COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon. The number of cases continues to rise and the Palace has even threatened to tighten restrictions once again if the numbers get too high.
The lockdown forced thousands of workers to stay in Manila. Many of them are still there.
Over 13,000 remain stranded in Luzon and are still awaiting transportation assistance to return to their home provinces in Visayas and Mindanao, a government official said Wednesday.
Transportation of the stranded individuals are already being arranged under the government's "Hatid Tulong" program, its head Joseph Encabo said.
(They are here in Luzon and they want to return to their provinces in Visayas and Mindanao)
The government last week suspended its "Balik Probinsya" program, President Rodrigo Duterte's push for Metro Manila workers to return to their home provinces, to give way to the homecoming of individuals stranded because of coronavirus lockdowns.
Some local government officials have expressed worries over the homecoming of stranded individuals due to the threat of COVID-19, as most cases have been reported in Metro Manila and other hotspots in Luzon.
Encabo, however, assured local government units that those under the "Hatid Tulong" program are subject to rapid antibody testing, and only those with negative results are allowed to go home.
(Everyone undergoes rapid test...This is so that the receiving LGU can feel assured when they receive constituents.)
These people face two problems. First is they are stranded of course. Secondly LGU's don't necessarily want them to return because they fear they might bring the virus with them.
The lockdown has hurt the economy in many ways. OFWs have lost their jobs which some estimate will mean $6 billion less in remittances.
The Philippines stands to lose up to $6 billion in remittances this year as the COVID-19 pandemic that walloped the global economy might render about 400,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) jobless, Sen. Joel Villanueva said on Tuesday.
Villanueva, Senate labor committee chair, said the government should immediately intervene and come up with a comprehensive plan to help nearly 50,000 displaced OFWs who had already been repatriated.
It could be that the OFWs will be helped by the P400B the government hopes to raise to fix the economy.
The Philippines plans to raise up to P400 billion in borrowings to help fund its recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, a finance official said Tuesday.
Financing will be sourced from lenders such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Lambino said.
The country can secure low interest loans at longer terms due to its credit rating, he said. The Japan Credit Rating Agency recently upgraded the country's score to A- from BBB+ rating, he said.
(When it comes to loans, our target is P400 billion, target and pipeline. We are building a fund to finance our economic recovery plan)
They are going to borrow P400 billion! P58 million will be allocated to the tourism sector.
The House of Representatives is eyeing a P58-billion fund for recovery of the country’s tourism industry from recession caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano revealed this yesterday as he urged the Department of Tourism (DOT) to prepare a recovery program while Congress works on providing needed infrastructure.
“There are challenges, but we can really see opportunities here in the tourism industry if we can put a big sum of money on tourism-related infrastructure,” he explained.
“There are systems that can be put in place, so that in one year – or one year and a half when COVID is gone, every corner of our country with a tourism industry will be ready to get back on track,” Cayetano stressed.
Interesting that Cayetano thinks the COVID-19 crisis might last a year and a half longer. How many more people will die? There won't be any room from them in Mandate City's public cemetery.
The local government of Mandaue City said its public cemetery is already full and has no more space for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) fatalities, according to Lou-anne Mae Rondina's report on "24 Oras" on Thursday.
City councilor Nerissa Soon Ruiz, chair of the committee on health, said the Mandaue Municipal Cemetery was already full even before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The LGU said the Mandaue Municipal Cemetery will only open room for more cadavers in August, the reason the city council passed a resolution to find a lot to build another public cemetery.
Based on the resolution, the mayor will be granted authority to negotiate with individuals or companies to buy a lot for the proposed public cemetery.
Ruiz added that part of the resolution is the council's call for a mortuary freezer which will be used as a morgue in the city hospital. She said the mortuary freezer will be used temporarily for COVID-19 fatalities.
So far, Mandaue City has recorded a total of 491 cases of COVID-19, including 12 deaths.
If there has only been 12 deaths so far then it does not seem to be much of a problem. But overfilled cemeteries are definitely a problem in the Philippines.
The distribution of the SAP has hit many snags as was expected.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said its ongoing validation of the distribution of the first tranche of P5,000 to P8,000 emergency cash subsidy under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) has uncovered around 22,000 duplicate beneficiaries from the aid programs being undertaken by the different agencies.
Social Welfare Undersecretary Rene Glen Paje, at a virtual press briefing, said the discovery has prompted the agency to intensify validation of the beneficiaries and liquidation reports submitted by local government units (LGUs) that distributed the first SAP tranche in April.
Are they going to try to get the money back?
During the pandemic cockfighting has been shut down. Or has it?
But hey, where have all the rowdy gamblers gone? Not anymore in cockpit arenas. They have gone online.
Electronic sabong or cockfighting is actually not new but the coronavirus pandemic has simply pushed this centuries-old Filipino pastime to fully embrace the cyberspace.
Cockpit arenas have been shut down as social distancing is enforced across the country. An INQUIRER.net source bared that cock derby is now being held in private farms.
Inside these private farms, laptops and cameras are set up for the live streaming of the bloody fight between two gamecocks. These hosts have to continuously monitor the quality of their streaming as well as ensure that the event is recorded live to avoid delayed telecast which could result in bettors knowing which cock to bet on.
The person who is hosting the live streaming earns by selling the streaming rights to various websites where people can place their bets. Based on the screenshots provided by our source, mirror fee—or the fee to gain rights to stream the video—usually costs from P12,500 to P15,000.
Meanwhile on Facebook, there are “customer service representatives” (CSR), usually using photos of “beautiful women” to lure male clients, our source said.
