News Roundup 14 December 2021
Dec 14, 2021 • 4 min Read
Duterte backs out of Senate race | PHILSTAR.COM – President Rodrigo Duterte has backed out from the Senate race, formally withdrawing on Tuesday his candidacy for senator in the 2022 elections. Duterte personally filed his statement of withdrawal with the Commission on Elections, accompanied by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, as seen in a photo posted by the poll body’s spokesperson James Jimenez. The president’s withdrawal from the Senate race came just hours after he was endorsed by his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, for senator and after his long-time aide, Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, officially withdrew his candidacy for president.
‘Ayaw daw ma-violate ang Procurement Law?’: Sotto taunts Duque on botched syringe deal | INQUIRER.NET – Health Secretary Francisco Duque III’s assertion of the procurement law to justify the alleged botched P50 million Covid-19 vaccine syringe deal baffled Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III. In a Twitter post on Tuesday, Sotto wrote: “Ayaw daw ma-violate ang Procurement Law? Sana ‘yan din ang dahilan sa Pharmally procurements! Magaling ha!” (They don’t want to violate the Procurement Law? That should have been also the reason for the Pharmally procurements! Amazing!) Sotto did not mince words when asked in a text message who he was referring to on his Twitter post. “Duque. Kaya daw hindi kinuha yung syringes ng Pfizer,” the Senate leader said. Foreign Affairs Secretary Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. earlier claimed that the government “dropped the ball again” on an offer for 50 million syringes when the Department of Health (DOH) offered to pay a company USD 4.7 cents or P2.39 per syringe. “No one on the planet makes special PFIZER LOW DEAD VOLUME SYRINGES that cheap; 7 cents is the absolute lowest. UNICEF pays double. Make all purchases public,” Locsin said in a tweet over the weekend.
VP Robredo, late CHR Chair Gascon recognized as 2021 ‘Equality Champs’ | Manila Bulletin – Recognized for their advancement of the rights and welfare of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and agender (LGBTQI+) in the Philippines, Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo and the late Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chairperson Jose Luis Martin “Chito” Gascon will be honored during this year’s Equality Champ Awards. In a statement, TLF Sexuality, Health and Rights Educators Collective (TLF Share Collective, Inc.) President Ferdinand Buenviaje encouraged the nomination of individuals, organizations, and institutions that demonstrate commitment in advancing the rights and welfare of LGBTQI+ Filipino. Buenviaje said that Robredo and Gascon have been selected for this year’s roster of 2021 Equality Champs, which also includes the Philippine Educational Theater Association (Art, Culture and Entertainment Category), University of the Philippines Professor J. Neil C. Garcia (Education Category), Cebu City Councilor Alvin M. Dizon and Batangas Provincial Board Member Claudette Ambida (Governance and Public Service Category). “Our 2018 awardees were Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Gov. Kaka Bag-ao, former CHR Chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales, Ms. Heart Evangelista, Ms. Tootsie Angara, Vice Ganda, Anne Curtis, and Karen Davila,” Buenviaje said. This year, awardees will be honored in the Awards Night on Dec. 17, starting at 6 p.m. at the Academy of Rock in Quezon City. It will be a private reception to be attended by some awardees and invited LGBTQI advocates and allies, but it will also be livestreamed on Facebook. Senator Hontiveros, who also chaired the Selection Committee, will be delivering the keynote speech to underscore the importance of championing human rights and being allies to the LGBTQI+ community.
DOH: All regions at ‘minimal risk’ case classification for COVID-19, only 235 new cases detected | Manila Bulletin – The Department of Health (DOH) said that all regions in the country are now under the minimal risk case classification for coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The Philippines’ COVID-19 situation continues to improve as it recorded only 235 new infections on Tuesday, Dec. 14. This was the lowest single-day tally since May 23, 2020 when the country recorded 180 cases at that time. Also, the country has been recording less than 1,000 cases since Nov. 24, 2021. “[The] national level remained at minimal risk with continued negative two-week growth rates over the past month and our ADAR [average daily attack] is only less than one per 100,000 population. Lahat na rin ng ating regions ay nasa minimal risk po (All of our regions are at minimal risk),” said DOH-Epidemiology Bureau Director Dr. Alethea De Guzman in a press briefing on Tuesday, Dec. 14. “All provinces, HUCs (highly urbanized cities), and ICCs (independent component cities) of areas remain under Alert Level 2 with minimal to low risk case classification,” she added. The country’s health systems capacity is also at low risk classification in all regions. Based on the latest case bulletin, the total number of active COVID-19 infections in the country stood at 10,526. Of those who are still being treated, 4,104 have mild symptoms, 3,502 have moderate symptoms, 1,868 have severe symptoms, 659 are asymptomatic, and 393 are critically ill. The DOH also logged 780 new recoveries. These brought the survivor’s tally to 2,775,991, representing 97.9 percent of the case total. However, 10 new deaths were confirmed, causing the country’s death toll to jump to 50,351 or 1.77 percent of the total number of confirmed cases.
