More news about the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. Some experts claim the pandemic could
last for two years. Just imagine going thorough this rigamarole for the next two years.
PASSING the remaining tax reform programs and the bills that would boost the country’s ability to adapt to the “new normal” amid the still-raging Covid-19 pandemic constitute the legislative wishlist of the President’s economic team for both houses of Congress.
In a pre-State of the Nation Address (Sona) forum on Wednesday, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III also said specifically, they hope the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) bill, which used to be the second package of the tax reform effort of the administration, will be passed.
Dominguez said other bills that seek to improve the tax system such as the simplification of passive income taxes and the modernization of the country’s real estate assessment system are also on their list.
He said these are important efforts to ensure that the Philippines recovers from the impact of the pandemic, which forced widespread lockdowns that shuttered businesses and schools, disrupting most economic activities. He also said the public is as much a part of the recovery efforts as the government, particularly when it comes to boosting the economy.
Funny that Finance Secretary Dominguez says passing a new tax bill will help the Philippines recover from the economic impact of the pandemic when he also said that the Philippines has enough money to pay off the loans the country has taken on since the start of the lockdowns.
The Philippines is capable of paying off its growing number of loans that were mostly used to support the government’s response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd assured the public on Wednesday.
“Because our economy has slowed down during the Covid crisis, we have not been able to collect taxes as we had planned… and we have also been spending a lot of money on our Covid response,” Dominguez said, adding that the government had spent about P375 billion on that response alone.
“Because our collections are down and our expenses are up, we had to borrow money,” he said.
According to him, the government planned to raise the country’s debt to 50 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year from 39 percent in 2019 to take advantage of low interest rates.
The repayment of these loans, Dominguez said, would come from tax collections once people start working and reopen their businesses, which would eventually lead to economic recovery.
“The debt is very manageable, and it is affordable for us,” he said. “So I’d like to assure…the entire Filipino people that we have the capacity to borrow. We are borrowing at very low rates, and we have the capacity to pay these loans in the future.”
The economy slowed down which led to a reduction in taxes collected which led to less revenue in the government's coffers. As a result they borrowed money. The money will be repaid with taxes once the economy gets going again even though Duterte said the country would be in "deep shit" if this were to happen any time soon. By the time the economy does reopen the Finance Secretary hopes there will be a new round of "tax reform" in order to collect more taxes to pay off the loans. It all sounds rather circular.
Guess what the government's solution to the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases?
The administration is revising its communication strategy in the COVID-19 crisis and is now highlighting the number of active cases instead of the number of actual cases reported in the country, according to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
Speaking in a meeting with President Duterte on Tuesday, Roque said the new strategy was one of the “major changes” in the government’s communication plan.
He said the government was now highlighting the number of active COVID-19 cases because “nonactive cases don’t matter.”
“The number of cases will really increase while there is no vaccine. What is important is to know how many active cases there are,” Roque said.
Also being highlighted is the number of recoveries, he said.
“We are emphasizing that the number of deaths is getting smaller,” he said.
They are going to change the way they report the number of cases! Instead of the ACTUAL number of cases they will only report the number of ACTIVE cases. That means those who have died or recovered will not be included in the count. That will certainly drop the numbers but will hide the truth. It's the perfect solution.
Remember when experts said there might be a COVID-19 baby boom?
Over one million modern family planning commodities remain undelivered to provinces in Eastern Visayas this year due to logistic problems brought about by coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, an official said Thursday.
In a press briefing, Commission on Population and Development (PopCom) regional director Elnora Pulma said these undelivered items are stored in their office and at the warehouse of the Department of Health here.
These commodities include one million pills, 200,000 condoms, and 126,000 progestin sub-dermal implants intended for six provinces in the region this year.
“The biggest challenge is to bring these supplies to municipalities especially in Samar Island due to movement restrictions. These commodities are needed during the pandemic to prevent unplanned births,” Pulma told reporters.
One million is a lot of birth control pills. With or with them those babies are coming.
Besides valid identification (ID), Malacañang on Thursday urged couples to bring a photocopy of their marriage certificate as proof before they go motorcycle back-riding or pillion riding.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark after the National Task Force for Covid-19 approved motorcycle back-riding starting Friday (July 10).
He said married couples should be prepared to present a photocopy of their marriage certificate at checkpoints or if police officers check that they are indeed married.
“Siguro po identification card at siguro po Xerox lang ng kanilang marriage contract. Di naman po kinakailangan yungoriginal (Perhaps they should bring identification cards and a photocopy of their marriage contract. They don’t need to bring the original),” he said in a virtual presser.
According to Roque, only married couples will be allowed to travel via back-riding.
Roque also reminded back-riding couples to ensure that a barrier, similar to the prototype model submitted by Bohol Governor Arthur Yap, is placed between the rider and the passenger while a handle is placed on the side of the barrier.
