Circumcision Season in the Philippines

After delays caused by the pandemic circumcision season is finally open in the Philippines. That is the time of year when doctors hunt down young boys with intact foreskin, hold them down, drug them, and then slice it off.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/08/30/2123631/philippine-circumcision-season-underway-after-virus-delays

For more than a year, Caspien Gruta has been teased because his circumcision — a rite of passage for boys in the Philippines — was delayed, first by a volcanic eruption and then the coronavirus pandemic.

"I worry if I don't get circumcised now, I will be shamed," said Gruta, 12. 

The Philippines has one of the highest rates of circumcision in the world, with many seeing the centuries-old practice as key for boys to enter manhood. 

Even as circumcision comes under increasing scrutiny elsewhere, with some critics branding it "child abuse", it is rarely questioned in the Philippines and boys face tremendous pressure to undergo the procedure.

Every year, thousands of pre-teens have the operation for free at government or community-sponsored clinics.

But last year, the "circumcision season" was cancelled for the first time in living memory due to the virus outbreak, delaying the milestone for many boys like Gruta. 

Left in limbo — and with their foreskin intact — the boys have been ridiculed by their male relatives and friends. 

Gruta was one of the oldest boys to line up at a covered basketball court turned make-shift clinic in Silang, Cavite south of Manila, one of the few provinces that have slowly resumed the free service since May.

"I feel like I'm a genuine Filipino now because getting circumcised is part of being a Filipino," Gruta said after the 20-minute procedure.

Wearing masks and face shields, the boys sat on plastic chairs near a row of wooden tables surrounded by a red curtain. 

Some looked excited or did their best to appear nonchalant. Others fidgeted as they waited. 

After removing their shorts, the youngsters lay down on a table with their legs hanging over the edge and their groin covered by an operating sheet. 

Some bit into a facecloth or covered their eyes as they were given a local anaesthetic. The surgeon then went to work. 

"I got circumcised because they said I will grow taller and I will get better in sports," said 12-year-old Almer Alciro, who went to another outdoor clinic for his delayed procedure. 

While he waited for the free service to resume, Alciro's friends mocked him as "uncircumcised" — an insult similar to coward in a country where the procedure is a badge of masculinity. 

"I'm happy that I'm finally circumcised," Alciro said.

Boys as young as eight face social pressure to go under the knife. Even hospital advertisements urge boys to "Be Man Enough".

Mass circumcisions are common during the hottest months from April to June when school children are on a long break.

Normally hundreds of boys undergo outdoor surgery on a single day, but Covid-19 rules have drastically reduced group sizes.

Circumcision is an important "demarcating line" between boys and men, when the youngsters take on more responsibility in the family and learn about sex, said Nestor Castro, a professor of anthropology at the University of the Philippines.

"Once a boy gets circumcised, he already leaves the position of being a child and he is now considered... as an adult," Castro said. 

"If you are a circumcised male... you should act as a grown-up man, no longer as a young boy."

Imagine thinking cutting off the most sensitive part of your member will make you grow taller and get better in sports. Whoever told that boy such a thing would happen to him is an awful person. And what kind of relatives would ridicule a young boy about what his dong looks like? That's pretty sick and uncalled for.

The origin of circumcision in the Philippines goes way back before the Spanish arrived. Some think it has to do with the arrival of Islam in Luzon. When the Spanish arrived the Muslims had already made inroads into Luzon and had they been any later this nation would surely be another Muslim stronghold. But even though Ishmael, the reputed father of the Arab Muslims, was circumcised at the age of 13 Muslims are usually circumcised at 7 days of age.

Other groups, such as The God Culture, would say that circumcision is proof that Israelites made it to the Philippines long ago. But Filipino circumcision is not at all like that of the Israelites. For one thing it is the sign of entering manhood and not the sign of being a member of a unique covenant community. For another Israelites were circumcised 8 days after birth. Any delay and they would be out of the community. 

Circumcision in the Philippines is certainly not a Christian practice. In Christianity baptism serves as a new circumcision which cleanses and purifies the heart. Paul the Apostle is very clear that heart circumcision is more important than physical circumcision. Likewise the law of Moses says:

Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

One can certainly be circumcised and a Christian but it is pretty much worthless.

Galatians 5:2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

You also will not become taller and better at sports. 

It is not clear why Filipino boys are circumcised between 8-14 years old. The origins of the practice are lost to time. The only thing really known about it is that it is a voluntary act of self-mutilation, with the help of a doctor of course, which makes one a man. One could say it is a sacrifice because the boy is sacrificing the pleasure he would have experienced with a fully intact member. 

Every culture has its rituals concerning what makes one a man or a woman. As barbaric and pointless as this custom is, it could be worse. The Etoro people of Papa New Guinea have their young boys ingest the semen of their elders in order to become men. 

