More news about the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology has released more than 15,000 prisoners as the Philippines races to halt coronavirus infections in its overcrowded jails, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Thursday.
The 15,322 persons deprived of liberty were released from March 17 to June 22 by the “authority of courts” following a directive by the Supreme Court to send home those awaiting trial but remain in prison because they could not afford bail.
Of the total number of released prisoners, the DILG said 5,910 are from Metro Manila, 1,557 are from Calabarzon, 1,487 from Central Visayas, 1,041 from Central Luzon, 897 from Zamboanga Peninsula, 762 from Northern Mindanao and the rest are from other regions.
The majority of the freed inmates were senior citizens and those with “light or bailable offenses,” the DILG said in a statement.
Amazing. The jails are overcrowded with old folks and people who cannot afford bail. Languishing until a trial comes and taking up room. But it is only now in the midst of a pandemic that anything has been done to rectify this situation. This article was published on July 2nd and only covers March 17 - June 22. Five days later an update was published showing that between March 17 - July 3rd 43,171 were set free.
That means in a period of 11 days 27,849 more inmates were released! Seems rather incredible.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque tried to convince the public that his visit to a marine park on Wednesday, July 1, was not for leisure and thus not in violation of quarantine measures.
"Hindi po siya leisure kasi first trip ko doon, as APOR (It's not for leisure because it's my first trip there, as an authorized person out of residence)," he said in response to questions during a virtual Malacañang briefing on Thursday, July 2.
An APOR is a person allowed to leave home for essential errands or for work. Roque said his visit to Ocean Adventure Park in Subic, Bataan, was just a "sidetrip" of an authorized trip to check on his family's swine business and to distribute personal protective equipment to a nearby hospital.
He further rationalized that he hails from Bataan, and that it was Bataan's first day under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) when partial operations of leisure establishments like theme parks and resorts are allowed.
But Roque resides in Quezon City in Metro Manila which is still under the stricter general community quarantine (GCQ). Residents in Metro Manila are told not to leave their homes for leisure purposes.
"I asked if they (Ocean Adventure) were open. I said, 'Why not?' because they were near where I was going. As far as my trip there is concerned, I was an APOR even before because food was my business," said Roque in a mix of English and Filipino.
He said he stayed at Ocean Park for an hour, partly because he wanted to check out its famous "Dolphin encounter" activity.
Photos posted by Ocean Adventure but later deleted showed Roque in a rash guard and swimming cap, posing beside dolphins on a beach.
"Kung may linabag na social distancing, ang katabi ko mga dolphin (If there was any social distancing rule violated, I was only beside dolphins)," he said.
The Duterte spokesman then apologized if his visit to the park "offended" people.
"For those I offended I'm sorry, tao lang po (I'm only human)," he said.
An interesting story. Roque was traveling and just happened to pass by a resort he had no vested in a long time and decided to go for a swim with the dolphins. Pictures were then uploaded onto the resort's Facebook page but deleted amidst public backlash. For his part Roque justified this visit by saying:
“Those of you who have been offended, sorry, just people. If you ask the Malacañang Press Corps, my job is, there is no Saturday or Sunday. If there is a break, insert it. To those I offended, I sincerely apologize. Let it go, it won't be repeated, ”Roque said.
“This is the first time that the area is MGCQ (modified general community quarantine), and even under GCQ (general community quarantine), swimming is allowed because it is a non-contact sport. No social distancing was violated, my neighbors were dolphins, not people, ”he said.
Roque said that he only visited Bataan to check on his former business ventures, including hog raising, which he said have gone bankrupt due to COVID-19.
"It was a side trip," Roque said, referring to his visit to the Subic resort.
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/745172/no-violation-in-trip-to-subic-resort-roque-says/story/
Who knew Roque was a hog farmer? Perhaps it was not an unlawful trip but it sure is bad optics to have Roque swimming with the dolphins while the whole country is reeling from the restrictions during the pandemic.
Mayor Edgardo Labella said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel that the deployment of military and police in the city would help enforce discipline amid the imposition of enhanced community quarantine in the area.
