News Roundup 24 February 2021
Feb 24, 2021 • 5 min Read
COVID-19 cases in Philippines hit 566,420 with 1,557 new infections | PHILSTAR.COM – The country’s coronavirus caseload rose to 566,420 Wednesday after 1,557 additional infections were added to the tally. The number of active cases stands at 30,970 or 5.5% of the nation’s confirmed cases, latest data from the Department of Health showed. The DOH also announced 392 additional recovered patients, pushing total recoveries to 523,321. Meanwhile, 22 more patients died from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 12,129.
Pasig’s Vico Sotto among world’s ‘anti-corruption champions’ — US | PHILSTAR.COM – Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto is among 12 individuals who received the inaugural International Anticorruption Champions Award launched by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The administration of US President Joe Biden introduced the award to recognize individuals who have worked to defend transparency, combat corruption and ensure accountability in their own countries. “Victor Sotto, Mayor of Pasig, The Philippines, is a standard-bearer for a new generation of Philippine politicians who prioritize anticorruption and transparency initiatives in their election campaigns and in office,” the US Department of State said Wednesday (Manila time). Noting that Sotto was just 29 years old when he won the mayoral race in his home town, the US Department of State highlighted that his prior work as city councilor resulted in a freedom of information legislation. The first such law in Metro Manila, this legislation allowed Pasig residents to request documents without providing justification. “Sotto has sought to solidify his reputation as a fresh voice with a new, more transparent approach to governance,” the US agency said. “He pledged to avoid any kickbacks in the awarding of city contracts, established a 24/7 public information and complaints hotline, formally involved civil society organizations in the city’s budgeting and policy making, and mandated that the value of all city government contracts be reduced by at least 10 percent – a measure intended to reduce bribery in the contract awarding process,” it added.
Pandemic managers raised urgency of indemnity law only in February – senators | INQUIRER.NET – It was already February when the government’s pandemic managers first informed the Senate of the dire need for an indemnity law, and yet they used the lack of it as an excuse for the country’s prolonged wait for coronavirus vaccines, the Inquirer learned on Tuesday. Three senators said the COVID-19 managers never raised the urgency of the no-fault clause until this month, when the first batch of the vaccines was already supposed to have arrived, despite publicly available documents indicating it was a requirement. The delay was only the latest in a string of costly errors by the government’s COVID-19 planners, resulting from their “piecemeal focus” in procuring vaccines, according to Sen. Nancy Binay, who noted previous blunders involving the country’s handling of nondisclosure agreements with drug manufacturers and cold chain requirements, among other things. “Either they were clueless about the needed requirements or they simply had no sense of urgency,” Binay said in a statement to the Inquirer. Sen. Francis Pangilinan told the Inquirer that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III raised the matter of indemnification during the Senate’s committee of the whole hearings last December. “But at that time it was not presented as a necessary or indispensable prerequisite to the purchase of vaccines,” Pangilinan said. Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said it was “only very recently” that the senators were told the country needed an indemnification law to get vaccines. “Why did it take the [Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases] so long to ask Congress to pass an indemnity law, or to submit the indemnity agreement to COVAX?” he said, referring to the global vaccine pool led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the vaccine alliance GAVI. “Now I ask: Did somebody drop the ball again?” Drilon said in a statement to the Inquirer. The no-fault or indemnity clause is a requisite for vaccine supply agreements set by COVAX and other multinational pharmaceutical companies. The Philippines, which has the second highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Southeast Asia, has not signed any supply contract for COVID-19 vaccines.
Senate colleagues want De Lima to participate in virtual sessions, hearings | Manila Bulletin – A resolution seeking to allow detained Senator Leila de Lima to participate in Senate hearings and plenary sessions through teleconferencing and other forms of remote or electronic communications has been filed again in the Senate. Senate Resolution No. 658 was filed by Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senators Risa Hontiveros, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, and Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Wednesday, Feb. 24, as part of their commemoration of the De Lima’s fourth year in detention over illegal drug charges. In their resolution, the senators pointed out that due to the national emergency brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Senate and its committees have now been conducting plenary sessions and committee hearings through remote and electronic means. Similarly, they said the Supreme Court has allowed litigants to appear before the courts via teleconferencing. Recto and the three minority senators pointed out that as result of the new SC rules, there are already existing facilities within the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame, where De Lima is currently detained, that allows her to attend court hearings via remote access through her detention cell.
Photo: Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park, Palawan, Philippines
Photo Source: By Ron Van Oers – https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58157079
