News Roundup 15 February 2022
Feb 15, 2022 • 5 min Read
Robredo says kind of government in next 6 years at stake in May polls | INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo, a contender in this year’s presidential race, on Tuesday headed to Roxas City in Capiz where she shared her vision of what a government should be and reminded the public about what is really at stake on May 9. “Meron po akong paniniwala, dahil alam niyo na ‘yung eleksyon na ito hindi siya pareho noong nakaraan na contest lang ng mga kandidato. Pero ang eleksyon na ito, ang dedesisyunan natin, anong klaseng pamahalaan ang gusto natin para sa bansa natin sa susunod na anim na taon?,” she said during an event at the Dinggoy Roxas Civic Center with members of the Robredo People’s Council. (I have a belief, the election is not the same as before, it is no longer just a contest between candidates. This election, we will decide: what kind of government do we really want in the next six years?) “Ayaw na natin na sobrang politika. Ang gusto natin, pagkatapos ng eleksyon, tapos na ‘yung politika, magtrabaho na at manilbihan na, hindi na titingin sa ibang kulay o Partido,” she added. (We don’t want too much politics. What we want is after the election, politics is over, it’s time to serve, it’s no longer about the color or party.) Robredo visited Roxas City to kick off her two-day tour of Panay Island. During Tuesday’s event, Roxas City Mayor Ronnie Dadivas said Robredo got the support of more than 50,000 residents during the vice presidential race in 2016. “In the span of six years of her service, her record is clean. There is no hint of corruption. It is guaranteed that she can be trusted and that she cares for us,” the mayor said in Ilonggo. Robredo also looked back on the support she received from the city in 2016. “Parati pong masayang-masaya ako pag nakakabalik ako dito sa Roxas City saka sa Capiz. Maraming magagandang alaala. ‘Yung pinakauna ko pong bisita po dito noong kumakandidato ako bilang Pangalawang Pangulo. ‘Yun po ay pagpunta ko ay hindi niyo pa ako kilala. Nagpapakilala pa lang ako pero napakalaki ng tulong na ibinigay niyo sa akin sa eleksyon,” she said. (I am always happy when I am able to come to Roxas City and the rest of Capiz. There are a lot of good memories. The first time I visited, I was running for vice president. Nobody knew who I was when I first visited. I just introduced myself then but you helped me a lot during the election.)
Petitioners appeal junked disqualification case vs Marcos | PHILSTAR.COM – Petitioners seeking the disqualification of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. from the 2022 polls on Tuesday appealed the dismissal of the case, insisting that the survey frontrunner was convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude. Two of the three petitioners whose case was dismissed by the Former First Division of the Commission on Election filed their separate motions for reconsideration, seeking the reversal of the February 10 resolution of poll body. In a vote of 2-0, the Former First Division voted unanimously to dismiss the three consolidated disqualification petitions against Marcos, clearing him of the bulk of major legal challenges against his candidacy. Like most of the petitions filed against Marcos, the disqualification pleas anchored their argument on the aspirant’s conviction of failure to file Income Tax Returns for four years. But the Comelec said the failure to file tax returns is not inherently immoral (mala in se), since it was only punished through the enactment of the Tax Code (mala prohibita), and is therefore not a crime involving moral turpitiude. Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez earlier explained that “mala in se (“evil in itself”) is a crime that is by itself is naturally wrong — for example, murder. You don’t need a law to tell you that murder is wrong, but there are some offenses that are mala prohibitum (“wrong because prohibited”) which means they are considered wrong under the law only because special law exists to penalize it.” Petitioners from the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law, represented by lawyer Howard Calleja, maintained that Marcos’ conviction was of a crime involving moral turpitude. “With all due respect to the Honorable First Division, this oversimplification of the nature of the crimes involving moral turpitude—classifying the same as either mala in se or malum prohibitum is not on all fours as how moral turpitude is classified,” their motion read. They also asserted that the jurisprudence cited by Comelec Commissioner Aimee Ferolino, ponente of the case, has been superseded by more recent ones.
DOH logs 2,010 new COVID-19 cases | Manila Bulletin – The Department of Health reported 2,010 fresh coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases on Tuesday, Feb. 15, the lowest daily count for the year so far. This was the lowest daily tally recorded by DOH, the last was on Dec. 30, 2021 when it reported 1,153 new cases. It was also during the point that cases were beginning to increase. Tuesday’s case bulletin brings the total number of cases to 3,641,940 since the beginning of the pandemic. Active cases continue to decline and stood at 72,305 or 2 percent of the total number of cases with 93.5 percent of them considered to be mild and asymptomatic, according to DOH. Among the active cases, 66,093 are mild; 2,961 are moderate; 1,498 are asymptomatic; 1,441 are severe; while 312 are in critical condition. DOH said that of the 2,010 reported cases, 1,570 or 78 percent occurred within the recent 14 days from Feb. 2 to Feb. 15. The top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were NCR with 238 or 15 percent; Region 4-A with 183 or 12 percent and Region 6 with 159 or 10 percent. The agency mentioned that all labs were operational on Feb. 13. However 5 labs were not able to submit their data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS).
