News Roundup 29 August 2021
Aug 29, 2021 • 4 min Read
18,528 new COVID-19 cases push Philippines’ caseload to 1.95 million | PHILSTAR.COM – Health authorities on Sunday reported 18,528 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s overall count to 1,954,023. The Department of Health said seven laboratories did not submit test results in its latest tally.
- Active cases: 143,221 or 7.3% of the total
- Recoveries: 17,922 bringing the total to 1,777,693
- Deaths: 101, or now 33,109 in total or 1.69% of total cases
SALN release better than Duterte promise to lead audits, Robredo says | PHILSTAR.COM – Vice President Leni Robredo said Sunday that President Rodrigo Duterte can release his Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth to show transparency in the face of investigations over audit reports on government spending. This comes after Duterte, who has said he will run for vice president, claimed he would audit government agencies as vice president. This was in response to backlash over his tirade against the Commission on Audit, which flagged deficiencies in government departments’ spending of pandemic funds. Speaking on her weekly radio show aired over dzXL, the vice president said that audits are not within the mandate of the Office of the Vice President. Duterte’s officials have played down the role of the OVP and the vice president, with the Palace calling her a “spare tire.” “The mandate of the vice president is just succession…but auditing is given to a constitutional body for independence so it isn’t disrupted by other branches of government,” she said in Filipino. “There are so many other ways to show that you’re anti-corruption. [What about] your SALN? That’s one of the biggest ways to really show that there is no corruption.”
No excuse for delayed release of health workers’ benefits — VP Robredo | INQUIRER.NET – There is no excuse for the delayed payout of health workers’ special risk allowance (SRA), among other benefits, Vice President Leni Robredo lamented on Sunday. “Ngayon, walang excuse kung bakit hindi natin naasikaso dahil last year pa nga ‘yung pandemic. ‘Yung 2021 budget ginawa siya, panahon na ng pandemic. So, inaasahan na natin na kakailanganin natin ito dapat nakahanap na tayo ng paraan para ibigay ito,” Robredo said during her BISErbisyong Leni radio program. (There is no excuse for not working on the benefits since the pandemic started last year. The 2021 budget was made during the pandemic. So, we expect that we need it, and we should have found ways to distribute it.) Robredo said that the delay in 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, is understandable as the health crisis was unexpected. She added that the SRA is one way to show how the government appreciates the health workers’ efforts in battling the pandemic. “Ito ‘yung pinaka-recognition ng pamahalaan na naiintindihan namin kung ano ‘yung sakripisyong ginagawa niyo. Naiintindihan namin ‘yung pagod na pinagdadaanan niyo. Hindi namin ‘yun maaalis sa inyo pero ito ‘yung pagpapakita ng pamahalaan na naiintindihan namin ‘yun kaya ‘yung pangangailangan mo, we will provide,” Robredo raised. (This is the government’s way of recognizing their sacrifices. We understand the fatigue and the sacrifices you endure. We cannot take that away from you but here is something to show that the government recognizes such and will thus provide for your needs.) As health workers are set to hold a mass protest on September 1, Robredo said that the government should not have waited for these actions to come and must have processed their benefits immediately.
De Lima: Ex-DBM-PS official made ‘Davao mafia’ happy | Manila Bulletin – Opposition Senator Leila de Lima said she is certain that former undersecretary Christopher Lao was one of the go-to-operators and hatchmen of the Davao mafia led by President Duterte and Senator Christopher “Bong” Go. Judging by the developments in the Senate blue ribbon committee’s hearing last Friday, De Lima noted Lao’s denial that he never worked for Go and never met the owner of Pharmally Corp. Huang Wenlie, to whom he awarded an P8-billion contract for the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPEs) did not work especially after senators confronted him of his presence during the awarding of the contract together with Go and Duterte. The former head of the procurement service of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM-PS) apparently had already made the rounds in other high government office prior to being posted to the DBM, De Lima also pointed out. “It does not take rocket science to figure out what happened in this transaction: (Health Secretary Francisco) Duque channeled the P42-billion in DOH (Department of Health) funds to Lao, who, in turn, directly reports to the Davao mafia,” De Lima said in her latest statement. “The Davao mafia, in turn, causes the awarding of the P8-billion PPE contract thorugh Lao to one of their Chinese buddies, Huang Wenlie, owner of Pharmally Corporation. The Davao boys are all happy,” the senator said. Go, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, had earlier repeatedly denied that he was associated with Lao denying that the latter served as his aide. But during the Senate hearing, Go eventually advised Duque to step down amid the issues.