The barrier would reach beyond the head of the passengers to assure their health and safety.
Only married couples will be allowed to double up on motorcycles. Not only should they bring proof of marriage but they should also have a barrier between them which looks like this:
Can this thing be bought in the store? Its really just too much and too silly. What if they crash? At least one politician thinks it is dangerous idea.
"Dangerous, inconvenient, and does not make sense." This is how Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla described the physical barrier design for motorcycles, which has been approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
"Dear IATF: Thank you for the new Backride Policy for Couples. Unfortunately, kung sino man ang gumawa ng backshield design instruction ay kailanman hindi sumakay ng motor," the governor said in a Facebook post.
"It is dangerous, inconvenient and most importantly, it does NOT make sense!"
Remulla said wearing a face mask, jacket, and helmet should be enough for the passengers as government earlier said only couples are allowed due to the low chance of COVID-19 transmission in a household.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/13/20/dangerous-does-not-make-sense-remulla-blasts-motorcycle-shield-design
How
many other politicians
are thinking the same thing
but are too afraid to speak out so they don't appear to be anti-government?
Another
approved design looks like this:
Angkas’ design is a backpack-like barrier worn by the motorcycle driver.
Año said the design maintains social distancing and is made of lightweight, high-density plastic, allowing road visibility with handles that can be used by the backrider.
“This second approved design is somehow simpler as it will only be strapped to the motorcycle driver and not mounted directly on the motorcycle itself, unlike the first design. It’s good that people have options but as of today, both are already approved to be used,” Año said.
It's still a silly design because the whole
idea of riding with a shield between passengers is silly in itself.
“We have strongly advised them not to buy this blood plasma,” Loreche said in a late presser on Wednesday. “Remember the danger of having a donor who sells (directly) his blood.”
She said donors who have not undergone proper evaluation have the tendency to lie about their present medical condition as what they could be after for is money, considering the economic woes brought about by the health crisis.
I do not even understand how this transaction would be possible. Who is extracting the blood and separating the plasma from it? How does the patient put the plasma inside himself? It does not make any sense.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is urging local governments to pass resolutions punishing quarantine violators with imprisonment as it reminded the public to strictly comply with health protocols to arrest the further spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“We have encouraged our mayors to pass ordinances so that the implementation will be uniform and all violators should be punished with imprisonment so it will serve as a lesson and they will no longer violate (quarantine measures),” DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said during a meeting of the government’s pandemic task force in Davao City last Tuesday.
In a bid to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 within the jails thousands of inmates have been released which makes the DILG's desire to jail quarantine violators self-defeating.
To help keep the busiest rail line in Metro Manila free from the new coronavirus, the management of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) 1 is discouraging passengers from having conversations while on the train.
But no, riders who can’t control their chatter need not worry about any penalty, though they might feel like they’re back in their grade school classroom where the names of “noisy” pupils are written on the blackboard for the teacher to later see.
Light Rail Manila Corp. (LMRC) spokesperson Jacqueline Gorospe said the no-talking rule is more of a “strict reminder’’ to passengers and that there will be “marshals [on the train] who will help monitor” compliance with safety measures.
Of course, there are exceptions. Gorospe said passengers can still take quick phone calls as long as they keep their masks on and only in “select, extremely important or very urgent situations.”
“Not allowing passengers to talk inside the train is one of our safety measures to prevent droplet transmissions,” Gorospe told Inquirer on Friday. “We’d also like to remind our riding public to always wear masks or face cover.”
This is simply too bizarre. Breathing also expels moisture droplets so why not just have everyone stop breathing in public?
Is this more contradiction and miscommunication?
Nograles, also co-chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), said the government will instead be shifting its focus on facility-based quarantine to ensure that disease transmission is controlled.
“We are now discouraging yung tinatawag na mag (what you call) home quarantine. Dapat facility quarantine na e (It should be facility-based quarantine),” he said in an interview over DZBB.
He warned that there would be a higher chance that persons in the same household would contract Covid-19 even if the person who tested positive would self-isolate.
“So we’re now shifting that even those asymptomatic should be given facility-based quarantine),” he said.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients are not discouraged from observing home quarantine, the Department of Health said Monday but it stressed that minimum health protocols must be strictly practiced to prevent the spread of the virus inside households.
(We are not discouraging home quarantine. We have a joint administrative order where home quarantining is allowed. But what I’m saying is we have conditions that must be met for home quarantine.)
The health official issued the clarification after Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that the government is discouraging home quarantine for COVID-19 patients. Nograles co-chairs the government’s coronavirus task force.
He was quoted in media reports as saying that even asymptomatic patients should undergo facility-based quarantine.