Get back here you wascally wabbit so I can cut your foreskin off. It's circumcision season!

In the Philippines EMTs Are Instructed to Not Revive You

The following is a true story. I wrote it as it happened so it is a very hot take. It has been edited for spelling and to keep the identities anonymous.

Around 3pm I was shouted for and I ran downstairs. I was asked if I knew how to revive someone and I had no idea what was meant but I ran out the door. The man was sitting up so it looked like he needed water but one guy was holding him up in the chair. I asked if he had a pulse.  I could not feel one. I had them put him on the ground and then I started compressing his chest. I did not breathe into his mouth. I asked for a flashlight to look at his pupils. They did not seem to dilate. I asked for a stethoscope but they did not have one. I kept compressing his chest and it seemed like he might be breathing. There was a huge vein on his neck that seemed engorged and standing out. Probably his jugular. I then tried to keep his mouth open and esophagus unobstructed by having them hold his head up. Then the ambulance showed up.

They came in there with no sense of urgency, no equipment, lazily walked over and put the digital meter on his finger and said well he's dead that's it. In no way shape or form did they attempt to revive him or to acscertain his condition except for obtaining his pulse via his finger.  They did not check his breath or eyes (maybe they did).  Then they walked away calmly and returned but this time with a stethoscope and a blood pressure gauge which they did not use. Then they walked back to the ambulance and left. They said the hospital will not take a dead man. I pleaded with them to take him to the hospital to attempt to revive him. I asked if they had a breath machine pump.  I asked if they had heart paddles.  The nurse (?) told me they have no equipment. 

The EMERGENCY AMBULANCE HAS NO EQUIPMENT!!!  Well I looked and that's not really true they had alcohol and a few other things but nothing that would save a man's life. So we waited for the funeral home to come snatch him.

It appears he was standing on a gas container to weld the ceiling. It also appears that the cord he was using to power the welding machine snapped and was broken. He could have been electrocuted. Likewise he could have passed out from not eating as I was told he did not eat at all that day. The day was not very hot due to it being overcast but still not eating can catch up with you in a bad way. He was fallen face first into the corner of the room onto an old fridge and some other stuff.

At first it appeared he might have fallen from the ladder since the ladder was on the ground but I do not think that is the case.  I do not know how long he was there. His helper found him lying on the ground. He came running after he heard him scream. He was on the other side of the wall in the street.

His welding instrument was lying next to the gas container which lends credibility to the idea that he was standing on it and fell. There are no brusies or blood on his body. Nothing from the ears or the eyes. It is as if he died all of a sudden. That he fell face first and did not try to get up would seem to mean he was electrocuted. One of his slippers was missing but I do not know how it came off. 

That the ambulance personnel did not try to revive him in any way is most upsetting.  Most upsetting indeed.

In the end, to be honest, he was not a safe worker and that negligence is likely what killed him. But, my god, the EMT's in the Philippines sure aren't worth a shit. Now he is lying in the area he was working with a pillow to support his head and a fan blowing on him and they are keeping vigil until the funeral home comes to retrieve him.

They rubbed alcohol all over his body.

The family arrived and one woman wailed and screamed shouting in Jesus name while smacking him and trying to revive him. They also anointed him with oil in an attempt to wake him up.  They did way more than the EMTs.

The police finally arrived and with them the EMTs returned. The family wanted the man, who had been dead for 90 minutes now, to be taken to the hospital. At first they brought out the stretcher but then the EMTs spoke with the police and they did not take him. I talked to the police and they said that the first time around they had called the doctor at the provincial hospital and she said do not bring him because he had no vitals and because of COVID.

It was a harrowing and grief stricken scene. I think the family was very angry that they had not transported him to the hospital. The man was 36.

The EMTs called the doctor and the doctor yelled at the PNP when the phone was handed to him. The EMTs were told by the doc at 3pm when they first called to not revive if there were no vitals.

Around 5pm more relatives came over and tried to revive the man by praying in Jesus name and shaking his limbs. I stepped outside the gate to ask the PNP officer if he was CPR trained. He said no. I asked if they teach you that at the academy. He scrunched up his face, shook his head, and took a puff from his vape machine.  He did say the EMTs were CPR trained and that he did know what CPR is. But the PNP are not trained in that technique.

The family decided around 5:30pm to take him to the hospital because only the doctor can pronounce him dead. So they put him in a tricycle but his feet were sticking out and with rigor mortis setting in they could not make his knees stay bent. So I told them to put him in the back of the car and then they sped off to the hospital. 

Later I was told the doctor at this hospital said he could have been revived if he had been brought in within an hour of his accident. It sounds nice but I don't know. All I know is he is dead and the EMTs did nothing at the behest of the doctor they called.

The moral of this story is: STAY SAFE!  Because in the Philippines the EMTs WILL NOT REVIVE YOU!

