News Roundup 21 December 2021
Dec 21, 2021 • 5 min Read
Robredo to include underground power, comms lines in infra agenda if elected | PHILSTAR.COM – Vice President Leni Robredo, who is running for president, vowed to prioritize underground power and communication lines in her infrastructure development agenda if elected president to ensure every affected area’s resilience in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Odette. This comes after the vice president over the weekend visited typhoon-hit areas including Bohol, Cebu, Dinagat Islands, and Siargao in Surigao del Norte, many of which remain without electricity and other means of communication. Odette, the most destructive typhoon to hit the country after Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013, left provinces isolated due to the loss of power and communications. At least 375 casualties have been recorded according to the Philippine National Police. “One realization from the series of very strong typhoons which hit our country is that our next priority infrastructure development agenda should be putting electric and communication lines underground, particularly in typhoon-prone areas,” she said in a Facebook post. “We have, on average, 20 typhoons a year…It is better that we spend now and make them underground instead of spending money every time the posts fall down,” Robredo said in mixed Filipino and English. “It is high time to start giving it very serious consideration.” In a statement sent to media Tuesday, Robredo said this would be a more cost-effective approach, taking into consideration the money spent for the rehabilitation of above-ground electric and communication lines and posts when they are toppled and destroyed by typhoons. The lack of power and communication services in the aftermath of typhoons “adversely affect the economy and business and the extension of health, hygiene and sanitation services is greatly hampered,” Robredo said. She added that the conduct of classes for students, both virtual and face-to-face, is also affected as a result.
Micheal Yang’s elusive business associate is Pharmally’s financial manager | PHILSTAR.COM – Senate blue ribbon chairman Richard Gordon on Tuesday bared that the elusive Lin Wei Xiong, a business associate of former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang, is the financial manager of the embattled Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. Lin, who is married to congressional candidate Rose Nono Lin and has been accused of involvement with the drug trade, has yet to appear before the Senate panel despite summonses issued as far back as September. The blue ribbon has so far held 17 hearings on the government’s anomalous pandemic deals, the lion’s share of which were awarded to Pharmally when it was still a new and undercapitalized firm. A secretary’s certificate issued by Pharmally corporate secretary Mohit Dargani on May 22, 2020, names Lin as the firm’s financial manager. The certificate was one of several documents submitted by the Bureau of Internal Revenue to the Senate panel. They were declassified upon the motion of Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and presented by Gordon during a hearing on Tuesday. Asked to explain this, Pharmally chairman Huang Tzu Yen and Dargani claimed that Lin’s role as financial manager was to act as guarantor to suppliers on Michael Yang’s behalf. “For the purpose of returning and safeguarding that guarantee that we will pay back once [a] collection is made, yes, he was appointed financial manager,” Huang said, referring to Lin. This undercuts Yang’s claim that he is not involved with the embattled firm. Executives of Pharmally have maintained that Yang acted as their financier and guarantor to suppliers.
Victims plead for food; state of calamity pushed | INQUIRER.NET – After days without electricity and with food and water supplies either running low or already gone, residents in parts of the Visayas and Mindanao that were battered by Typhoon “Odette” (international name: Rai) have appealed for help as the death toll from the most powerful storm to hit the country this year continues to rise. Surigao Bishop Antonieto Cabajog on Monday asked for food and water for victims in the city, saying he had never experienced such a destructive typhoon before. “Blinding torrential rains and howling winds no man could take standing up hammered us for more than three hours” on the afternoon of Dec. 16, he said in a text message to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. “Not only were trees uprooted and rooftops ripped from homes battered like dollhouses, electric power and all forms of communication were cut off, literally isolating us from the rest of the world,” he added. At Surigao National High School in Surigao City, where 7,233 people took refuge at the height of Odette, people waited for days for aid that never came, according to Allan Beniga, a security guard at the school. “All people here need aid. First of all, we need water, but we also need food, rice, clothes, milk for the children,” he said.
Robredo visits Negros island, delivers aid to stricken communities | Manila Bulletin – Presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday, Dec. 21, flew to Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental, to bring relief aid and leave a team there for the assessment of the situation on the ground amid the devastation left by Typhoon “Odette”. She made a surprise visit to Negros Oriental, though she has already been in contact with the local officials there before the super typhoon hit. Robredo met with Dumaguete City Mayor Felipe Remollo before proceeding to the northern part of the province by helicopter. In the Facebook live account of Vice Governor Edward Mark Macias, Robredo said that they will be leaving a team behind to visit the other affected towns in the province.
