News Roundup 13 April 2020
Apr 13, 2020 • 2 min Read
Lawyer asks SC to compel release of info on Duterte’s health | PHILSTAR.COM – Lawyer Dino De Leon in a Facebook post Monday evening said that he filed an Extremely Urgent Petition for Mandamus asking the SC to direct Duterte, through the Office of the President and/or Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, to disclose his medical records, undergo confirmatory tests on them, and release these tests’ results. This is to confirm whether Duterte is still fit to lead the country, said De Leon. De Leon also asked the SC to set oral arguments on his petition, through teleconferencing, noting the Luzon-wide lockdown that has forced courts to be physically closed. Transparency on matters regarding the chief executive’s health—a matter typically dodged by the Palace—is enshrined in the nation’s charter.
Pasig to fill gap left by gov’t aid | INQUIRER.NET – Pasig City is stepping in to fill the gap left by the national government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP), which left thousands of families uncovered and dozens of local governments wondering who among the neediest of their residents to prioritize. The city originally requested funding for 206,000 families from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the agency in charge of administering the aid package, but was given enough for less than half of that, or just 93,000 families.
IATF recommends lifting of deployment ban on healthcare workers | Manila Bulletin – A government task force has endorsed the lifting of the deployment ban on Filipino health workers with existing contracts abroad, allowing them to leave the country. Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo made the announcement following a meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on the travel restrictions on health workers. “During the IATF meeting, we reconsidered the policy on the travel ban on health workers. Those with existing perfected employment contracts will be able to leave,” Panelo said in a statement Monday.
Covid-19 pandemic may last until Jan in absence of intervention — DoH | The Manila Times – THE coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic may last until January 2021 if there will be no intervention, the Department of Health (DoH) said on Monday. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a televised briefing that the estimation came from scientists and mathematicians who predict that this would be a “worst case scenario if no intervention would be done”. Vergeire said that vaccines for the coronavirus being developed by other countries would take about six to 12 months or even one and half years before it could be ready for commercial use.