The 25 Year Cycle of PhilHealth Corruption

This week the Senate has been holding hearings about alleged corruption within PhilHealth. Many things have come to light such as the existence of a "mafia" which has been stealing billions from the taxpayers. These mafiosi have even been named.

https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2019/8/14/PhilHealth-mafia-members.html

A former official of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on Wednesday bared the names of the members of the alleged “mafia” in the state health insurer. 

On the prodding of Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon during a Senate probe on purported anomalies in the agency, former PhilHealth board member Roberto Salvador named five regional vice presidents and a sacked regional vice president as alleged members of the supposed mafia: 

PhilHealth Vice President for Region IV-B Paolo Johann Perez

PhilHealth Vice President for Region VII William Chavez

PhilHealth Vice President for Region X Masiding Alonto Jr.

PhilHealth Vice President for Region XII Dennis Adre

PhilHealth Vice President for ARMM Khaliquzzaman Macabato

Former PhilHealth Vice President for Region XII Miriam Grace Pamonag 

Salvador also alleged that PhilHealth’s assistant corporate secretary, Valerie Hollero, and its legal officer, Jelbert Calicto, are part of the group, dubbed as the “Mindanao bloc.”

PhilHealth President Morales vowed before the Senate that he would dismantle this mafia.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/26/19/philhealth-chief-vows-to-dismantle-mafia

The head of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation vowed Monday to "dismantle" the alleged "mafia" within the state-run health insurance firm. 

PhilHealth President Ricardo Morales said executives tagged as "mafia" members have already been reshuffled and an internal investigation is also underway. 

"If there is a mafia, I will dismantle that mafia. That is one of my initiatives," Morales told ANC's Headstart.

If you haven't noticed both of those articles are from last year!

What is happening in the Senate now is a repetition of an unending cycle of allegations, investigations, suspensions, everyone forgetting as time passes, and business as usual stealing billions in PhilHealth. Contrary to Morales' vow to dismantle the PhilHealth mafia every person named is STILL listed as an Executive Officer on PhilHealth's website. The mafia was never dismantled and a year later we read the following:

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1320271/morales-tags-2-mindanao-philhealth-execs-having-inordinate-influence-within-agency-i-cant-move-them

The two executives have “inordinate influence” and “dictate” how the agency is run, according to Morales. 

Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked Morales if he could identify the officials 

“At least two ma’am: Alonto and Macabato because I could not move them,” Morales said.

Is there a mafia or not? Who is in it? How are they able to continue to defraud the nation? Those are questions I am not going to answer. It appears not even those making the accusations can give a definite answer.

Obviously there is corruption happening within PhilHealth and it has been this way since 1995 when PhilHealth was founded. Those perpetrating the corruption are not just insiders but also doctors and hospitals. From 2011 we read:

https://web.archive.org/web/20111016070511/http://asiancorrespondent.com/55816/bogus-claims-haunt-philhealth/

For many years you’ve been paying your Philhealth dues, and so has your company. But that money may have been misused to finance bankrupt hospitals and fatten doctors’ salaries. 

As early as four years ago, a scandal hit the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., which confirmed allegations that some private hospitals and doctors have been defrauding the state-run health insurer. 

In her testimony before a 2007 congressional hearing, Dr. Madeleine Valera, Philhealth vice president for health finance policy, said that since 1995, Philhealth had lost as much as P4 billion due to fraudulent claims. 

The anecdotes behind these claims are both tragic and true. In Iloilo, one eye doctor claimed to have performed 2, 071 eye surgeries in one year, for a total of P16 million in professional fees that he collected from Philhealth in 2006. When a Philhealth inspection team visited a hospital in Davao City, it caught janitors in hospital beds pretending to be Philhealth-accredited patients. 

Today, various estimates show that Philhealth is still losing up to P500 million annually due to bogus claims. This amount can already cover additional 500,000 indigent families under a sponsored program scheme. 

The continued abuse of the funds is also behind the limited coverage for new entrants to the labor force, since a new employee will have to contribute for at least nine months within the year of confinement before he or she could be entitled to benefits. 

The problem persists because of government’s failure to prosecute any of the players involved in the scam.

While some hospitals, such as the Our Lady of Mercy Specialty Hospital in Bacolod and the General Santos Doctors Hospital in General Santos City, had been fined or suspended, the truth is no one has been jailed for the crime. Weighed down by manpower problems and lack of political will, Philhealth could only implement stop-gap measures to stop the bleeding, such as random inspections and a stricter evaluation of claims.

Lack of political will and only implementing stop-gap measures to stop the bleeding rather then aggressive prosecuting those who commit fraud. Why not? Could it be because some PhilHealth executives are colluding with doctors and hospitals to commit fraud? The DOJ says that is exactly the case.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1322072/2-resource-persons-reveal-fraudulent-schemes-inside-philhealth-by-its-employees-in-collusion-with-doctors-banks

“The individuals (who requested anonymity) informed the Task Force of the different fraudulent schemes allegedly employed through the years by PhilHealth officers and employees, both at its main office and regional offices, in collusion with some doctors and hospitals, and even banks which act as remittance centers,” DOJ Undersecretary and spokesman Markk Perete said in a statement on Saturday. 

