More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
The fallout from the secret Pentagon pay-op to convince Filipinos not to take the Chinese vaccine. The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines is welcoming a Senate probe into the matter.
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| https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202406/1314860.shtml |
The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines said on Wednesday that they welcomed and took notice of the hearing held in the Philippine Senate committee on foreign relations on Tuesday regarding the US military's smear campaign against Chinese vaccines in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that this matter is related to the lives and health of the Filipino people, and the Filipino people and the international community have the right to know the truth.The Philippines is currently requesting further clarification from the Pentagon regarding a covert US propaganda campaign that sought to sow doubt among Filipinos about Chinese vaccines during the pandemic.In an exclusive response to the Global Times, Yuan Youwei, a Sinovac spokesperson, said that stigmatizing vaccines can lead to extremely serious consequences like causing mistrust between science and public health, among others.Yuan told the Global Times that the company was aware of the report and appreciated the fact that Reuters revealed the US military scheme to the public."Throughout history, there have also been people who have wrongly attacked vaccines, which have caused huge disasters. Stigmatizing vaccines can lead to a series of extremely serious consequences, such as lowering vaccination rates, disease outbreaks and epidemics, social panic and unrest, and crises of trust in science and public health," Yuan said.
Interesting they are urging "truth and revelation" seeing as the Chinese government continues to lie about the origin of COVID-19.
During a House about the COA's findings concerning PS-DBM's COVID purchases it was found that they bought nearly expired COVID-19 test kits and other commodities.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2024/6/25/common-sense-garin-slams-duque-for-delivery-of-nearly-expired-covid-19-test-kits |
House Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin lambasted former Department of Health (DOH) secretary Francisco Duque III for overseeing the procurement of nearly expired test kits during the Covid-19 pandemic, as revealed by the Commission on Audit (COA).
Citing the COA findings, Garin said the DOH—through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM)---allowed the delivery of near-expiry commodities, including Covid-19 test kits.
“We were surprised by the findings of COA and this should be acted upon because DOH never allows delivery of near expiring commodities because it will go down to the barangays,” she said during an oversight hearing with the DOH on Tuesday, June 25.
Accordingly, these near-expiry test kits were found to be more expensive compared to those found in other countries with the same brand and specifications.
“Why is it so expensive in the Philippines? You don’t use the pandemic as a reason to do corruption. And you don’t use the pandemic as a reason to abuse the government, borrow money, and let the Filipino people pay,” Garin stressed.
Garin, a former DOH secretary, pointed out that the agency would never allow the delivery of near-expiring commodities out of common sense.
“If the items to be delivered are expiring, how can people use them?” she asked.
In response, Duque said the DOH’s policy was clear in not allowing the delivery of near-expiry supplies. However, these test kits were only allowed to be delivered given the “extraordinary circumstances” during the pandemic.
(If I recall, there were some new test kits, their expiration was six months. But because the pandemic is evolving, so are the test kits. They can't tell if these test kits can be used for one year or one and a half years because they are new. There are no studies yet, no historical data to show that test kits’ shelf life can actually be extended.)
“But if we talk about the regular supplies, we're really strict, two years or three years until it expires before we do the necessary steps,” he added.
When asked if the DOH filed a complaint against the supplier of these near-expiring test kits, Duque said he could not recall. However, he noted that the health agency may have filed a notice or warning.
Meanwhile, Garin said the delivery schedule of the test kits was not followed, thus adding to the concern that the supplier can't meet the production requirement for the kits.
Duque defended himself by saying the DOH policy on delivering nearly expired items was not clear and it was done during extraordinary circumstances. That is the same excuse the government gave for destroying the economy during the pandemic, it was an extraordinary circumstance.
The COA has disallowed the financial and health assistance given to employees by Film Development Council of the Philippines during the pandemic.
The Commission on Audit (COA) has affirmed the notice of disallowance for P876,896.87 given by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) to its employees for financial and health assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the ruling, the COA denied the appeal filed by Mary Liza Diño, former FDCP chairperson.
State auditors had disallowed the P5,000 one-time cash assistance given to contract of service or job order personnel amounting to P400,000. The COA said in its post audit that the disbursements were considered as irregular and cited its Circular No. 2012-003 dated Oct. 29, 2012.
On the other hand, the P476,896.87 spent as payments to two private medical companies was also disallowed as COA Resolution No. 2005-001 provides that "the procurement of private health insurance by any government agency or instrumentality is an irregular expenditure and constitutes unnecessary use of public funds."
In her appeal, Diño argued that monetary and other forms of incentives were allowed by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Memorandum Circular No. 18, series of 2020. She claimed that the circular stated that the approval of the head of agency is sufficient for the issuance of support mechanisms for employees.
She also argued that the circular was intended for "all workers" to be entitled to the support mechanisms, and that the health care assistance given to FDCP workers was "necessary" in light of the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The COA, however, denied Diño's arguments.
It said: "Notably, the grant of financial and health care assistance is not clothed with authority considering that it lacked review by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the eventual approval of the President. With no such approval or authority, the extension of the assistance was without legal basis."
"Thus, the disallowances are warranted due to the violations made by FDCP when it granted additional benefits and used allotments intended for other purposes without the authority or approval from the DBM and the President," it said.
The COA also said: "The Audit Team Leader and the Supervising Auditor are instructed to verify whether the regular employees of the FDCP likewise received the cash assistance similar with that granted to the Contract of Service/Job Order personnel... and whether the same was improperly charged against other allotments, and to issue a Supplemental ND, if warranted."