The head of the IATF-EID says no more home quarantine because the virus can still be spread while the DOH says home quarantines are ok as long as the rules are followed. So which is it? The man in charge of implementing the nation's plan to fight the virus disagrees with the DOH.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Monday blamed the spread of COVID-19 in a Cebu City barangay to the mere home quarantine imposed on some confirmed cases.
In a public briefing, the chief implementer of the national plan against COVID-19 made the remark to explain the government's decision to discourage home quarantine among coronavirus patients.
“We've seen in Cebu, more than 1,900 home quarantines. And they are not prevented from infecting almost the entire barangay, ”Galvez said.
“We cannot stop the positive from talking to their families and their relatives and still visiting. And the others are still drinking, ”he added.
Again who is the public supposed to believe?
The purchase was made despite repeated warnings from the Department of Health and a group of 13 medical societies that tuob, which is being promoted as treatment to COVID-19 by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, was not a cure to the dreaded virus.
Tuob is the practice of covering one’s head with a towel or blanket to inhale steam from a small basin with boiled water infused with lemon, ginger or eucalyptus.
Councilor Jerry Guardo defended the city’s move amid criticisms that the kits were too expensive and that the local government should have spent the money for more proven measures against COVID-19.
“If we can help one patient recover from COVID-19 with only a budget of P2,500, that’s very cheap for a single life we save,” said Guardo, the proponent of the project aimed to “alleviate” symptoms of the disease.
Each kit includes an electric water heater/steamer, a steam gown, an adult bath towel, two hand towels, an “industrial” plastic chair and a small plastic water basin.
Guardo, interviewed over radio dySS here, said the budget for the kits was taken from the city’s appropriation for COVID-19 response, but he did not know who was the supplier as it was the executive department that did the canvassing and procurement.
The city official claimed that many patients who underwent steam inhalation in the BICs had recovered from the disease.
“We have had a spike in recoveries since we practiced tuob at the isolation centers. This is not a cure, but if it helps alleviate the symptoms, then it would help the patients feel better and stronger,” Guardo said.
“This is one way of decongesting our hospitals since we no longer have to bring patients there since they already managed to eliminate the symptoms of the disease at the isolation centers,” he added.
But a coronavirus survivor criticized the city’s decision to purchase tuob kits when it could have spent the money to buy medicines for critically ill COVID-19 patients.
“During the critical period when the risk for intubation and other complications were high and I was already in a cytokine storm, a very important drug, Tocilizumab (Actemra) was badly needed. I still believed this was a turning point in my battle against this disease,” he said in a post on Facebook.
The drug costs P40,000 to P60,000 for one vial. The government hospital where he was admitted, however, ran out of the medicine.
Not only is tuob not a cure but the practice could help spread the virus.
Dr. Magdalena Barcelon, president of the doctors’ group Community Medicine Practitioners and Advocates Association (Compass), said the steam being inhaled by a sick person could cause “aerosolization”, or virus particles turning into fine spray or invisible molecules.
This, according to Barcelon, increases the risk of transmission if the sick person had coronavirus.
“The spread through aerosols can be much more dangerous and widespread because these are very tiny particles that can travel farther and stay in the air much longer,” Dr. Barcelon said. “When inhaled, they can penetrate deeper into the respiratory chamber than ordinary droplets do.”
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1299253/doctors-reject-tuob-it-pushes-door-wide-open-for-coronavirus-infection
As for the outlandish price of P2,500 per kit one Twitter user had the perfect response:
The spokesperson for the Mayor of Cebu Labella, Atty. Rey Gealon now claims that
the kits were donated but who knows? The COA might have to investigate.
Police in Quezon City have a message for churches.
A Catholic priest on Sunday expressed concern over the actions of three uniformed personnel from the Quezon City’s Department of Public Order and Safety (DPOS) who took photos and videos during his morning Mass at San Isidro Labrador Parish without the parish’s prior knowledge and consent.
Fr. Robert Reyes, popularly known as the “running priest,” sounded the alarm over the “suspicious” actions of the uniformed men who were seen in footage from a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed outside the church on Malakas Street in Barangay Pinyahan.
Reyes said this was the first time that it had happened in the parish, raising worries for his safety and that of his parishioners.
“Their behavior was very suspicious … If they were on official business, they should have the courtesy first to ask permission,” he said in a phone interview.
DPOS chief Elmo San Diego confirmed that it was his men who went to the parish on Sunday morning, but he defended their actions as “routine inspection” to ensure that physical distancing during religious services was observed.
San Diego said he directed DPOS personnel to check on the church activities during the weekend but added that no arrests would be made.
“But take note what churches are not following … Next week, we will begin the arrests, even if they are priests or imams, as long as they do not follow the guidelines,” he said in an order which he shared with the Inquirer.
Reyes said San Diego’s comments on arresting priests and religious leaders was “very disturbing” and expressed concern over the safety of those who were critical of the Duterte administration, including himself.