Such schemes include the payment of false or fraudulent claims against PhilHealth, the malversation of premiums, as well as the exploitation of “some unscrupulous personalities” of the case rate system and the interim reimbursement mechanism, among others. 

The resource persons, Perete added, also exposed the “abuses and flaws” in PhilHealth’s legal department and information technology (IT) office which allegedly made the proliferation of the schemes possible.

Enter Duterte in 2016 and his strong political will.  Surely he will not allow corruption to flourish within PhilHealth. So said former PhilHealth President Roy Ferrer.

https://www.philhealth.gov.ph/news/2019/no_mafia.php#gsc.tab=0

"No mafia can survive in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) under the watch of Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte." Thus declared PhilHealth acting president and CEO Dr. Roy Ferrer, laughing off the imagined fears of a former PhilHealth staff working with the past administration. 

Dr. Ferrer scored a certain Minguita Padilla, erstwhile head executive staff of a former Health Secretary under the government of former President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino. "The loser's mind and defeatist attitude of Ms. Padilla cite ‘a culture of fear' in PhilHealth, but that was the PhilHealth of the past," Ferrer pointed out, "and such fear and trembling no longer exist in the present PhilHealth and under the strong government of President Duterte." 

In a fast-breaking development, President Duterte was quoted by a television network saying, "I do not have the slightest doubt on the integrity and honesty of PhilHealth President Roy Ferrer," in the midst of this controversy particularly related to the wrongdoing of a health center that had abused and misused PhilHealth benefits. 

"Ms. Padilla, who served a former Health Secretary (who figured prominently in the Dengvaxia mess), harks back to a weak-kneed and feeble government before the robust Presidency of my Boss, Rody Duterte," Ferrer said. "So when Ms Padilla spoke about the impotence and helplessness of the earlier PhilHealth leadership, she is referring to a thing of the past," Ferrer added. 

Acting PhilHealth President Ferrer said that the present PhilHealth Board members were appointed by President Duterte, and our President's principled stand and courageous stance have rubbed off on every Board member and, added Ferrer, "No members shrinks from the challenge to cleanse PhilHealth of shenanigans. 

"Our top management executives who are directly under me are loyal to the higher ground principles and policies of a PhilHealth, and no villainous mafia member can survive within their ranks," Ferrer emphasized.

This statement reads like a bad joke in the light of all the corruption which continues to come to light. Roy Ferrer himself was accused of corruption and forced to resign in order to give PhilHealth a clean slate and new start!

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1071990

He said that although Duterte still believes in the integrity of PhilHealth Acting President and Chief Executive Officer Roy Ferrer and members of the Board, he felt that their resignation would give the state-run social health insurance firm a clean slate. 

“While the Chief Executive reiterated his trust to - and has no doubt about - the integrity of PhilHealth Acting President and CEO Dr. Roy Ferrer, as well as the members of the board, he however demanded for their courtesy resignation in order for the corporation to have a clean slate absent any taint of irregularity in rendering services as well as implementing pertinent policies on health, including the Universal Health Care Act,” Panelo said in a statement.

Funny that Duterte demanded Ferrer's resignation while all the executives named as part of the mafia remain in their positions at PhilHealth. Also funny that Ferrer, along with several others tagged in the WellMed dialysis center scandal, are back in their positions of power as if nothing happened. Ferrer was appointed as Assistant Secretary of the DOH.

http://archive.is/KwFKR

The former acting President of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as one of the assistant secretaries of the Department of Health (DOH). 

Roy Ferrer was included in the list of presidential appointees released on Monday. 

He, along with other PhilHealth board members, was asked by Duterte to submit his courtesy resignation in June 2019, in the wake of alleged fraudulent insurance claims involving nonexistent kidney treatments. 

Ferrer was asked to resign due to command responsibility. Duterte, however, vouched for his integrity and honesty.

Four others who were charged in the scam but not forced to resign were recently given promotions.

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/319717/4-officials-tagged-in-alleged-philhealth-scam-get-promotion

At least four officials of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) were promoted less than a year after being implicated in the WellMed dialysis scam, according to a document obtained by the Inquirer on Friday. 

Based on PhilHealth Corporate Memorandum No. 2020-0037, Cheryl Peña, Dr. Rizza Majella Herrera, Dr. Bernadette Lico and lawyer Recto Panti were promoted to department manager III on May 18. Their promotion, along with four other officials, was approved by the state insurance firm’s board of directors on May 14.

