News Roundup 31 May 2021
May 31, 2021 • 4 min Read
Philippines ends May with 6,684 new COVID-19 cases | PHILSTAR.COM – The Department of Health on Monday reported 6,684 additional COVID-19 cases, closing the month with a total of 1,230,301. Today’s figures came ahead of the new quarantine classifications for June. Malacañang has said that President Rodrigo Duterte will make the announcement tonight in his weekly address.
- Active cases: 54,290 or 4.4% of the total
- Recoveries: 6,098, bringing the number to 1,155,045
- Deaths: 107, or now 20,966 in total
Duterte urged anew to retract statements on West Philippine Sea | PHILSTAR.COM – Faculty members of the University of the Philippines’ College of Law have called on President Rodrigo Duterte to take back his controversial remarks on the West Philippine Sea, marking the second time he was urged to do so. Nearly a hundred signatories objected to the president calling the arbitral win in 2016 as a “mere piece of paper,” and in saying that Beijing is in possession of the country’s waters. “When a President speaks on a matter of foreign policy, the world listens,” the statement on May 30 read. “President Duterte’s statements trivialize the Arbitral Award, contradict the country’s own legal position, and effectively waive rights already won.” China has practically ignored the said ruling which invalidated its nine-dash line claim in the waters. Tensions between the two countries have continued in recent months, but the President has so far only hit back at his critics. UP law faculty said his comments only achieve nothing amid the continued Chinese incursions, and instead encourage further disregard of the rule of law. They added: “The statements of the President betray the interests of the country he swore to protect.” Among those who signed were: Dean Edgardo Vistan II, Lyceum Law Dean Ma. Soledad Deriquito-Mawis, former UP law dean Pacifico Agabin, maritime expert Jay Batongbacal, Prof. Tony La Viña, and ex-Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te. “We urgently call on President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to immediately retract his statements and recall his duty to act in the best interest of the Philippines and the Filipino people,” educators added. This is already the second time that Duterte was called on to make the move. Early this month, alumni of San Beda University urged for the same, and sought for a better stand from their fellow alumnus on the issue.
‘Huwag gamitin ang barangay sa pulitika’: Drilon urges village execs to shun politics | INQUIRER.NET – Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Monday urged barangay officials “to shun politics at all costs” and for politicians to keep the villages “apolitical.” “Let us maintain the non-partisan nature of the barangays. Barangays must shun politics at all costs,” Drilon said in a statement. He was reacting to the reported survey conducted by a barangay chairman in Bulacan province on Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s possible presidential bid. According to Drilon, village officials are prohibited from engaging in partisan political activities as stated under the Omnibus Election Code and Section 93 of the Local Government Code. He said “only the President,Vice President, members of the Cabinet, other elective officials except barangay officials, members of the AFP reserve corps are excluded from the coverage of the prohibition against engaging in electioneering of engaging in partisan political activities,” citing the Commission on Election and Civil Service Commission Joint Circular 001-2016. “They cannot campaign or endorse the candidacy of any person. More so, they cannot use the resources of the barangays for political activities. That is a violation of the law,” Drilon stressed. The senator added that by nature and practice, barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials are non-partisan. At the same time, Drilon appealed to politicians to stop using village officials to score “pogi points” in the administration or further their political agenda.
Gov’t should ‘inspire’ citizens for nation-building, Robredo says | Manila Bulletin – Vice President and opposition leader Leni Robredo on Monday, May 31, took time to thank her office’s volunteers highlighting their valuable contribution in building the nation. “This is also what we believe government must be – a center of gravity that inspires people to all do their share in nation-building,” she said in a Facebook post. “This has always been the heart and soul of everything we do at the OVP. We are able to do the work that we do because of collaborations and partnerships,“ Robredo added, citing the “countless volunteers and donors who are giving hope to those who need them the most.” Robredo shared that their volunteers in their office’s programs “are the ones sending us food and not the other way around.” This, she noted, “makes all the long hours and sleepless nights so worthwhile.”