The approving and certifying officials for the amounts of P400,000 and P476,896.87 have been held "solidarily liable" by the COA for the total disallowance. They are Diño, Officer-in-Charge Executive Director III Ria Anne S. Rubia, Budget Officer Jose Carlos D. Pasion, Chief Administrative Officer Ermelita Alquiza, Project Development Officer V Don Gervin T. Arawan, General Services Messenger Juanito A. Acuña, and Project Development Officer II Irish Joy F. Delfin.
It was not known immediately what legal recourse was resorted to by those affected by the COA ruling.
Extraordinary circumstances? The COA does not care.
After four years Philippine Airlines has restored service between Clark and Basco.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1957308/pal-resumes-clark-basco-flights |
Philippine Airlines (PAL) relaunched on Tuesday its flights from Clark International Airport (CRK) here to the Batanes capital of Basco, years after air service to the northernmost province was halted due to the pandemic.
PAL’s Clark-Basco flights are scheduled every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday via PR 2688, leaving CRK at 11 a.m. and arriving in Basco at 12:35 p.m. PAL’s PR 2689 serves the Basco-Clark service on the same days, leaving Basco at 1 p.m. and reaching CRK at 2:35 p.m.
Rabbi Vincent Ang, PAL Express president, said in a statement that the Clark-Basco service was a “most sought-after domestic route, which allows Basco residents to access opportunities for leisure travel and discover other beautiful attractions across the country.”
“This returning service also allows Central Luzon residents, business and leisure travelers to fly to picturesque Basco,” he said.
Ang said Central Luzon, through CRK, is a “strategic gateway” to northern, central and southern Philippines.
No word on why it took so long to restore this particular route.
Some health workers have still not received their emergency allowances despite the DOH releasing the money.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1228158 |
The Department of Health Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WVCHD) has already released over PHP5.98 billion of health emergency allowance (HEA) to health workers who served at the height of the pandemic.
WVCHD Administrative Officer V and human resources in-charge Genevieve Cadornigara said during the “Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas” briefing on Tuesday that the amount is around 99.96 percent of the allocation for the region.
The HEA covers services rendered from July 2021 to July 2023, or 25 months.
“The health emergency allowance is based on the risk classification of health workers. They may be low risk, moderate risk or high risk. The identification of the risk classification of each health care worker is dependent on their facilities for both public and private facilities,” she said.
She said there are still facilities that are yet to receive their allowance since the regional office is still waiting for the fund release from the central office.
“As of this moment, there are 19 health facilities where we have released a complete 25-month HEA,” Cadornigara said.
WVCHD regional director Adriano Suba-an said the HEA cannot be regarded as a measure of the “hardships and challenges faced by our modern-day heroes.”
“We owe an endless gratitude to them,” he said.
Suba-an assured that once the funds are available, the regional office will immediately release the HEA of the remaining health workers.
That is one step closer to the Department of Budget and Management's goal of paying all HEA arrears by the end of 2025.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/907440/health-workers-emergency-allowance-paid-dbm/story/ |
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is targeting to settle all the unpaid arrears for the Health Emergency Allowance (HEA) by the end of next year.
In a statement on Tuesday, the DBM said Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman committed, during Monday's public hearing and inquiry of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, that arrears of the HEA are fulfilled by the end of 2025.
“The health workers are our priority. The HEA is in the SONA (State of the Nation Address) of our President. Whenever we see each other, he reminds us about it. My promise is, by 2025, it will be fully paid,” Pangandaman said.
To date, the Budget Department said it has disbursed a total of P91.283 billion to the Department of Health (DOH) for the Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances (PHEBA) covering all healthcare workers’ benefits from 2021 to 2023.
PHEBA covers Special Risk Allowance (SRA), compensation for COVID-19 sickness and death, as well as additional benefits like meals, accommodation, and transportation allowances for healthcare workers.
Of the amount, P73.261 billion has been allocated for HEA.
During the Senate hearing, Pangandaman bared the DBM’s strategy to settle the remaining P27.7 billion arrears for the HEA.
She said the first step involves utilizing a P2.3-billion unprogrammed appropriations (UA) fund contingent upon the collection of excess revenue.
“We are just awaiting certification from the Bureau of Treasury on excess revenue,” said Pangandaman.
Last year, the DBM said an additional P7 billion, taken from the UA, was released for HEA.
The Budget Department will also look into the internal budget of DOH and identify possible realignment for the program.
Moreover, Pangandaman committed that the necessary resources to address the deficiencies in HEA would be prioritized in the drafting of the 2025 National Budget.
Better late than never.
However, DOH Secretary Herbosa says the reaming P27 billion in health allowances will be paid this year.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1957514/p27-billion-covid-19-health-allowances-to-be-given-this-year-says-herbosa |
The remaining P27 billion unpaid COVID-19 health emergency allowances (HEAs) for eligible medical frontliners will be released by this year.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa made the announcement on Wednesday at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon Pre-Sona special program.
He cited what the Department of Budget and Management said during the 17th Cabinet Meeting in Malacañang last Tuesday.
According to Herbosa, Budget Sec. Amenah Pangandaman relayed that the funds for the remaining emergency allowances will no longer be included in the proposed budget for 2025.
This means DBM is confident it can release the fund this year.
(Secretary Pangandaman said, ‘the budget for allowance is no longer there.’ I asked, ‘Why is it not there?’ ‘It looks like we can give it this year.’)
(This year, yes. It seems that the national government will be able to provide the remaining 27 billion that we have not yet allocated so that everything can already be paid.)
(So, that’s the good news here.)
It will only be good news once the payment is made and health workers have the money.
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