News Roundup 17 December 2020
Dec 17, 2020 • 4 min Read
A day after ICC issues statement on drug war, Duterte says didn’t kill anyone | PHILSTAR.COM – President Rodrigo Duterte maintained that he neither killed anybody nor ordered the execution of suspects a day after the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor said there is “reasonable basis” to believe crimes against humanity were committed in the Philippines in relation to the government’s war on drugs. Duterte, whose crackdown on narcotics have resulted in the death of about 6,000 suspects, said while he ordered the police to destroy the drug apparatus, he reminded them to apply what they have learned on law enforcement. “May mga pulis na talagang may ano sa – diretso salvage ganoon. Wala akong inutos na ganoon (There are policemen who immediate execute suspects. I did not order them to do so), Remember, in all of my utterances, I was angry when I said ‘Do not destroy my country, the Republic of the Philippines, who elected me as president. Do not destroy our sons and daughters because I will kill you,'” the president said during a public address last Wednesday. “Ang problema, wala pa akong pinatay. Marami ako dito sa puso ko, marami akong patay na pag-ibig. Wala akong pinatay na tao. Ganoon ‘yan (The problem is, I have not killed anybody. I have killed a lot of love here in my heart but I did not kill any person. That’s the way it is),” he added. “Iyang human rights, maski saan tayo magpunta. Tignan mo, i-review mo lahat (Human rights advocates can check it wherever we go. Review everything. ‘Enforce the law in accordance with what you learned in the training stage of your being a law enforcement officer.’ In an interview with reporters on Dec. 16, 2016, Duterte said he had killed “about three” people when he was mayor of Davao City.
Red-tagged doctor, husband slain in Negros | INQUIRER.NET – Two gunmen killed the health officer of Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental province and front-liner in the city’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday, a year after she was Red-tagged by a vigilante group. Dr. Mary Rose Sancelan, the head of the Guihulngan City Inter-Agency Task Force against Emerging Infectious Diseases (GCIATF-EID), was shot and killed along with her husband while they were going home to Carmeville Subdivision in the city’s Barangay Poblacion, police said. The killings happened on the same day that the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Office of the Prosecutor said there was “reasonable basis” to believe that the Duterte administration committed crimes against humanity in its bloody war on illegal drugs. Sancelan was on top of the list of Guihulngan residents whom the anticommunist vigilante group “Kagubak” accused of being supporters of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army. Kagubak stands for “Kawsa Guihulnganon Batok Komunista” (loosely translated as Concerned Guihulnganons against the Communists).” The list, which was released in 2018, identified Sancelan as “Ka JB Regalado,” who was then the spokesperson for the NPA’s Apolinario Gatmaitan Command. Two others on the list—lawyer Anthony Trinidad and Heidi Malalay Flores—had since been murdered, and their cases have remained unsolved.
DOH reports 1,470 new cases of COVID-19 | Manila Bulletin – The Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,470 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. Based on the latest case bulletin, the new infections raised the country’s overall tally to 454,447, of which, 25,695 are still undergoing treatment. There were also 17 new deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the death count to 8,850, the DOH said. Meanwhile, the total number of survivors stood at 419,902 after 633 more patients were confirmed to have beaten the respiratory illness.
Surge in COVID cases in Metro starting: DOH | Malaya Business Insight – The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said the surge in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Metro Manila is already manifesting ahead of the Christmas and New Year’s Day celebrations. In a virtual press briefing, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said: “We recognize that the beginning of the surge is already evident. We can see it already. We have observed the increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases, which means that the attack rate and 2-week growth rate is already rising.” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they have also observed the plateauing of cases “in other cities. It means that the cases are no longer decreasing.” “This is a warning signal for us to start focusing and have strict monitoring among all cities in the NCR,” Vergeire said. Of the 17 local government units in Metro Manila, Duque said 12 are registering reproduction rates (R naught) that are greater than 1. Vergeire also said that 8 of the 17 have also been seeing positive two-week growth rates. The DOH has yet to release a list of the said Metro Manila areas as of press time.
