News Roundup 06 November 2020
Nov 06, 2020 • 4 min Read
COVID-19 cases in Philippines exceed 390,000 | PHILSTAR.COM – The total number of coronavirus cases crossed 390,000 in the Philippines Friday after health authorities confirmed over 2,000 new infections. The DOH reported 2,092 additional cases, pushing the cumulative tally to 391,809. Friday’s figure was based on the submissions of 144 laboratories out of the 159 licensed testing centers. At least 349,974 people have recovered from COVID-19 in the Philippines after the department logged 462 more recoveries. But 52 additional deaths were recorded, bringing the fatality count to 7,461.
Robredo visits island barangays in CamSur as OVP continues relief ops | INQUIRER.NET – Remote island communities in Camarines Sur were the latest areas visited by Vice President Leni Robredo as her office continues its relief operations for those affected by Super Typhoon Rolly in the Bicol Region, her office said Friday. Robredo specifically went to Barangays San Nicolas, San Juan, and Palo in Canaman town, and Barangay Barobaybay in Magarao on Thursday afternoon to check on residents and distribute aid to them. Robredo and her team started their relief drive on Monday, November 2, a day after Rolly lashed out the Bicol Region and other provinces in Southern Luzon, leaving at least a dozen people dead and properties ruined. Robredo earlier visited several coastal villages in Camarines Sur, as well as other heavily-battered areas in Catanduanes and Albay provinces. OVP said its relief operations were prompted by calls for help from various towns in the Bicol Region.
Gordon denies Philippine Red Cross is ‘greedy’ | PHILSTAR.COM – Sen. Richard “Dick” Gordon denied Friday that the Philippine Red Cross, which he chairs, is “greedy,” after President Rodrigo Duterte remarked that the humanitarian organization is hungry for money. “We’re not greedy. All I’m saying is let’s be careful with our words because we were able to help. We weren’t the ones who incurred debt. They did, we tested, shouldn’t they pay up?” Gordon said in Filipino over Teleradyo. But Gordon also believes that Duterte was not pertaining to the PRC when he said, “Mukhang pera (greedy)” during a televised Cabinet briefing on the new coronavirus, “Maybe he was pertaining to those who took advantage when we were not testing,” Gordon said in Filipino. “I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, out of respect for the president.” Duterte said “mukhang pera” after being briefed by Health Secretary Francsico Duque on how the country’s testing capacity dipped following the PRC’s decision to halt coronavirus screenings chargeable to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. as the state health insurer failed to pay around a billion pesos in testing fees. “But the PRC has been paid and they’ve reopened so they’re continuing to examine swab specimens,” Duque told Duterte in Filipino, to which the president replied, “Mukhang pera.” PhilHealth has so far paid P600 million to the PRC, with Gordon saying that the state health insurer still has to settle a balance of P372 million.
3 of 10 Pinoys don’t expect change in quality of life — SWS | Manila Bulletin – Three out of 10 adult Filipinos expect that their personal quality-of-life will remain the same in the next 12 months, the latest survey revealed. The Social Weather Stations (SWS) said on Friday, Nov. 6, that its national mobile phone survey conducted from Sept. 17 to 20 showed that 33 percent of adult Filipinos are expecting their personal quality-of-life will remain the same in the next 12 months. The SWS said the same survey showed that there are also almost the same number of “optimists” or adult Filipinos expecting their quality-of-life to improve and “pessimists” or adult Filipinos who expect it to worsen. The SWS said there were 32 percent optimists compared to 30 percent pessimists in the latest survey. “This gives a Net Optimism score of +2 classified by SWS as mediocre (% Optimists minus % Pessimists). This is an improvement from the very low -10 in July 2020,” it said.
Gun-for-hire leader, member slain in Bulacan | Malaya Business Insight – The alleged leader of a gun-for-hire syndicate and an alleged member were killed in a firefight with police operatives in Pandi, Bulacan on Wednesday, a police official reported yesterday. Central Luzon Regional Police Director Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon identified the slain gang leader as Wilfredo Togonon, alias Willy, and the member as Michael Pegaro, alias Bungo. De Leon said the operation was conducted in Barangay Bagong Barrio, under Oplan Paglalansag Omega, a campaign against private armed groups; and Oplan Salikop, a campaign against organized crime groups. De Leon said poseur buyers from the Bulacan police arranged to buy firearms from the suspects. During the transaction, the suspects, after noticing they were dealing with policemen, ran inside a house and opened fire at the lawmen. The policemen returned fire, killing the two.
