News Roundup 18 April 2021
Apr 18, 2021 • 3 min Read
10,098 new COVID-19 cases as ‘NCR Plus’ marks first week of MECQ | PHILSTAR.COM – Health authorities on Sunday logged 10,098 fresh COVID-19 cases, a week after the ‘NCR Plus’ bubble shifted to a less stricter quarantine status. Today’s development pushed the overall count to 936,133. Active cases also went down by 62,621.
- Active cases: 141,089 or 15.1% of the total
- Recoveries: 72,607, bringing the number to 779,084
- Deaths: 150, or now 15,960 in total
Community pantries pop up as people wait for government aid | PHILSTAR.COM – On the 397th day of lockdown in the pandemic-stricken Philippines, a show of people’s solidarity in different parts of the country: community pantries to assist the hungry. The first one popped up along Maginhawa Street in Quezon City. It didn’t take the government or an organization; just a concerned citizen and a bamboo cart. Two days after the effort, the idea materialized elsewhere in Diliman, Sampaloc, and even Laguna. For lawmakers, the communal pantries are only evidence of the national government’s inability to take care of its own people amid the pandemic. Speaking in an interview aired over DZBB Super Radyo, Sen. Panfilo Lacson called them a sign of “desperation,” noting that “people can no longer rely on the government to help them.” “Community [pantries are] an act of resistance against government neglect and indifference,” Rep. Carlos Zarate (Bayan Muna) also said on Twitter. “[They] also follow correct mass lines: ‘from the masses, to the masses,’ and ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
‘Walang kaluluwa:’ Lacson warns DA ‘corruption’ also threatens nat’l security | INQUIRER.NET – Senator Panfilo Lacson on Sunday slammed those behind alleged corruption within the Department of Agriculture (DA), saying this not only threatens the country’s food security but also national security. “There is nothing more basic than food, especially in a pandemic. If corruption infects the Department of Agriculture that should be at the forefront of food security efforts, it goes beyond human conscience,” Lacson said in an interview over dzBB. “Wala na. Saan pa tayo pupulutin kung ang mga walang kaluluwa, walang konsensya pati pagkain ng ordinaryong Pilipino ‘di papatawarin?” he added. “May kumita na sa PPE (personal protective equipment), may kumita kung saan-saan, may kumita sa smuggling. Pati ba naman itong pagkain sa hapag-kainan, titirahin pa rin?” he added. Lacson questioned the seeming tendency of the DA to resort to importation instead of finding more practical alternative solutions, such as redistributing produce from areas where there is a surplus to places where there is a shortage. “It came to the point that Senate President Vicente Sotto III and I were joking that the DA has become a Department of Importation because it seems all the solutions it can think of are centered on importation,” the senator said. “Instead of helping local hog and poultry raisers, why insist on importation as the solution? Is it because there is money to be made there?” he added.
Ramon Ang denies endorsing Pacquiao as probable presidential candidate in 2022 | Manila Bulletin – San Miguel Corporation President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon Ang has denied reports he was endorsing Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao’s presidential bid in the upcoming May 2022 national elections. The business tycoon said the comments attributed to him were just taken out of context. “I was told that some people believe that I am endorsing Manny Pacquiao’s candidacy. That is certainly not the case,” Ang said in a statement. During an online forum with journalists last week, Ang said Pacquiao’s name cropped up when one of the attendees asked whom he thought would be the likely winner in next year’s presidential elections. Though he never got a chance to answer, the business mogul said other participants brought up the senator’s name, and the conversation steered towards this issue, leading a business columnist to write that he made a “fearless forecast” that Pacquiao would be the country’s next president. “Right now, it’s still a wide open race,” Ang said.
