News Roundup 27 December 2022
Dec 27, 2022 • 4 min Read
Floods force tens of thousands to flee homes | PHILSTAR.COM – Christmas Day floods in the Philippines forced the evacuation of nearly 46,000 people from their homes, civil defense officials said Monday. Eight people were killed and 19 others were missing after a week’s worth of heavy seasonal rain in the southern and eastern regions of the country, they said in an updated report. The flooding hit the south on Sunday, as the disaster dampened celebrations on the mainly Catholic nation’s most important holiday. “The waters rose above the chest in some areas, but today the rains have ceased,” civil defence worker Robinson Lacre told AFP by phone from Gingoog city, which accounted for 33,000 of the 45,700 people evacuated from their homes. The coastguard said it rescued members of more than two dozen families in the southern city of Ozamiz and nearby Clarin town at the height of the flooding. Photos released by the coastguard showed its orange-clad rescuers cradling toddlers plucked from homes at nighttime in waist-deep floodwaters. Four deaths — three from drowning — were reported in the nearby southern towns of Jimenez and Tudela. The coastguard also said strong winds and big waves sank a fishing boat on Christmas Day off the coast of the central island of Leyte. Two crew members were killed, while six others were rescued. Two others, including a baby girl, drowned in the eastern towns of Libmanan and Tinambac after they were hit by floods several days before Christmas, the civil defence office said. Nineteen people remain missing, most of them subsistence fishermen from the country’s Pacific seaboard who put to sea despite rough conditions days before Christmas. The weather turned bad as the disaster-prone nation of 110 million people prepared for a long Christmas holiday. Millions of people travel to their hometowns for family reunions during this period. The Philippines is ranked among the most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change. Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer.
Marcos appoints former STAR reporter Edu Punay as DSWD OIC | PHILSTAR.COM – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed former STAR reporter Edu Punay to temporarily head the Department of Social Welfare and Development. In an appointment letter dated December 23 and posted Tuesday by STAR reporter Artemio Dumlao, Punay — who has been serving as DSWD undersecretary for special projects — was designated as officer-in-charge of the department. Punay had long been an award-winning journalist who covered the executive, legislative and the judiciary before working in the government under the administration of Marcos, whose 2022 presidential campaign he covered for The STAR. The former journalist was previously tapped to serve under what was then called the Presidential Communications Operations Office, but was subsequently transferred to the DSWD. According to a Palace memorandum, Punay has been authorized “to ensure that the day-to-day activities of the DSWD is managed effectively, efficiently and economically, including the signing of administrative issuances, contracts, memoranda of agreement, or official documents necessary to carry out the objectives, policies and functions for the efficient and effective operation (of the DSWD), consistent with the authority granted to an OIC under existing laws, rules and regulations.” Punay has also been tasked with continuing ongoing projects, programs and activities of the DSWD, including the procurement and disbursement of funds, but is not authorized to enter into contracts or agreements involving new programs and activities. As OIC, Punay can enter contracts involving renewal of contractual or casual employees, as well as job order and contractual service workers to ensure DSWD operations will continue. A source at the DSWD confirmed that Punay is now OIC “internally” but also said there had been no official announcement yet as of Tuesday afternoon. A separate source also confirmed the designation, adding it was effective December 23. Prior to Punay, the DSWD was headed by Erwin Tulfo, who was twice bypassed by the powerful Commission on Appointments — first in September due to lack of time and again in December due to issues regarding his citizenship and a libel conviction.
Vico Sotto gives Pogos, gambling dens a year to pack up and leave Pasig | INQUIRER.NET – Gambling establishments in Pasig City had been given one year to wind up operations and leave following a local ordinance passed to ban them, said Mayor Vico Sotto on Tuesday. Sotto posted Ordinance No. 55, series of 2022, which said that operations and applications to operate online gambling had been disallowed in Pasig City. Providing technical support to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogo) is also banned. “Existing online gambling establishments in Pasig have [one year] (2023) to wind up operations. New ones, including Pogos, will not be granted permits.” he wrote on Twitter. According to the new ordinance, legally established gambling establishments that have approved permits can renew their licenses until December 31, 2023. Anyone violating the ordinance will be fined P5,000, imprisoned for up to one year, or both. Sotto also expressed his frustrations whenever there are alleged bribes during the renewal season of these gambling establishments. “I take it as a personal insult when there are ‘alleged’ offers of bribes every permit renewal season. Kung lehitimo ba’t kailangan ng lagay lagay?” he said. (I take it as a personal insult when there are “alleged” offers of bribes every permit renewal season. If it is legitimate, why is there grease money?)