These CSR are the ones directly transacting with possible bettors, instructing them of the steps to gain access to watch the sabong games online through the websites who were granted the rights to stream them.
Bettors are instructed to first create an account to gain access to the websites. Previously, the mere creation of an account would cost a bettor P2,000 to P5,000 but due to tightening competition in the online sabong industry, some operators have waived this fee to gain more bettors.
Cockfighting online. Filipinos sure do love cockfighting.
Many OFW's who have lost their jobs and are stuck in foreign lands have had to resort to scavenging through the garbage for food.
The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh is in talks with the employer of Filipino workers in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) who reportedly resorted to “scavenging” for food from the garbage.
"Patuloy pong nakikipag-ugnayan ang POLO sa Team Time Company at sa Saudi Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development upang maisakatuparan ang pagpapauwi ng mga nasabing manggagawa (POLO is coordinating with the Team Time Company and the Saudi Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development to bring home our workers)," the Philippine Embassy in Saudi Arabia said in a statement on June 19.
The embassy said POLO has also provided food assistance to the displaced workers.
In a previous tweet, Philippine Ambassador Adnan Alonto noted that the embassy is continuously working with relevant offices to repatriate the nationals as soon as possible.
"Repatriation is the goal. Well, exit visas need to be granted and more flights (are) needed. That's the truth. We are on it," he said.
In a video circulating online, several Filipino workers are seen scouring trash for food to survive after being displaced due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
Another clip also surfaced online, featuring a different group picking garbage and food after their contract was terminated during the health crisis.
Sad that people have
to resort to such measures just to feed themselves.
More Chinese are in the COVID-19 business.
Authorities have arrested two Chinese nationals and seized PHP21 million worth of face masks during entrapment operation in Taguig City, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said on Sunday.
The CIDG identified the Chinese nationals as James Zhu and Charles Lee, both were arrested on Friday night (June 19) at AKH Construction Plant, Lusacan, Barangay Wawa, Taguig City for selling large quantities of KN95 disposable face masks through phone call and text transactions.
The confiscated face masks have a market value of PHP105 each. However, the arrested Chinese nationals sell it at a cheaper price of PHP45 each.
Police officers arrested a Chinese man in Parañaque City on Saturday afternoon for allegedly selling unregistered medicine that allegedly treats the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The suspect was identified as Yongchun Cai, 51, a resident of Multinational Village in Barangay Moonwalk in Parañaque.
Members of Parañaque City Police Station raided the suspect’s house after receiving complaints from residents that foreigners were selling and distributing Chinese medicine for COVID-19 even as there were still no vaccines available yet for the respiratory disease.
City officials also joined police officers in the operation to verify the report.
Seized were 64 boxes and 40 plastic bags containing medicines and other health supplies with Chinese characters. Police said the suspect failed to show a valid permit for possession of the medical supplies.
Fake medicine and cheap masks. Probably still more Chinese out there with illegal clinics too.
The number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise. Now the Senate is under lockdown.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday announced that the Senate is under “semi lockdown” after two employees tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“We are already in semi lockdown. I was just briefed by the Senate Secretary of the request of some employees,” Sotto told reporters in a Viber message.
Due to hearings and work to be conducted in the offices of the senators, Sotto said they “cannot declare a total lockdown.”
“Therefore, my suggestion to the Senate Secretary is to inform those who want a lockdown to do so if they prefer, but we cannot declare so for the entire Senate,” Sotto said.
“Also, the persons exposed to the two employees have already passed their 14 days self-quarantine,” he added.
I thought they were doing hearings through zoom.
It's not just the Senate which is facing a semi-lockdown and quarantine. The whole nations remain in a state of quarantine and that will not be changing anytime soon.
The Philippines will keep virus quarantines in place "for now" after the country's pandemic task force temporarily removed the "new normal" classification.
The Southeast Asian nation of 100 million people observes a 4-step quarantine system, before the "new normal" with just the minimum health standards observed. Metro Manila is under the third strictest called GCQ or general community quarantine.
"Sa ngayon po wala munang new normal. Ibig sabihin lahat ng lugar po sa Pilipinas meron pa rin community quarantine," Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said Tuesday.
(There will be no new normal for now. This means that all areas in the Philippines will stay under community quarantine)
No new normal for now? But the quarantines ARE the new normal!
It seems Cebu is now the epicenter of the of the epidemic which is why they are now on a hard lockdown.
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has cancelled all quarantine passes issued to at least 250,000 city residents starting 10 p.m. on June 23.
Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, Central Visayas police chief, was ordered to enforce Labella’s directive to stop the rise in COVID-19 cases in the city, which is now considered as a coronavirus hot spot.
“We noticed that a lot of people are on the streets even if the city is under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ),” said Ferro in an interview on June 23.
“So the mayor ordered to cancel all quarantine passes until further notice,” he said.
People, who have to buy food, can do so only inside their villages.
Exempted from the full lockdown are health care workers, call center agents and bank employees, said Ferro.
Such a lockdown will be hard on everyone which is why the Mayor is applying for calm and more cops and soldiers are being sent to Cebu city to enforce the lockdown.
"I am sure many questions arise as to what this means. I ask for your calm and understanding as we work out the details in coordination with the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) and national agencies," Labella said.
"I know this is a difficult time for everyone. What we can do at this time is stay calm and informed. I urge everyone to work with us so that we can win this war against COVID-19 immediately," he added.
(Cebu City is under ECQ and we will provide more police officers and members of armed forces because we see a need for residents to observe home quarantine in their houses because the number of cases there is already huge with 4,000 active cases and it is already increasing.)
Hopefully they get it under control.
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