News Roundup 18 August 2020
Aug 18, 2020 • 4 min Read
COVID-19 cases surge past 169,000 as Metro Manila prepares to return to GCQ | PHILSTAR.COM – The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the country reached 169,213 after the Department of Health reported more than 4,000 new cases Tuesday. Reports from 84 out of 105 laboratories listed 4,836 additional cases. The number of active cases or people who are currently sick stood at 53,665. The DOH logged seven new deaths, raising the death toll to 2,687. Meanwhile, there were 182 more recoveries, pushing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 112,861. Total recoveries accounted for around 67% of the country’s cases.
SC: Intrusive, warrantless searches of vehicles over anonymous tips are invalid | PHILSTAR.COM – An intrusive, warrantless search of a moving vehicle based merely on an anonymous tip is invalid—and allowing it would create a dangerous precedent for harassment, the Supreme Court held. The SC en banc, voting 11-3, acquitted drug trading convict Jerry Sapla, who was arrested in 2014 with four bricks of dried marijuana leaves in his bag. A Tabuk City Regional Trial Court convicted him of violation of Section 5 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, and the Court of Appeals upheld the ruling. This prompted Sapla to appeal his case to the SC, through a petition for certiorari. In resolving Sapla’s petition, the SC weighed on this question: “Can the police conduct a warrantless intrusive search of a vehicle on the sole basis of an unverified tip relayed by an anonymous informant?” The high court said no.
PhilHealth went broke with Duque’s ‘Plan 5M’ for Arroyo ahead of 2004 elections – exec | INQUIRER.NET – The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) started incurring losses in 2004 due to the non-payment of premiums after then CEO Health Secretary Francisco Duque III launched the distribution of 5 million insurance cards, which bore the picture of then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, ahead of the elections then, an official said Tuesday. “Yun po ang unang dahilan ng pagkalugi ng PhilHealth (That’s the reason PhilHealth went bankrupt),” Dennis Adre, Regional Vice President in Davao City, said during the resumption of the Senate’s investigation into fresh allegations of corruption within PhilHealth. According to Adre, Duque launched “Plan 5M” before the presidential elections in 2004. He said Duque had ordered regional vice presidents to distribute a total of five million free PhilHealth cards, which corresponded to the 5-million lead votes of the then-presidential candidate and highly popular late actor Fernando Poe Jr. in the 2004 pre-election survey.
Whistleblower names Duque as ‘godfather’ of PhilHealth mafia | Manila Bulletin – A whistleblower in the corruption scandal at Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has tagged Health Secretary Francisco Duque III as the “godfather” of the mafia inside the state health insurance agency. Thorrson Montes Keith, former PhilHealth anti-fraud officer, said this during the Senate’s hearing on the PhilHealth controversies. “Maituturing ko po na siya po ang godfather po ng mafia… Doon po sa Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) siya po ang chairman,” Keith told senators during the Senate hearing. “As a chairman mayroon pong due diligence po na gagawin ang isang chairman and considering na he’s a doctor and mayroon siyang institutional knowlege sa pamamalakad sa PhilHealth, (As chairman of PhilHealth board, he must have due diligence considering he is a doctor and has institutional knowledge in running PhilHealth),” he added. He also said Duque was responsible for approving the appointment of executive officials who are allegedly part of the so-called PhilHealth mafia.
Warnings vs telcos might affect investor sentiment – business group | The Manila Times – President Rodrigo Duterte’s warning against the country’s giant telecommunication companies could scare off foreign investors, resulting in the loss of trade and foreign investments, a business group warned. American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) Senior Adviser John Forbes said that Duterte’s tirade against the so-called duopoly of PLDT and Globe Telecom may affect foreign investors’ sentiment on the Philippines. “The warning to possibly nationalize major utilities in which there are billions of dollars owned by foreign investors could harm the external opinion of the country’s investment climate stability,” Forbes said in a statement. He said that foreign investors might see the country as an investment risk because of the President’s threats. In his fifth state of the nation address, Duterte threatened to shut down PLDT and Globe if they failed to improve their services by the end of the year.