“I think there is no harm if there are military personnel and military tanks, and I think it would also give more significance to the fact that this fight against COVID-19 is like a war,” he said.
“This war is rather more difficult because we are fighting an invisible enemy, and it requires all of us (to have) self-discipline among ourselves. I think this visibility of our military and PNP personnel, of course, show of force, I think, is one of the ways by which we can show and impose discipline on our residents,” he said.
It's like a war but the enemy is invisible but tanks on the streets is to impose discipline on everyone. How is that not militarization? Note that the tanks are not in the streets to fight the virus but to impose discipline on everyone which means making sure they stay in their homes or else.
At least 127,000 locally stranded individuals (LSIs) in Metro Manila are still waiting to be sent home to the provinces following the moratorium on local repatriation, with the government requiring them to undergo swab testing for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said yesterday.
Lorenzana said the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in the provinces has been blamed on the repatriation of stranded travelers.
“The problem is that the first batches of LSIs who returned to the provinces were tagged as the source of infections. That’s why local government units are reluctant to receive them,” he said. “It is unfair for the LGUs to be overwhelmed because they do not have the quarantine facilities.”
127,000 people still stranded in Manila because LGUs don't want to take them back as they might be infected and their quarantine facilities are overfilled. One man from Estonia was stranded at NAIA for 110 days.
European tourist Roman Trofimov — who was forced to make a home out of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for over three months — is finally flying back to his home country Estonia.
“With the help of God and thanks to all people who supported me in this difficult time, I am going home now!!! My flight will land in Tallinn on July 8th at 13:20 (1:20 p.m.)! Thanks for sharing my story with the world. Good advice you give me and kind words of support. We made it people!” Roman capped his 110-day stay at the Manila airport beginning March 20.
Through a viral post last Friday, he appealed for help from local and international media who have since picked up his story in order to aid his repatriation.
“I am European from Estonia held in Manila International Airport for more than 100 days need any help getting out of here. I arrived in Manila on March 20th and been denied entry, the airline who flew me in, AirAsia took my passport and stopped operations that same day I am not allowed to fly out...I am a person with disability, my health is getting worse because of malnutrition, lack of sun and fresh air.”
Prior to returning home, Roman had been staying at the departures area and even slept on the floor of the Philippines' busiest airport.
He had been living off donations of food and hygiene products from airport staff.
At least he finally made it home. But there are chairs in the departure area. No need to sleep on the floor.
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Friday expressed concern over the supposed lack of readiness of the Department of Education (DepEd) for the new school year in August with an overhauled educational system that adapts to the “new normal” under a coronavirus pandemic.
The House committee sought updates from the DepEd on the “learning continuity plan” it has developed under the “new normal,” wherein students would not be required to attend face-to-face classes.
Pangasinan Rep. Christopher De Venecia aired his concern that with the “distance learning” system that the DepEd was proposing, other parents might also not have the means to supervise their children while doing school activities at home.
Education Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said that DepEd remained confident on the readiness for the Aug. 24 opening of classes, and was now shifting to concrete application of the learning continuity plan it had developed.
“If it is very visible that this cannot be done, we will be the first to admit, but at this time we are confident that our timetable is moving along,” he said.
Classes will be shifting online due to the coronavirus and some lawmakers are expressing concern that the country will not be ready. The DepEd says they will be ready. But that remains to be seen.
With the fiscal deficit expected to widen and the government under pressure to give subsidies to distressed sectors, some senators are eyeing the imposition of taxes on so-called junk food to raise funds for easing the economic impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The senators, however, stressed that raising funds through new taxes must be carefully calibrated even if there are tempting “low-hanging fruits” such as taxes on the so-called “sin products,” which have not been been fully implemented yet.
“The other possible sin tax that government may possibly look at is from junk food, which has zero nutritional value and targets the youth. It has been proven that junk food causes obesity and other heart ailments,” Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, vice chairman of the Senate committee on economic affairs, said over the weekend.
The government is running out of funds to fight COVID-19 and are now eye excise taxes on junk food to raise money.
The Philippines has the second most COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia as of Monday night with a total of 46,333 infections.
