News Roundup 09 September 2020
Sep 09, 2020 • 4 min Read
COVID-19 infections in Philippines rise to 245,143 | PHILSTAR.COM – The number of coronavirus cases in the Philippines increased to 245,143 Wednesday as the Department of Health reported 3,176 additional cases. The department registered 376 new recoveries, taking the total number of people who got well to 185,543. But it also logged 70 more deaths related to COVID-19, raising the toll to 3,986.
Carpio, Carpio-Morales move to block Martial Law solgen’s plea to junk anti-terror law petitions | PHILSTAR.COM – Retired Supreme Court Justices Antonio Carpio and Conchita Carpio-Morales moved to block former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza’s plea to stand as the tribunal’s “friend” in resolving the petitions against the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. That Mendoza moved, in the Comment he asked the SC to admit, for the dismissal of the petitions shows that his “offer of friendly advice” to the SC in resolving the petitions but a motion to intervene, the group of petitioners led by the Carpios said. In a Manifestation with Opposition and Reply, the Carpios also said Mendoza failed to satisfy the requirements to participate as amicus curiae in the cases. A separate petition filed through the Free Legal Assistance Group also sought the denial of Mendoza’s Petition for Leave. They said that Mendoza is seeking to intervene in the case as a third person and not to serve as a “friend of court.” FLAG also called Mendoza’s submission as “frivolous and dilatory,” and “disruptive to the orderly administration of justice” as it further adds to the already voluminous records the SC is resolving.
Robredo questions Pemberton pardon | INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday questioned President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to grant absolute pardon to US Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton, which abruptly cut short his 10-year imprisonment for killing transgender woman Jennifer Laude and settled the legal dispute over whether his sentence should be considered fully served. “Was this a fair and just decision?” Robredo asked, citing as a backdrop the thousands of Filipinos who remained in prison but too poor to pay for lawyers to get their cases resolved. “Pemberton had lawyers, special detention facilities, a quick public trial, and an appeal. Now it appears more clear that he also had resources to ensure that he could draw attention to his case from the President himself,” she said in a statement. In her statement, Robredo said the pardon for Pemberton was “one of the numerous instances where the government favors the powerful.” “There are so many Filipinos with much lighter offenses who are not given attention or being granted this kind of privilege. What we see is the poor are punished and the rich and powerful are freed,” the Vice President said.
Makabayan solons lash out at Badoy, PCOO budget briefing suspended | Manila Bulletin – The Presidential Communication Operations Office (PCOO) became the first agency of government to have its budget deliberation suspended during the House deliberations on the P4.506-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2021. This, after members of the Makabayan Bloc moved for the PCOO budget’s suspension amid the supposed constant vilification and “red-tagging” of Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy against the militant congressmen. Makabayan solon ACT-Teachers Party-List Rep. France Castro made the motion a few minutes after the Committee on Appropriations chaired by ACT-CIS Party-List Rep. Eric Go Yap opened the briefing on the PCOO’s proposed budget of P1.59 billion for next year. Deputy Minority Leader, Bayan Muna Party List Rep. Carlos Zarate seconded the move, after lashing out at Badoy whom he repeatedly called as “an unelected factotum.” Zarate said he couldn’t stomach the fact that PCOO is asking the House of Representatives for a new budget, only for its officials to use the money in supposedly branding duly-elected lawmakers as New People’s Army (NPA) officials, and by extension, “terrorists.”
Govt mulls ‘no home quarantine’ to reduce Covid cases | The Manila Times – The government is eyeing the strict implementation of the proposed “no home quarantine” policy for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients to slow down the number of new cases in the country, a Cabinet official said. Presidential peace adviser Carlito Galvez, Jr., chief implementer of the national policy against Covid-19, said the proposal, which has yet to be approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), is seen as a move to bring down new coronavirus cases to a single-digit level.