“We know how they can easily interpret violations according to their bias and without due process,” he said.
Imagine if the government starts arresting priests and parishioners for social distancing violations. Will there be any uproar? Will anyone even care?
Not only are cops patrolling churches but now they are going door-to-door to search for COVID-19 patients.
Policemen and local government personnel will be going house to house to search for COVID-19 cases who should not be on home quarantine, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Tuesday.
According to the government, mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 patients should not be on home quarantine if they do not meet the three requirements: own room, own bathroom, and absence of vulnerable person in the house.
"We do not want our positives to go home quarantine if their house does not really have the capacity," Año said at a press briefing in Taguig City.
"So what we will do, with the help of LGUs (local government units) and PNP (Philippine National Police) we will house that house and bring the positives to our COVID isolation facilities," he added.
Año urged the public to report to authorities if they know someone who is infected with COVID-19 to avoid further transmission of the virus.
"You will endanger the lives of our countrymen so we encourage everyone, it will be easier to recover, you are only 14 days quarantine, there is still free food," he said.
The government has discouraged home quarantine for mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases, saying it is prone to abuse.
For this, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 started Oplan Kalinga , which aims to escort COVID-19 patients from their houses to government isolation facilities.
Will it just
be policemen? Will
they be brining doctors along with them? Will people be dragged from their homes? But it seems these house-to-house searches are not going to happen after all.
Fear and confusion grew like plaque Wednesday amid a flurry of conflicting statements after the Palace claimed the national police will not be going house-to-house in search of coronavirus patients after all, despite other officials saying otherwise and another saying he was not made aware of the prospect.
In an interview with ANC, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said: "We don't have a provision for house-to-house. Only the political critics of the government, again, weaponizing this very important task of tracing."
"(Patients) will have to be reported by the persons themselves, their family or the barangay," he added.
This directly contradicted an earlier pronouncement by Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, a former military general, on Tuesday that the tactic, reminiscent of the Philippine National Police's Oplan Tokhang, would be used to weed out any coronavirus patients. “To our countrymen, if you know a neighbor who is COVID-19 positive and hiding, please report them to us," he said then.
But Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told Philstar.com that he was not even consulted on the house-to-house search for COVID-19 patients before it was announced, saying that it could be taken up in their next meeting.
"I am not aware of any 'house-to-house' search for COVID-afflicted persons. we have not discussed this matter in the IATF, nor have I been consulted about it, but there is ample legal basis for transferring COVID-infected persons to government quarantine facilities if they are incapable of voluntarily isolating themselves," he told reporters.
"Should the IATF agree there is a need for a house-to-house search of COVID-infected persons, it should be the barangay health workers, and not police officers, who should do that. Health workers are in a better position to determine if transfer to a government quarantine facility is appropriate," he said.
What's going on? The Palace and the DOJ are unaware of this plan to go house-to-house searching for patients. Does that mean DILG Secretary Año is making his own policies? Why can't everyone be on the same page?
Even if there are ultimately
no house-to-house searches the government
says they can compel infected people to isolate
.
The government can wield its inherent police power to bring individuals who acquire the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) to isolation facilities, Malacañang said on Wednesday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the remarks in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, as he emphasized the need to isolate Covid-19 patients who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms in a bid to stop the further spread of the novel coronavirus in the country.
“If there is a communicable disease and if they refuse to be isolated, the state of course can isolate them,” Roque said. “There’s inherent police power that is very essential to the establishment of the state. And if it is to protect public health, I think the isolation can be justified.”
Roque’s statement came a day after Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the government will conduct “house-to-house” searches for Covid-19 patients to prevent wider community transmission of the new coronavirus.
Hopefully they won't have to resort to force and infected people will do the right thing.
Do you have everything you need to live in the new normal? Here is a list of five essential items.
1. Face mask case or container
Especially with reusable face masks, don't just place it anywhere, when not in use. Put it inside a face mask container to prevent the spread of bacteria and virus to and from the mask.
2. Sanikey
Sanikey is a tool that helps uses avoid contact with high-risk surfaces like elevator buttons, ATM, door handles and light switches.
3. Handheld UV Sterilizer
Before touching any type of surfaces, you can first sanitize and sterilize them with the handy UV sterilizer with UV bulb that is believed to kill germs to help you stay extra cautious.
4. Foldable sterilizer
Another cool tool you can use is this foldable sterilizer bag where you can put some of the things you use on a daily basis for automatic sterilization.
5. Contactless sanitary tool
Just like the Sanikey, this contactless sanitary tool has several uses and the only difference is this one is made of plastic.
There's also a sponge material inside where you can put alcohol or disinfecting liquid solution.
This tool can be used for pressing elevator keys, ATM, pulling door handles, and pressing light switches.
Be sure to get your new gear before you head out into the new world.
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