News Roundup 11 September 2021
Sep 11, 2021 • 4 min Read
Philippines logs new record-high 26,603 COVID-19 cases | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines logged once again its highest number of daily coronavirus cases since the pandemic began with health authorities reporting Saturday 26,303 new infections, pushing the total to 2,206,021.
- Active cases: 185,706 or 8.4% of the total
- Recoveries: 16,013, bringing the number to 1,985,337
- Deaths: 79, or now 34,978 in total
Comelec asks Congress to increase 2022 budget | PHILSTAR.COM – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday called for an increase in its P26-billion proposed budget for next year when the national elections will be held. During the budget hearing, Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abas asked congressmen to restore their proposed P41.992-billion budget for 2022 that was slashed by P15.495 billion in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to Congress. Abas revealed that their budget in the NEP does not include the special risk allowance (SRA) or hazard pay for election workers, including teachers who will serve as board of election inspectors (BEIs). “As to the hazard pay, we asked that of DBM. Unfortunately, it was not approved. Right now, our budget does not cover hazard pay,” he revealed to members of the appropriations committee. “I hope you will also consider a special risk allowance because we are in a pandemic. We should consider a counterpart of the health workers’ SRA and service credits. The law says we should give five days of service credits. I hope this will be increased,” Abas said. Lawmakers agreed to the need to increase the poll body’s budget for 2022, an election year, and with the country still expected to be dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Role of ex-Palace aide bared in Pharmally probe | INQUIRER.NET – The cat is out of the bag. President Duterte’s former economic adviser Michael Yang personally loaned money to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. last year as the undercapitalized company struggled to pay Chinese companies for medical supplies ordered by the Philippine government, the company’s Singaporean chair and president Huang Tzu Yen told senators on Friday. Huang’s bombshell testimony belied Yang’s claim in the early part of Friday’s Senate blue ribbon inquiry that he had only introduced one of the company’s Filipino directors, Linconn Ong, to his friends among Chinese suppliers in China. Ong, who also testified, told the senators that Yang, a close personal friend of Mr. Duterte, had advanced the payment to the Chinese suppliers and guaranteed that Pharmally would be able to pay up. Testifying from Singapore, a visibly distressed Huang told senators that Yang offered to lend money to Pharmally “so we will be able to pay for [the supplies], so we don’t get blacklisted” after his company had won billions of pesos in government contracts “We will pay him back once we receive the money from the government,” Huang said during a video conference. Ong confirmed his boss’ statement. “Mr. Chairman, to be precise, Michael Yang paid for the stocks,” he said. Pressed for the amounts they borrowed, neither Huang nor Ong could immediately say how much Yang lent Pharmally, saying they needed to check their records. “Now the cat is out of the bag. I’m sorry but you’re still being evasive,” the committee chair, Sen. Richard Gordon said.
Archbishops tell Filipinos: Resist culture of murder, plunder | Manila Bulletin – Three archbishops from Northern Luzon on Saturday, Sept. 11, reminded Filipinos of their moral duty to resist the culture of murder and plunder. In a pastoral message signed by Nueva Segovia Archbishop Marlo Peralta, Lingayen Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, and Tuguegarao Archbishop Ricardo Baccay, the archbishops condemned the killing of over 30,000 Filipinos who have been killed in the campaign against illegal drugs for the past five years. “It is like living in the valley of death — killing of drug users and opponents; helpless death in the pandemic, death by governance without vision, death by shameless corruption that seems to break all records. Killings! Murders! Deaths!” the pastoral message read. Archbishops Peralta, Villegas, and Baccay also denounced the killing of journalists, political opponents, court judges, and priests, and well as critics who have been threatened. “The pandemic was a calamity of nature that we could not control. We saw death in our homes and offices. The heroic medical health workers risked their safety and some perished with their PPEs on. While other nations have risen from the pandemic, our death toll continues to rise,” they added. The archbishops decried the “ridiculous confusing quarantine classifications,” which “slowly kill” the poor from joblessness. “Bullets kill. Viruses kill. Governance without direction kills. Corruption kills. Trolls kill with fake news. Hunger kills. The poor pay for the corruption of the powerful. The nation is sinking in debt.” The archbishops called for a “non-violent resistance” and full investigation on “any whiff of corruption.” “We have a moral duty to resist and correct a culture of murder and plunder as much as the prolonged pattern of hiding or destroying the truth.” They also urged the youth and first-time voters to register.
