News Roundup 10 November 2021
Nov 10, 2021 • 4 min Read
DOH logs 2,646 new COVID-19 cases, 7 labs without data | PHILSTAR.COM – Health authorities on Wednesday reported 2,646 new coronavirus cases, pushing the country’s caseload to 2,809,311. According to the Department of Health, 1.0% of the Philippines’ total count of infections remain as active cases. The figures today did not include testing results from seven laboratories. “Based on data in the last 14 days, the seven non-reporting labs contribute, on average, 15.2% of samples tested and 5.1% of positive individuals,” DOH added.
- Active cases: 29,138 or 1.0% of the total
- Deaths: 99, pushing the count to 44,665
- Recoveries: 4,029 bringing the number to 2,735,508
Senate security fails to arrest Lao in NCR, to search for him outside Luzon | PHILSTAR.COM – Senate security on Wednesday said it has been unable to arrest former Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao who was cited in contempt last week for flouting blue ribbon panel hearings on the anomalous contracts he awarded to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. “[W]e attempted to serve the arrest order in his known address in [M]etro [M]anila, but the [r]esidential condo was unoccupied and reported to be in another individual’s name,” Rene Samonte, Senate sergeant-at-arms, told Philstar.com. “We will serve again in at least [four] given addresses in [M]indanao and [the V]isayas, within the next coming days after completing admin and logistical requirements.” Lao, former chief of the Department of Budget and Management’s procurement service, is the latest personality involved in the government’s controversial deals with its favored pandemic supplier to dodge a warrant for arrest and detention. He joins Pharmally executives Mohit Dargani and Twinkle Dargani who are still at large despite being cited in contempt for refusing to show the Senate panel source documents related to the firm’s deals transactions with PS-DBM.
Comelec: May 2022 voting hours to run from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. | INQUIRER.NET – The voting hours for the national elections next year are set from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., which can be extended depending on the number of voters, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Wednesday. “We start at 6 o’clock in the morning and end at 7 (p.m.), however, at 7 o’clock if there are still voters outside the polling place… we will still continue with the voting,” Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo told the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms. “We do not expect that it will end at 7 o’clock, it will continue until such time all those inside or within 30 meters will be catered. We have procedures on that,” he added. Meanwhile, Comelec on Wednesday also said that candidates in the 2022 national and local elections may be allowed to do limited in-person campaigning amid the easing of the lockdown restrictions due to decreasing COVID-19 cases. During the Laging Handa briefing, Comelec Director Elaiza David said that they are currently finalizing its guidelines for the conduct of physical campaigns.
Drilon: Too early to tell whether PH is winning COVID-19 battle | Manila Bulletin – Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon on Wednesday November 10 said it is too early to say that the Philippines is winning the battle against COVID-19. Drilon cited the pandemic’s devastating effects on the economy, lost jobs that need to be recovered, businesses needing government intervention, and, most importantly, the need for booster shots for next year. “I think it is difficult to dispute that our country’s recovery is still in limbo. Whatever we have accomplished thus far can be reversed when COVID-19 cases rise again or a more contagious virus enters the country,” Drilon explained. Drilon gave this assessment during Senate plenary deliberations on the proposed 2022 P5.024 trillion national budget. President Duterte had earlier claimed that the country is winning the battle against COVID-19. “We are happy to hear the President saying that we are winning the battle against COVID-19,” Drilon said. “However, I think it’s too early to tell especially with the recent survey done by Bloomberg that our country is the least resilient among those surveyed and therefore, the worst place to be in during the pandemic. We face a long road to recovery,” he added. This is why, Drilon emphasized, the 2022 national budget should prioritize the purchase of vaccines and the needs of the health sector. Drilon insisted that the funding for the procurement of booster shots should be part of the programmed budget in 2022, fearing that the absence of a clear source of funds might derail the procurement of the much-needed booster shots.