All this is to say that the cycle continues at PhilHealth. Allegations, charges, nothing. And that is how it has been for 25 years!  Again from 2011:

https://web.archive.org/web/20111009083140/http://asiancorrespondent.com/55886/philippines-how-to-cure-philhealth’s-woes/

Philhealth officials in Region 12 said their conviction rate in administrative complaints has been minimal compared to the volume of cases that they have investigated. Not a single criminal case has been filed against any health care provider in the region or any of the doctors involved in fraudulent claims. 

Connections with the powerful, lack of witnesses, safety concerns, and conniving Philhealth officers—all these contribute to the continued plundering of Philhealth. 

Philhealth officials in Region 12 said their conviction rate in administrative complaints has been minimal compared to the volume of cases that they have investigated. Not a single criminal case has been filed against any health care provider in the region or any of the doctors involved in fraudulent claims.

That article goes more in depth into some of the problems within PhilHealth. The corruption runs deep and there are many and various reasons. From political intervention to lack of manpower there are many things wrong with PhilHealth and contrary to the PACC six months will not be enough to fix 25 years of corruption.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1320572/only-6-months-needed-to-rid-philhealth-of-corruption-pacc-commissioner

(That is possible. I don’t believe it cannot be done in six months. You put the right system, the right people, and do the right thing, in six months it will be improved.) 

Belgica reiterated that some government and private institutions have been offering their information technology solutions to PhilHealth for free, even as PhilHealth seeks a proposed P2.1-billion IT project to stem fraud and scams devised by some corrupt personnel. 

(They should use the IT solutions being offered for free and the IT system will be cleansed. There will be a validation mechanism, and there will be no upcasing, fake documents, and fake claims. In six months, they can fix that at no expense.) 

The anti-corruption official made this remark after PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Ricardo Morales admitted during a Senate hearing Tuesday that “fraud has always been in the system as it has always been in all similar health systems in the world.” 

Morales added that the problem in PhilHealth can take at least three years to solve.

Six months, three years, new IT system, fire all the corrupt executives, it all seems so simple but it's not. At this late date PhilHealth is an unwieldily monster. It is out of control. And this is the bureaucracy tasked with implementing universal healthcare!

Strangely enough some actually put faith in the government to investigate this mess. As if their investigations will bear any fruit and end in prosecutions and jail time.

https://twitter.com/iskonglasalista/status/1293141697111527424

Joke's on this guy! The cycle of corruption at PhilHealth will continue. How many government bodies need to be investigating PhilHealth anyway? 

Coronavirus Lockdown: PH Wining Fight vs COVID-19 and More!

More news about the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. Since this pandemic is slated to last for months if not years updates about how the government is handling the pandemic and how the people are reacting will continue to be a weekly feature. There is a lot happening and it is impossible to cover it all here. 

As of now when I write this there are 33,069 cases cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines. Of that number 8,910 have recovered and 1,212 people have died. That leaves 22,907 COVID-19 patients. But there are far less beds than that number.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1296721/doh-only-36-of-covid-19-hospital-beds-used-nationwide

Only 36 percent of hospital beds designated for coronavirus disease 2019 patients are being used nationwide. 

According to the daily bulletin of the Department of Health (DOH), only 5,014 beds out of 13,927 beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients as of June 22. 

Of the 1,382 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, only 487 or 35.2% are occupied; 1,255 (39.6%) ward beds are occupied out of 3,166 available and only 3,272 isolation beds (34.9%) are used from the 9,379 capacity.

So where are the other 17,933 COVID-19 patients convalescing? Are these numbers real? Rising cases and underutilized hospital facilities does not make any sense. The University of the Philippines has predicted 40,000 cases by the end of June and the government is desperate to prove them false prophets.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1106756

Malacañang on Tuesday dared the public to help the government prevent from happening the prediction of researchers from the University of the Philippines (UP) that the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infections in the country could rise by 40,000 by the end of June. 

In a virtual presser aired on state-run PTV-4, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque maintained that the further spread of Covid-19 could be prevented by heeding the government’s call on all Filipinos to stay home, observe physical distancing, and practice regular hand washing and use of disinfectants. 

“The challenge, mga kababayan (my countrymen), let us disprove the prediction of UP na magiging 40,000 (that it could reach 40,000),” Roque said. “Huwag po sana nating payagan na umabot ng 40,000 pagtapos ng buwan ng Hunyo. Challenge po iyan (Let’s do our part to ensure that it would not reach 40,000 by the end of June. It’s a challenge). I hope everyone will accept this challenge.”

While the government continues to blame the rise in COVID-19 cases on people for disobeying the quarantine rules data from Google shows otherwise.

https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/06/25/2023522/govt-said-filipinos-are-pasaway-and-violate-quarantine-data-show-otherwise

Take presidential spokesperson Harry Roque for example. On the face of tough Luzon lockdowns in April, Roque said: “Many Filipinos are disobedient and because of that we have the highest number of COVID-19 cases in ASEAN. That's shameful.”  

