News Roundup 12 March 2022
Mar 12, 2022 • 4 min Read
Robredo leans heavily on track record to shatter ‘Solid North’ | PHILSTAR.COM – In her first foray as presidential candidate into the bailiwick of her political archrival, Vice President Leni Robredo repeatedly harped on her track record of helping people in the so-called “Solid North.” “When I was sitting vice president, even though I was here with you, every disaster, I was one of the earliest,” Robredo told hundreds of supporters at a mini-rally in Tuguegarao City. (When I was elected vice president, even if I suffered a massive defeat here, I was among the first to be here in every disaster.) Robredo only got over 50,000 votes in Cagayan in the 2016 vice-presidential race, which pales in comparison to the over 370,000 votes handily clinched by her closest opponent for the post, former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. But despite this, Robredo and her office have always responded whenever calamities hit Cagayan, like Typhoon Ulysses that caused widespread flooding in the province or the COVID-19 pandemi that led to shortages in personal protective equipment for frontline health workers. “Not only did I go, not only did I show up, but we always leave a team here to do relief operations, all the storms that go through from 2016 to 2021,” she said. (I just didn’t go here, I just didn’t make an appearance, but I always left a team here for relief operations in all the typhoons that hit from 2016 until 2021.) She added, “At the same time as the pandemia, when we were running out of PPE sets of medical supplies, we were sending supplies to hospitals in the RHU (regional health units) here in Cagayan.” (During the pandemic, when PPE sets and medical supplies were running low, we regularly sent supplies to hospitals and RHUs here in Cagayan.) This, she said, is proof that she has — and will continue to — serve people regardless of their political color. These acts were also recalled by Tuguegarao City Councillor Marj Martin-Chan in her rousing introduction of Robredo at the mini-rally. She remembered how during the onslaught of Ulysses, Robredo was responding to tweets from Tuguegarao residents appealing for help in the middle of the night. “They all sleep, but he even responds to a tweet of Tuguegarueño,” Martin-Chan said. (They were all asleep, but she was responding to tweets of Tuguegarueños.) Alcala Mayor Tin Antonio also recalled how Robredo and her office reached the Cagayan town even if it was mostly inundated after Ulysses and how they sent 500 sacks of rice after its onslaught. “We were really supported in the hardest part of the day,” he said. That’s what we never forgot here in Alcala. Alcala remembers. The north remembers,” Antonio said in an interview at the sidelines of Robredo’s campaign stop in the town. (We were assisted during the most difficult part of that challenge. That is what we would never forget here in Alcala. Alacala remembers. The north remembers.)
‘Bring him to me!’: DFA hunts down alleged employee selling passport appointment slots | Manila Bulletin – “Bring him to my office.” This was Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.’s order after receiving reports that a man claiming to be an employee at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is selling passport appointment slots running away with his victims’ money. Locsin said this after a Twitter user reached out to Locsin and the DFA via the said social media platform with screenshots of their conversation and social media posts of different Facebook users selling appointment slots. The screenshots included Facebook posts and exchanges with a man who claimed to be an employee at the DFA. Locsin acknowledged the tweet and asked DFA Undersecretary Dodo Dulay to find the man. In response, Dulay said the DFA had started coordinating with the Philippine National Police (PNA) to catch the suspect.
DFA: 309 Filipinos so far evacuated from Ukraine | INQUIRER.NET – A total of 309 Filipinos have so far been assisted by the Philippine government in evacuating war-torn Ukraine amid the military actions initiated by Russia, according to Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola. Arriola, in a social media post, said 150 Filipinos have already been repatriated to the Philippines while 159 have been evacuated from Ukraine and are staying in nearby European countries as of Friday afternoon. On Thursday night, Filipino seafarers from the MV Key Knight, MV Star Helena and MV Pavlina also arrived in the Philippines. They were assisted by the Honorary Consulate in Moldova and the Philippine Embassy Budapest team in Bucharest, Romania.
