News Roundup 07 December 2020
Dec 07, 2020 • 4 min Read
COVID-19 cases in Philippines top 441,000 | PHILSTAR.COM – The total number of coronavirus infections nationwide rose to 441,399 with the addition of 1,574 new cases, the Department of Health reported Monday. The DOH also recorded 80 new recoveries, taking the total number of people who survived the disease to 408,702. The department announced 9,062 additional recoveries as it implemented its weekly “mass recovery” Sunday. There were 18 new deaths, pushing the number of COVID-19-related fatalities to 8,572. Excluding recoveries and fatalities, the number of active cases is at 24,125 or 5.5% of the total. Ninety-one percent of these mild and asymptomatic. Government officials dismissed rumors that the government would impose a nationwide lockdown from December 23 to January 3, 2021 and asked the public not to spread false information during a pandemic.
More raps filed vs NTF-ELCAC execs over red-tagging, fake news | PHILSTAR.COM – Rep. Sarah Elago (Kabataan Party-list) filed administrative charges before the Office of the Ombudsman against ranking executives within the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict for, she said, spreading false quotations and blatantly vilifying her. Accompanied by lawyer Antonio La Viña, the House lawmaker filed the complaint against Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Presidential Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, intelligence chief Alex Monteagudo, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, all members of the NTF-ELCAC. Her complaint also included Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. “The NTF-ELCAC has been using people’s money to maliciously attack progressive individuals and groups, including the youth,” said Elago in a statement sent to reporters, highlighting that while some of these attacks were done through personal accounts of government officials, they are still backed by state institutions as they are often signed with the government titles of the officials or accompanied by a logo of the police or the military. “By red-tagging us, the government through the NTF-ELCAC not only discredits our legislative work and diverts attention away from pressing issues. It also puts at risk our lives, and the lives of those they work with,” the youth representative also said. In her formal complaint, Elago contended that instead of achieving “inclusive and lasting peace” as it is mandated to by Executive Order No. 70, the national task force is using its resources “to maliciously attack and malign progressive individuals and groups, including the youth.”
Palace: Authorities can’t use ‘yantok’ to hit quarantine violators | INQUIRER.NET – Authorities cannot use “yantok” or rattan sticks to hit quarantine violators, Malacañang said Monday. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said this can only be used to measure social distancing among the public. “Tingin ko po tama si [Foreign Affairs] Secretary [Teodoro] Locsin dito, hindi po pupuwede gamitin ‘yan na pang-hit o pampalo dahil hindi naman po ‘yan pinapayagan sa ating batas at ang regulasyon ng PNP [Philippine National Police],” Roque said in an online briefing. (I think Secretary Locsin is right, this cannot be used to hit people since it is not allowed under the law and the regulation of the PNP.) “Pwede po siguro to measure social distancing, to make sure one meter pero hindi po ‘yan pang pampalo ng taumbayan,” he added. (It can only be allowed to measure social distancing, to make sure there is one-meter distance but not for hitting the violators.)
Kontra Daya defends Makabayan parties from disqualification bid | Manila Bulletin –Poll watchdog group Kontra Daya believes there is no basis to disqualify party-list groups from the Makabayan bloc in the May 2022 national and local polls. Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao said their list of questionable party-list groups in the past election cycles does not include the members of the Makabayan bloc. “Based on our past studies, there were bogus party-list groups that were used by the rich and powerful to advance their own interests. Members of the Makabayan bloc have not been flagged as belonging to political clans or businesses. This is why there is no basis to disqualify,” he said in an interview Monday. The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) earlier bared its plans to seek the disqualification of the Makabayan bloc’s party-list groups before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as the government is convinced that Bayan Muna, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Gabriela, and Kabataan are “fronts” of the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army, and National Democratic Front. But Arao believes there is no basis for disqualification in the NTF-ELCAC’s complaint.
Robredo calls for massive info drive on COVID vaccine | Malaya Business Insight – Vice President Leni Robredo yesterday called for a massive information campaign on the effects of getting vaccinated against the coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) amid fears generated by controversies surrounding the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, which caused national panic in 2017. The Dengvaxia scare resulted in a plunge in vaccine confidence in the country from 93 percent to 32 percent, as parents became hesitant to have their children vaccinated. Robredo said the government’s planned information drive has to be stepped up to avoid a repeat of the propaganda war against the Dengvaxia vaccine, which she noted has adversely affected government’s vaccination drive against preventable diseases like polio. In her weekly radio program, Robredo said polio had long been eradicated but recently had a resurgence because of some people refused the vaccine.