“Stop being disobedient and stay at home,” he said at the time. 

Data show Roque, as well as other government officials, were wrong to blame the public. Mobility data from tech giant Google LLC showed that, in fact, people were doing their part and staying at home. At the height of the Luzon lockdown on April 10, Google mobility data recorded a 90% drop on people visiting retail outlets, including malls, from the number recorded pre-pandemic levels. 

The measurement is based on Google metrics that gauge movement trends across different places using data from phone users who have their location history on. It was unclear how many people with phones were covered by the data, but the Philippines is among the world's largest phone users, with around 26 million smart phone owners as of 2016, according to Statista, a data provider.

Remember Google is always spying on your through your phone. Will the public get an apology from the Duterte, Roque, and the rest?

The country will certainly break the 40,000 barrier and soon. Will hand washing really arrest that trend?

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1106745

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Southern Leyte chapter has been making improvised handwashing facilities out of used tires and empty drums as part of its initiatives to fight the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). 

In an interview on Tuesday, PRC chapter administrator Jonas Maco, said they have already made 103 of the facilities and already distributed to different local government units, schools, churches, and other establishments in the province. 

Maco said the initiative dubbed the "Clean Hands Save Lives" project started in mid-March and more offices and establishments are expected to benefit from the program. 

“This is a continuous project and we are making more to help the community, as long as we have donors. This is a unique project and could be for long-term use,” he added. 

Apart from this, the humanitarian organization has also been providing hot meals to front-liners in the province.

An innovative use of used tires. More than washing hands mass testing will help flatten the curve.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/25/20/philippines-daily-coronavirus-testing-capacity-exceeds-50000

The Philippines can run over 50,000 tests for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) per day, the country's testing czar said Thursday as the government sought to ramp up testing to include non-medical frontliners. 

As of June 19, the country has reached a daily coronavirus testing capacity of 51,302, up by 2,465 percent from the Philippines' daily testing capacity of 2,000 in March, said Vince Dizon, deputy chief implementer of the country's pandemic response. 

"As of June 19 ay nalampasan na po natin ang ating testing capacity goal na 50,000," Dizon said during a Palace press briefing. 

(As of June 19, we have exceeded our testing capacity goal of 50,000.)

Is this potential or actual testing? 

Last week we read about OFWs in Saudi Arabia who lost their jobs digging through trash to find food to eat. This week we learn some OFWs are selling their blood to get by!

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/pinoyabroad/news/744201/philippines-to-investigate-reports-of-ofws-selling-blood-in-saudi-arabia/story/

The government will investigate reports that some overseas Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia have resorted to selling their blood to be able to buy food after losing their jobs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Malacañang said Thursday. 

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the labor attaché in Saudi Arabia would conduct the investigation. 

"We are investigating that in our labor attaché as we speak," Roque said in a televised briefing. 

"We are fortunate to have the assurances that we give to our OFWs who are unable to return home due to lockdown but have lost their jobs as in Saudi Arabia." 

A report on “24 Oras” on Wednesday said the OFWs sold their blood in exchange for 500 Riyal (around P6,600). The OFWs previously worked in a restaurant.

Selling your blood, likely plasma, is bottom of the barrel.

The Department of Tourism is itching to get tourists back in the Philippines.

https://www.rappler.com/business/264975-department-tourism-plans-tourists-from-coronavirus-free-countries-visit-philippines

This proposed policy called "travel bubbles," Puyat said, could allow tourists to fly directly to tourist hotspots in the country with international airports. 

"Since zero COVID naman sila, we are looking at from their country to Boracay or Bohol na puwede na tayo magka-travel bubble or travel corridor so at least hindi lang tayo limited sa international tourism," Puyat said at a Laging Handa briefing on Friday, June 26. 

(Since they have zero COVID-19 cases, we are looking at having "travel bubbles" or "travel corridors" from their country so our international tourism is not limited.) 

Puyat said that the department is looking at tourists from countries such as Australia and New Zealand. As of Thursday, June 25, Australia has 37 new coronavirus cases, while New Zealand has only 3.  

"If this goes well, we will finally be able to accept [tourists from] countries where [there is] practically zero or low cases of COVID," Puyat said. 

In a statement on Friday, Senator Sonny Angara said that apart from Australia and New Zealand, other countries such as Thailand, Singapore, China, South Korea, Vietnam, and Japan are also exploring the idea of "travel bubbles" to revive the tourism industry. 

Angara said that "travel bubbles" could be successful if the Philippine government is able to stop the spread of the virus. 

"Trust is key in ensuring success of 'travel bubbles.' The only way our potential partners will agree to 'travel bubble' agreements with us is if we are able to show that we are successfully containing the spread of COVID-19 in the country," the senator said. 

