News Roundup 14 December 2020
Dec 14, 2020 • 4 min Read
SWS: Only 16% of Filipino families say they aren’t poor | PHILSTAR.COM – At least 84% of Filipino families are poor or borderline poor, while only 16% feel they are not, new survey results published Monday indicate. According to a Social Weather Stations survey, 48% of families included in the survey identified themselves as “poor,” while 36% felt they were “borderline poor,” and only 16% claimed they were “not poor.” Survey results also showed that at least 78% of Filipinos were food poor or borderline food poor, with the results suggesting that 31% identified as food poor, while the borderline food-poor were 47%, and the non-food-poor were 22%. Of these numbers, 8.2% of families were described as “newly poor,” having described themselves as non-poor or borderline poor anywhere between 1-4 years ago. SWS added that Filipinos identifying as poor or borderline poor increased across the board from numbers recorded the year before as families who identified as “not poor” declined in Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao, while families that felt they were not food poor generally decreased in all areas.
Robredo leads groundbreaking of Naga City COVID-19 testing lab INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday led the groundbreaking of an RT-PCR Molecular Laboratory in Naga City, Camarines Sur. The construction of the RT-PCR Molecular Laboratory in Naga City was to speed up testing capabilities in the Bicol Region. According to the Office of the Vice President (OVP), the project was partly funded by the said office, allocating P5 million for the construction of the laboratory which will be able to process COVID-19 swab test samples. An RT-PCR test is considered the gold standard for coronavirus testing. As of now, OVP said that Naga City — Robredo’s hometown — can only submit a limited amount of swab samples because the current laboratory also caters to other local government units in the vicinity. “The Office of the Vice President allocated P5 million to help in the establishment of the laboratory, which seeks to speed up the testing of suspected COVID-19 cases in the city, as well as the identification, isolation, and treatment of confirmed cases,” OVP said in a statement.
Pope Francis extends ‘very warm’ greetings to Filipinos | Manila Bulletin – Pope Francis has sent his “very warm” greetings to the Filipino nation and continued to cherish his 2015 visit to the Philippines, according to his papal representative to Manila. New Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Charles John Brown conveyed the Pope’s message and mentioned the “excellent relations” between the Holy See and the Philippines during the presentation of his credentials to President Duterte in Malacañang. The US-born archbishop arrived in Manila late last month to start his stint as head of the Holy See’s diplomatic mission to the Philippines. “Mr. President, allow me to convey to you and to all the people of the Republic of the Philippines the very warm personal greetings of His Holiness Pope Francis,” the papal nuncio said while Duterte attended the Palace event via video conference from the Malago clubhouse. “As all of us remember so well, Pope Francis visited your nation six years ago – almost six years ago – in January 2015. I know that his visit has remained very much alive in his heart and his mind in these intervening years,” he said.
RFID mess gets Senate attention, hearing set | Malaya Business Insight – Even as the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Corp. has announced it would reopen its cash lanes during the holidays to ease road congestion while it fixes its faulty Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system, the Senate committee on public services will continue with its planned hearing into the mess caused by the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) cashless transaction program. Sen. Grace Poe, committee chairwoman, said the hearing will be in line with the three resolutions filed by Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Nancy Binay, and Imee Marcos who want the RFID issue resolved through corrections in existing legislation. In particular, senators are eyeing improvements in road traffic which have been a perennial problem in major thoroughfares in the country. The Senate has invited Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade to explain the RFID mess which was first ordered implemented in October but was later extended to December since toll concessionaires were apparently not yet prepared for the program.
