News Roundup 25 July 2021
Jul 25, 2021 • 5 min Read
5,479 new COVID-19 cases push Philippines’ total to 1.54 million | PHILSTAR.COM – The Department of Health on Sunday reported 5,479 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s total count of infections to 1,548,755. Today’s numbers saw active cases down by 139 from July 24’s 54,401. Authorities said three laboratories failed to submit screening results.
- Active cases: 54,262 or 3.5% of the total
- Recoveries: 5,573 bringing the number to 1,467,269
- Deaths: 93, or now 27,224 in total
Robredo physically invited to SONA but skipping due to full-vaccine rule | PHILSTAR.COM – Vice President Leni Robredo will not be physically attending President Rodrigo Duterte’s sixth and final State of the Nation Address on Monday due to the House of Representatives’ full-vaccination requirement for attendees. Speaking in Robredo’s weekly program aired over dzXL Sunday morning, her spokesperson Barry Guttierez disclosed that the earlier invitation asking Robredo to attend virtually was retracted, and she was now allowed to show up in person. Unfortunately, the new invitation came with a list of requirements, including full vaccination. However, the vice president’s second coronavirus vaccine dose is still in the second week of August, he said. “Since I won’t be fully vaccinated yet on the day of the SONA, I won’t attend physically. I will attend via Zoom,” Robredo was quoted as saying. According to House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, the Batasan complex is currently under strict lockdown, and those attending the SONA on Monday have been shortlisted. Inside the House plenary, the president will address only around 300 people instead of the usual 1,450 under the special security and public health protocols. To recall, Gutierrez confirmed last week that Robredo was invited to attend the SONA, but only virtually over Zoom instead of in person. Gutierrez on Sunday said that after reports came out, House Secretary General Mark Llandro Mendoza reached out with a new invitation. “Of course there were those who reacted [to the initial news], then after a few days, he clarified and said the opposite. He said there is a new list approved by the IATF and [Robredo] can go in person to the Batasan,” he said in Filipino.
War on drugs: The violence, scars, doubts and families it left behind | INQUIRER.NET – As President Rodrigo Duterte prepares to deliver his sixth and final State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, families left behind by victims of extrajudicial killings (EJK) tied to the war on drugs and “Oplan Tokhang” remain in pursuit of justice. Less than a year before Duterte’s term officially ends, many, especially critics, say that the administration’s “human rights crisis” and countless alleged human rights violations will be one of (if not) the biggest legacy of the Duterte presidency. After a landslide victory in the 2016 national elections, with more than a 6-million gap in votes ahead of runner-up, Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, Duterte stayed true to his promise and began his term as President by launching his fight against illegal drugs on June 30, 2016. In the first seven months of the Duterte administration,, INQUIRER.net tallied 2,126 deaths (1,104 by police and 1,022 by unknown hitmen) in the administration’s gruesome anti-illegal drugs campaign in the country. Unable to eradicate illegal drugs in the country in six months, Duterte himself admitted that he had failed in his promise. Between July 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2020, the official government figures list 6,011 deaths in anti-drug operations. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), however, found that as of March 2020 at least 8,663 deaths have been recorded. Other human rights organizations, on the other hand, pegged the death toll at over 20,000. The Philippine Alliance for Human Rights Advocates and iDefend also reported that from July 2016 to December 2019, a number of 122 children were killed in the anti-drug campaign. This figure, however, is expected to have gone up in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, in a study conducted by the University of the Philippines, it tallied that the security forces have killed at least two individuals per day since the anti-drug campaign started.
‘Tumindig’: Artist says his work encourages Filipinos to vote for right leaders in 2022 | Manila Bulletin – The “Tumindig” artwork of Filipino artist Tarantadong Kalbo, or Kevin Eric Raymundo in real life, meant to encourage people to register to vote, criticize the government’s failed pandemic response, and air his frustrations. Instead, it snowballed into a resistance fueled by artists, writers, activists, and ordinary citizens. The artwork that Raymundo originally posted on Saturday, July 17, shows rows of anthropomorphic fists that are bowed down in obedience, in reference to President Duterte’s signature gesture of a fist bump. But one of the fists stood its ground, which reflects the artwork’s title of Tumindig. “Ayon, siguro ang gusto kong maging effect ng artwork is para mahikayat iyong mga tao na mag-register sila at bumoto nang tama ngayon. Kailangan na natin ibahin iyong pamamalakad ng gobyerno natin (That’s what I want to be my artwork’s effect to encourage people to register and vote wisely. We need to change the way our government is being run),” Raymundo said during the Istorya ng Pag-asa segment of Vice President Leni Robredo’s radio show on Sunday, July 25. The vice president was not present during the radio show because she had to attend the opening of one of her programs in Camarines Sur. It was her spokesman and lawyer Barry Gutierrez, who interviewed Raymundo instead. Soon after he posted the artwork, people began adding their own fist-shaped avatars in solidarity with Raymundo. The artwork then snowballed into an online movement of resistance. Raymundo said those who added their own personalities might be feeling the same way that he is—frustrated. “Siguro kasi ano, katulad ko rin sila na pagod na rin sila, eh, kasi ‘di ba iyong (Maybe because like me, they are also tired in) the way the government is handling the pandemic, palpak eh. Ganun iyon eh. Iyong frustrations ng mga tao ka-pareho ko sila (it’s a failure. That’s it. The frustrations of the people are the same with mine),” he told Gutierrez.
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