News Roundup 14 April 2022
Apr 14, 2022 • 4 min Read
Death toll from Philippines landslides, floods hits 115 | PHILSTAR.COM – The death toll from landslides and flooding in the Philippines triggered by tropical storm Megi hit 115 on Thursday, official figures showed, as more bodies were found in mud-caked villages. Scores of people are still missing and feared dead after the strongest storm to strike the archipelago nation this year dumped heavy rain over several days, forcing tens of thousands into evacuation centres. In the central province of Leyte — the worst affected by Megi — devastating landslides smashed farming and fishing communities, wiping out houses and transforming the landscape. The disaster-prone region is regularly ravaged by storms — including a direct hit from Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 — with scientists warning they are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of human-driven climate change. Emergency personnel in Abuyog municipality have retrieved dozens of bodies from a coastal village destroyed by a landslide on Tuesday. At least 26 people were killed and around 150 are missing, authorities said, with little hope of finding anyone else alive. Many of those who died had hiked up the mountain to avoid flash floods, villagers told AFP.
DOH: Rollout of second booster for vulnerable populations to begin soon | PHILSTAR.COM – The rollout of a second COVID-19 booster shot for senior citizens, immunocompromised individuals, and health workers may begin soon, the Department of Health said Thursday. The DOH said the National COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Center continues to work over the holiday break “to carefully write rollout guidelines for the second booster dose.” “NVOC aims to roll out the second booster for specific populations nationwide as soon as possible,” the agency said. “The choice of vaccine brands will be made based on the additional EUA and in careful consideration of operational realities such as cold chain logistics, among others,” it added. The country’s Food and Drug Administration allowed the administration of a second booster to vulnerable populations at least four months after the first booster. The additional dose can be given earlier to moderately and severely immunocompromised patients subject to attending physician’s assessment. Senior citizens and people with comorbidities are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
Gun ban dispute splits top Comelec officials | INQUIRER.NET – A dispute over who should grant exemptions to the gun ban has caused a split in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) after the head of its committee in charge of poll security resigned on Tuesday in protest against a resolution that essentially stripped her panel of that responsibility. Giving exemptions to the gun ban during elections has always been the task of the committee on the ban on firearms and security concerns (CBFSC), which for the May 9 polls was headed by Commissioner Socorro Inting. But on April 6, four of the seven poll commissioners approved a resolution giving Comelec Chair Saidamen Pangarungan blanket authority to grant exemptions. In an April 12 memorandum to the other members of the poll body that was leaked to the press late on Tuesday, Inting said her position as chair of the committee became useless because of the authority given to Pangarungan. It is CBFSC’s responsibility to screen all applications for gun ban exemption. “I cannot in good conscience continue to remain as CBFSC chairperson when this same position has already been made inutile due to the enactment of Comelec Resolution No. 10777,” she wrote. “In protest, I hereby irrevocably resign as CBFSC chairperson effectively immediately.” The gun ban, which started on Jan. 9 and will be in effect until June 8, is seen as a way to reduce if not eliminate election violence for which the Philippines has been notorious.
Mom of food pantry advocate sues Lorraine Badoy | INQUIRER.NET – The mother of Ana Patricia “Patreng” Non, who put up the Maginhawa community pantry, has filed a complaint against Lorraine Badoy, the controversial spokesperson of the government’s anticommunist task force, for red-tagging her daughter and committing “mental and psychological” torture. Zena Bernardo, Non’s mother, filed in the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday an 18-page complaint — the sixth against Badoy — seeking her suspension from office and asking Ombudsman Samuel Martires to conduct disciplinary proceedings to determine her administrative, civil, and criminal liabilities. Bernardo, accompanied by lawyer Antonio La Viña, cited posts made and shared by Badoy and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) in April 2021, the month that Non launched the community pantry on Maginhawa Street in Quezon City. Non’s idea not only helped people reeling from the economic effects of lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic but also inspired thousands nationwide to replicate her efforts. The April 19 post on the “Peace Philippines” Facebook page alleged that community pantries were “weapons of communists to recruit members” without providing basis. The post was shared by NTF-Elcac’s Facebook page and eight other Facebook pages and profiles which, according to Bernardo’s complaint, “like Peace Philippines, either have links to the Philippine National Police, or publish posts, comments and memes similar to the NTF-Elcac’s, or both.” Bernardo likewise cited a press statement made by Badoy that the latter also posted in her Facebook page on April 20, calling the community pantry a “modus operandi” of communist groups.
