News Roundup 06 January 2021
Jan 06, 2022 • 7 min Read
New COVID-19 cases hit three-month high | PHILSTAR.COM – New coronavirus infections in the Philippines hit a three-month high on Thursday, with the Department of Health reporting 17,220 new cases. This is the highest number of COVID-19 cases since September 27, 2021, when the country logged 18,449 cases. Meanwhile, 68% of the cases or 11,563 were logged in Metro Manila, while 19% or 3,165 were recorded in Calabarzon, and 7% or 1,126 were reported in Central Luzon. Still, the reported figures do not completely capture the spread of the infection as 11 labs, which the DOH said accounted for 2.8% of all samples, failed to submit data. The number of active cases jumped to its highest since Oct. 25, 2021 as the DOH reported that there are 56,561 people whose coronavirus infection remains active. A total of 616 people got well, while 81 more died due to COVID-19, according to the DOH. The Philippines, especially Metro Manila, is grappling with an unprecedented rapid increase in COVID-19 cases which the DOH is presuming to be driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant.
Fact check: Robredo’s daughter did not skip quarantine | PHILSTAR.COM – Vice President Leni Robredo debunked claims that one of her daughters skipped quarantine, calling these “criminal and malicious.” CLAIM: One of Robredo’s daughters allegedly jumped quarantine and went home directly. Former television personality Jay Sonza said on Facebook last Friday that the child of a certain “Madam” skipped quarantine protocols and went home straight. “Sabi mo Madam, dapat walang palakasan. Bakit iyong anak mong dumating derecho sa bahay, hindi dumaan sa Quarantine Protocol?” Sonza said. (You said, Madam, there should be no patronage. Why did your child go home directly and did not go through quarantine protocols?) Sonza did not name Robredo, but the vice president did vow to end “palakasan” or patronage in government if she is elected president. Sonza also has a long history of throwing shade and spewing false claims against personalities in the opposition, including Robredo. Robredo’s daughters have been transparent about their experience travelling from the United States to the Philippines and have said that they followed quarantine protocols set by the government. They said that they quarantined in a hotel for five days upon arrival in Manila from New York CIty on December 19, after which they got COVID-19 RT-PCR tests. Tricia Robredo said she tested positive and was transferred to a quarantine facility on Christmas Day, despite having asked if she can strictly quarantine at home. Meanwhile, Aika Robredo and Jillian Robredo continued the rest of the 14-day quarantine period at home until January 3. The vice president said Tricia was only released from the quarantine facility after testing negative for three consecutive days, but was still required to continue isolating at home until January 4. “Nag susurge na, imbes na tumulong, nag nenegosyo pa ng kasinungalingan,” the vice president said, reacting to the false claims about her daughters. “Sinasadya nalang talaga mag sinungaling dahil may mga napapaniwala.” (Cases are already surging, and instead of helping, they continue to be in the business of lies … They’re telling lies on purpose because there are people who believe.) The vice president, the de facto leader of the opposition, and her daughters have long been the target of disinformation by pro-administration accounts on social media. Earlier, pro-administration accounts posted content claiming that the Commission on Elections had confirmed that she had been disqualified, supposedly due to a crowdfunding initiative by her team. Robredo had also countered as fake two altered photos that make it appear that her supporters have crowded in Manila, in violation of social distancing protocols, and that she sold fish at a market. Her previous strategy was to ignore these attacks, but seeing that this was ineffective at countering falsehoods, she changed tact and is now countering these head on. Sonza, despite no longer being active on television and having lost two electoral bids, still enjoys a wide reach on social media, where he routinely posts often baseless accusations at opposition personalities.
Carpio insists Bongbong Marcos still a ‘certified convict’; Marcos camp slams ‘political antic’ | INQUIRER.NET – Former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Thursday tagged presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as a “certified convict,” who is disqualified from holding public office, citing “two separate and independent laws.” In response to Carpio’s taunt, the camp of the former senator accused the former magistrate of “poorly scripted and laughable political antics.” Speaking in a forum hosted by opposition coalition 1Sambayan, Carpio claimed that Marcos has not yet “served his sentence” under a Court of Appeals (CA) decision that affirmed his tax conviction in 1995. He further claimed that there is “no record at all on file” with the Quezon City Regional Trial Court that Marcos paid the fine that he was ordered to settle by the CA in its decision. In July 1995, Marcos was convicted by the Quezon City RTC Branch 105 for failure to file income tax returns and pay income taxes from 1982 to 1985. He was sentenced to serve a total of seven years in prison and ordered to pay a fine for several counts of violation of the National Internal Revenue Code. Marcos then appealed to the CA, which ruled in 1997 to uphold the conviction but modified the penalty by removing the prison term and merely imposing a fine. “BBM (Bongbong Marcos) is still a certified convict who is disqualified to run for president of the Philippines, to vote and to participate in any election in our country,” Carpio said. “He has not served his sentence. This means that the BBM disqualification under Section 12 of the Omnibus Election Code has not been lifted,” he added. Carpio noted that under Section 12 of the Omnibus Election Code, any person convicted of a “crime involving moral turpitude shall be disqualified to be a candidate and to hold any public office.” Such disqualification is “removed after the expiration of a period of five years from his service of sentence.” “If the penalty is only payment of reparation and fine, the convict is deemed to have served his sentence upon full payment of the reparation and fine,” Carpio said. Aside from the Omnibus Election Code, Carpio said Section 253 of the Tax Code “perpetually” disqualifies Marcos from “holding any public office, to vote and to participate in any election” if he is “convicted of any crime penalized” by the said law. “Because the law says ‘any crime,’ it is immaterial whether or not the crime involves moral turpitude. It is also immaterial if the rest of the sentence has been served as the disqualification takes effect immediately upon finality of the judgment,” Carpio said. “The ‘perpetual disqualification’ under Section 253 takes effect immediately upon finality of the judgment of conviction, which in BBM’s case took place on August 8, 2001, when the Supreme Court granted BBM’s withdrawal of his appeal,” he added. He added that BBM’s “separate and independent, perpetual disqualification under the Tax Code “remains in effect up to this day and can only be lifted by a presidential pardon and none has been issued to him.” “In short, starting August 8, 2001, BBM was already perpetually disqualified from holding any public office, from voting and from participating in any election,” Carpio went on.
Gordon condemns killing of teacher gunned down in Cavite | Manila Bulletin – Senator Richard Gordon on Thursday denounced the killing of a public school teacher who was gunned down by a motorcycle-riding criminal in Amadeo, Cavite. Gordon, who chairs the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, said he is saddened with the loss of a dedicated educator in Normita “Noemi” Bautista and slammed the prevailing culture of killings in the country, many of which are carried out by so-called “riding-in-tandem” criminals. “Her students have lost a veteran teacher who has shaped the lives of generations’ worth of aspiring Filipinos,” Gordon said in a statement. “Hindi ako masasawang tawagan ng pansin ang ating otoridad ukol sa riding-in-tandem na ito. Isa na namang pagpatay ng ating inosenteng mamamayan. Naging barya-barya na lang ang buhay ng tao sa ilang indibidwal na batik na ng kasamaan ang mga ugali (I won’t stop calling the attention of our authorities about our problem with these riding in tandem. Another innocent citizen is killed. There is utmost disregard for the human life due to loss of morality),” he lamented.