"We continue to record a lot of fresh cases daily and until we can bring these numbers down, confidence of tourists entering the country will be an issue," Angara added.

Tourists are not going to want to visit a nation where the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.

Cebu has emerged as a COVID-19 hotspot and has been placed under a hard lockdown. The military has been called in to assist but apparently that does not mean the response has been militarized.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/06/28/2024174/cebu-city-told-soldiers-and-saf-your-side-keep-you-inside

“The deployment of police commandos and soldiers here in Cebu City is not a militarization as some people would describe it, and therefore, is not a wrong approach,” said Eleazar.

If deploying the military is not militarization then what is? 

Doctors have also been deployed to Cebu to the detriment of their current patients.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/06/28/2024189/doctors-remote-barrios-protest-sudden-reassignment-cebu-city

Doctors under the government's Doctors to the Barrios (DTTBs) program were not informed about what they called an "abrupt exploitative order" to assign them to private hospitals in Cebu City. 

The transfer order included no guidelines and protocols to protect the doctors in this temporary reassignment and did not consult affected stakeholders, the organization said Sunday. 

This came after rural health physicians were informed on Friday that they would be pulled out of from their assigned municipalities in western and eastern Visayas to report for duty in unspecified private hospitals in Cebu City where a spike in coronavirus cases has been reported. 

The doctors said the order "was only supported by a request letter addressed to the Undersecretary of Health for Field Implementation and Coordination Team for Visayas and Mindanao and an unsigned advanced copy of an Office Order, respectively," while no proof of an agreement between the private institutions and the health department was made available for discussion among all parties involved. 

"The absence of proper communication, justifying the temporary reassignment of rural health physicians serving in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs) to serve in private hospitals in Cebu City is a clear violation of the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers," the paper reads. 

"The DTTBs and the local chief executives should have been represented in decision-making involving this temporary reassignment. Failing to do so makes such directives exploitative for doctors and inconsiderate for the communities that they serve. There is complete disregard to (sic.) the concerns of the doctors and the local chief executives," it adds. 

They also pointed out that their members had a unique position as rural doctors, and their removal from their assigned communities would only be damaging to those living there.  

"Removing a DTTB from a municipality, albeit temporarily, will deprive healthcare to thousands of Filipinos in already marginalized communities. If we further clip the already short human resources for health in GIDAs, we perpetuate the existing inequities in access to healthcare that the DTTB program wishes to address," the doctors said. 

Why are government doctors being assigned to private hospitals? Nurses are facing the problem of burnout and are calling for mass hiring.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/06/28/2024183/nurses-union-calls-mass-hiring-cebu-city-grapples-covid-19

The Cebu Medical Society, in a June 16 statement, described the situation in the 'Queen City of the South' thus: "Hopsitals are overwhelmed and undermanned, essential medical equipment are scarce, doctors and nurses are getting sick and are burnt out." 

FNU said Sunday: "Time is of the essence! Immediate mass hiring of nurses with minimum entry salary of P32,000, just benefits including hazard pay, adequate personal protective equipment, and safe nurse to patient workload are critical solutions to augment the severe understaffing of nurses who will help save lives against COVID-19." 

It said it made a similar call in March "but sadly, the Department of Health (DOH) responded with a call for volunteer health warriors with an allowance of P500 a day."

Everyone knows nurses in the Philippines work long hours for little pay. Hopefully they can get what they need.

We all have to wear masks now when we go out. Some masks apparently have a lot of history behind them.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1298472/masks-reveal-history-of-cordillera-fabrics

A small tailoring shop at the back of City Hall has been selling cloth masks for P30 each since the start of the Luzon quarantine in March. 

Medical masks, which can prevent transmission of the coronavirus, cost up to P28 apiece but can only be used for hours, so cheaper cloth masks have become the norm. 

But the growing need for face masks has reopened an interest in Cordillera fabric that now benefits weavers from Ifugao, Benguet, Mountain Province and Abra. 

“Umaray na ang bulsa (The lockdown hurt our pockets) so we needed to make face masks so our weavers could earn a little,” said Catanes, who also serves as manager for design research and development of her mother’s company, Narda’s Handwoven Arts & Crafts. 

Though unproductive from March to May, the shop maintained the salaries of 60 weavers, tailors and store employees. Instead of remaining idle, the staff produced 2,000 pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) for Baguio hospital workers using fabrics donated by other people. 

As the lockdown eased and businesses were allowed to resume in May, Narda’s had been earning from specialty PPE and ikat (weaving style where fabric is dyed) masks, Catanes said. 

“Our weavers completed 600 ikat face masks and were producing more when sales spiked online because of interest over social media,” she said. 

“Orders have streamed not just in Baguio but from other areas like Metro Manila and we are now developing an efficient delivery system during the quarantine,” Catanes added.

