News Roundup 16 September 2021
Sep 16, 2021 • 5 min Read
DOH logs 21,261 more COVID-19 cases | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines on Thursday listed 21,261 new coronavirus cases to push its caseload to 2,304,192. Today’s figures saw active cases up by 7,500 from the 170,446 on September 15. The Department of Health said two laboratories did not turn in screening results.
- Active cases: 177,946 or 7.7% of the total
- Recoveries: 13,644, bringing the number to 2,090,228
- Deaths: 277, or now 36,018 in total
ICC probe a chance for justice for ‘death squad’ killings in Davao too — HRW | PHILSTAR.COM – The decision of the International Criminal Court’s pre-trial chamber to authorize an investigation into alleged extrajudicial killings in the government’s “war on drugs” is also a significant moment for families of those killed in President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown, a rights group said on Thursday. The ICC on Wednesday formally authorized an official probe into crimes against humanity allegedly committed under the leadership of Duterte in the context of his signature anti-narcotics crackdown. The probe will also cover alleged killings in Davao City between 2011 and 2016, when he was in the local government of the southern Philippine city. “This is quite significant, and this is a momentous occasion obviously for the families of the victims of not just of the drug war, but of the Davao death squad killings,” Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel. “The fact that the ICC pre-trial chamber included the killings from 2011 to 2016 is hugely, hugely important because they’re trying to establish these were very systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, and there are tons of evidence, of witnesses, of information that they can access to try to prove their case,” added Conde, a journalist based in Davao City from 1996 to 2006. The said killings were allegedly committed by the so-called “Davao Dead Squad”, the original meaning of the acronym DDS. “Persons involved in these killings in some cases appear to (be) the very same people that were later involved in the ‘war on drugs’ campaign,” ICC prosecutors said. Conde said that the move of the Hague-based tribunal may push the relatives of those killed in the government’s to “seek further justice.” “This will be justice to them. Even at the very, very early stage of this investigation, this already means a lot to them,” Conde said.
Corruption scandals under Duterte: From whiff to helplessness | INQUIRER.NET –The transition of President Rodrigo Duterte from tough talk to seeming helplessness against corruption was palpable. The President, who once declared he won’t condone even a “whiff” of corruption, has been drawn to saying “you cannot stop corruption” by what he and his explainers said was the sheer enormity of the problem. In his last State of the Nation Address, Duterte said corruption was “endemic in government” and “nobody can stop corruption unless you overturn the government completely.” To get rid of corruption, he said martial law should be declared. He earlier said “the most that we can do is to fight it” because “if you don’t want corruption, then close the government.” “We are not proclaiming that we have gotten rid of corruption. There is still corruption in this government and any other government that will come after me and in the past — it is always there,” he said. In 2016, however, when he was still campaigning for the presidency, Duterte declared that if he was elected, he will get rid of corruption. “Give me about three to six months,” he said. Five years later, the Commission on Audit (COA) released a report finding “deficiencies” in the use of P67.3 billion by the Department of Health (DOH) in the fight against COVID-19, including P41 billion transferred to the Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).
Processing fees for donated blood dictated by gov’t, says PH Red Cross | Manila Bulletin – The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) on Thursday, Sept. 16, said that the processing fees for the blood it collects through its facilities are dictated by the government through the Department of Health (DOH). “Although the blood is donated, there are costs involved in processing the blood,” said the PRC in a statement. This after President Duterte, during his latest “Talk to the People” episode aired this morning, questioned why the country’s foremost humanitarian organization charges for blood even if these are donated by the country’s citizens. In a Facebook post, PH Red Cross also explained that while the blood itself is free, those who would want to avail would have to pay for the “processing fee.” Citing information from the website of the DOH, PRC stated: “While donated blood is free, there are significant costs associated with collecting, testing, preparing, components, labeling, storing and shipping, recruiting and educating donors, and quality assurance. As a result, processing fees are charged to recover costs. Processing fees for individual blood components vary considerably.” Furthermore, PRC noted that DOH Administrative Order 2015-004 also stated that the “maximum allowable blood service fees for the provision of whole blood and blood components shall be applicable to all Blood Service Facilities in the Philippines be they under the national government, private, Local Government Unit, and the Philippine Red Cross.” The PRC maintained that it continues to adhere to these allowable processing fees. “We are doing cost recovery according to the law,” PRC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Senator Richard Gordon added.
