to the poorest of the poor families.) Non, who called on the public to donate to their local food pantries, suggested that the donors buy fresh produce from farmers instead. “As much as possible, para makatulong tayo sa farmers natin, bumili po tayo ng fresh produce po,” she said. (As much as possible, to help our farmers, let’s buy their fresh produce.) Non began the Maginhawa Community Pantry initiative last April during the previous ECQ. The project led to the opening of several hundred food pantries nationwide.
ECQ aid must be delivered faster to NCR families — Robredo | Manila Bulletin –
Vice President Leni Robredo called for faster and more efficient distribution of cash assistance or ayuda for residents who will be affected by the two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR). Robredo made the statement a day before Metro Manila shifted to ECQ from August 6 to 20, 2021 due to the rise of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases. In a statement, the Vice President said the government should have by now found a better method of distribution of the cash aid since this was not the first time NCR was placed under ECQ. “Sa panahong ito, dapat wala tayong ibang priority kundi ‘yung makapagbigay ng agarang tulong sa mga pamilyang apektado ng lockdown, lalo na ‘yung mga nawalan ng kabuhayan (In times like this, we should prioritize giving immediate assistance to families affected by the lockdown, especially those who lost their livelihoods),” she said Thursday, August 5. “Pang-ilang ECQ na natin ito, so we expect na sana by now, naplantsa na natin ‘yung proseso at sistema ng delivery ng assistance (This is our third ECQ so we expect that, hopefully, by now we have ironed out the process and system for the delivery of assistance),” she added. “Ayuda muna bago ang lahat (Assistance before anything else),” she continued.