Is this article saying that these masks cannot prevent the transmission of the virus?? That they just look good and are cheap?? It sure seems that way.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the Philippines number one.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1298503/who-ph-has-fastest-rise-in-virus-cases-in-western-pacific

In nearly two weeks, the Philippines had the fastest rise in coronavirus cases in the Western Pacific region, more than three times that of Singapore which is battling a second wave of infection. 

Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) showed that the country has logged 8,143 new cases since June 16, the highest among 22 countries in the region. 

Singapore was a far second with 2,351 new cases during the same period, while China, where the SARS-COV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 originated, had 302. 

Since the Philippines began easing restrictions on May 15, there has been a total of 22,935 new cases, including 738 new infections on Saturday. This represents almost 66 percent of the nationwide total of 34,803. 

Among the WHO’s Western Pacific members, the spread of the virus is most notable in the Philippines and Singapore.

As to be expected the government was not overjoyed at being given this distinction. The reactions have been various. Some Senators said the government mishandled the situation, DILG Secretary Año said the Philippines was still doing fine compared to other countries in batting the virus, and Roque disputed the WHO's report saying, "Why compare us to Singapore?"

One Cebuano took such a shine to the new quarantine pass that he decided to use it as a t-shirt design.

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/322638/calling-it-a-piece-of-art-cebuano-prints-new-quarantine-pass-on-a-shirt

But while some are making fun of the new passes, RR “Pormz” Prominal, a 30-year-old t-shirt printing shop owner from barangay Ramos, had something else in mind. 

He decided to make the new quarantine pass a design for a shirt. Prominal decided to print the Qpass on a white shirt last Saturday, June 27, 2020. 

“I saw the sample Qpass on social media and thought it was quite iconic,” he said. “A piece of art actually,” he added. 

So this is what pushed him to print it on using his direct-to-garment printing machine. 

” [I wanted] to preserve it [for] the future when all this is done,” said Prominal.

It is certainly very creative.

It is now July 1st and the Palace is cheering that the prediction from experts at the UP that there would be 40,000 COVID-19 cases but the end of June did not come to pass. But those experts disagree.

https://www.manilastandard.net/index.php/news/top-stories/327450/palace-40-000-cases-off-mark-experts-disagree.html

Raising his fist in celebration after learning the month-end tally fell below the UP projection, presidential spokesman Harry Roque exclaimed: “We beat the UP prediction. We beat it so congratulations, Philippines! Let’s do it again in July.” 

Roque’s congratulations came as the country posted the second highest number of new cases of COVID-19 in a single day on Tuesday. 

The Department of Health reported 1,080 more infections, 858 “fresh” and 22 that were reported “late,” bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases to 37,514. 

The UP professors who projected 40,000 cases by the end of June said the final tally was well within their margin of error, telling a TV interview that the estimate was not ver far off. 

“For me it’s just semantics. We are not at 30,000 or at 50,000,” UP math professor Guido David said on GMA’s Unang Hirit proram. “More or less it’s about the same.” 

Senators, meanwhile, disputed the Palace claim that the country was winning against COVID-19. 

Senator Panfilo Lacson said the claim was nothing more than the government patting itself on the back.

Senator Lacosn is right about this particular issue. Despite the rising number of cases and the reimposition of a hard lockdown in Cebu the government declares that they are winning the war against the virus.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1107386

“In terms of positivity rate, in terms of case-doubling rate, in case of mortality rate, we are winning. As, in fact, we defied what was predicted by the UP study,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual presser. 

Early this month, the University of the Philippines (UP) released a study predicting that the country’s Covid-19 cases would reach 40,000 by the end of June. 

As of Monday (June 29), the country has 36,438 confirmed Covid-19 cases, 9,956 of whom have recovered and 1,255 have died, according to the Department of Health. 

Roque also cited an initial UP study that the country’s coronavirus cases would have reached 3.6 million by June if no interventions were done. 

“Ang sabi po ng UP, kung wala po tayong lockdown na ginawa eh ngayon po meron na tayo sanang 3.6 million cases ng Covid, 3.6 million!Saan po nagkulang ang Presidente? Ano pa po ang dapat ginawa nya? Naiwasan po ang 3.6 million cases ng Covid (According to UP, if we have not imposed lockdown, we have now 3.6 million cases of Covid. Where did the President fall short? What more does he have to do? We have prevented 3.6 million Covid-19 cases),” Roque said. 

He said the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte is doing its best to manage the Covid-19 situation in the country.

“Hindi po tayo perpekto, siguro po talaga (We’re not perfect, perhaps) we could have done better. Pero narito na po tayo (But we’re here now) and one thing I can assure you, the President did the very best that he can and we are in control of the situation,” he said.

"Did the very best that he can" is the key phrase here. It is likely they are doing the best they can which means they have a lot more to learn. Will the Philippines beat the new UP prediction of 60,000 cases by the end of July?