This developed after the country logged 2,099 additional cases, enough to surpass Singapore which currently has 44,983, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Indonesia continues to top the region with 64,958 cases.
However, it was the Philippines that has the most active cases with 32,845, followed by Indonesia’s 31,798 and Singapore’s 4,516.
In terms of fatalities, Indonesia is currently first with 3,241, while the Philippines has 1,303 at second, followed by Malaysia with only 121.
With 12,185 total recoveries, the Philippines is third behind Singapore (40,441) and Indonesia (29,919).
Despite these numbers and despite the exponential rise in cases the government continues to tell the public that everything is fine and they are winning the war against COVID-19.
Malacañang on Tuesday refused to budge in its claim that the Philippines is winning its fight against the coronavirus disease pandemic even as the country became the nation with the second most coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia.
But despite the surge in new cases, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, citing the country’s “low death rate” and its capacity to continue to provide hospital care, claimed that the Philippines is still winning against the contagion.
(To those who don’t believe that we are winning, then that’s your personal commitment and you should accept that. But while the patients are not dying, as we have the capacity to provide medical care to the sick, I cannot accept that we are not winning against this disease.)
(I’m sorry but the data is clear. We don’t invent data.)
The Department of Health (DOH) said it has observed an increase in infection in the past two weeks, which it attributed to the increased contact among the population as a result of the relaxation of quarantine measures.
(Most of our active cases are mild or asymptomatic. And what we watch out for is those who are suffering from severe or critical illness and we make sure that we are capable enough to give them care. That’s the critical care capacity we are talking about.)
(So to me, there’s no reason to worry, we just have to put up our tested weapons against COVID-19.)
Roque is right. The data is clear and not invented and it indicates that cases of COVID-19 are on the rise. New UP predictions say 100,000 by the end of August.
Cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Philippines may surpass the 100,000-mark by the end of August, an expert from the University of the Philippines said Tuesday, as he urged the government to tweak pandemic protocols.
The health department on Tuesday confirmed a record-high jump in "fresh cases" or those whose results were released in the last 3 days, which brought the total tally to 46,333.
The cases are increasing by at least 1,000 cases a day and areas without any COVID-19 case before lockdowns were eased recently became virus hotspots, said mathematics professor Dr. Guido David, a member of the UP OCTA Research group.
"Sa nakita ko, iyong trend niya mas mataas pa, hihigit pa sa 100,000 kung hindi natin baguhin iyong ating sistema, ating pag-handle ng pandemya,"
(Based on what I saw, the trend is that it will increase, surpass 100,000 if we don't change our system, our handling of the pandemic.)
Cases are increasing by 1,000 a day and areas without any COVID-19 cases are becoming hotspots! How is that winning the war? Sounds like enemy is enriching on new territory. This recent surge could be more deadly as some doctors warn the virus has mutated and become stronger.
A local infectious diseases expert has warned the new strain of COVID-19 might have reached the country.
Dr. Edsel Salvaña noted the new mutation of coronavirus may have contributed to what he called as “definite increase” of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country.
“Based on the behavior of the increase in cases, I would say it’s probably here in the Philippines. We’ve seen it in Taiwan, in Australia, and in Japan as well,” Salvaña told CNN Philippines’ Rico Hizon on Monday.
Last week, a global study published in the scientific journal Cell revealed a new form of the coronavirus has spread from Europe to the US.
Salvaña, however, clarified that medical experts in the country have yet to do a research if the new coronavirus strain has in fact entered the country. He added the Philippine Genome Center only holds a coronavirus sequence from March.
Salvaña explained that it will only take 48 to 72 hours to sequence a virus, to validate if indeed the new coronavirus strain entered the country already.
The infectious diseases expert also attributed the rise of COVID-19 cases in the country to the increased mass testing efforts of the government, backlogs in testing, and the gradual reopening of the country’s economy.
“We have to think about the fact that more infectious virus can be driving this as well. Because in terms of what’s happening in the rest of the world, it would be strange if it wasn’t happening here as well,” said Salvaña.
In the face of rising cases and the preponderance of data the DOH is still making major flubs.
The Department of Health issued an apology Monday night hours after it mistakenly announced that four cities in Metro Manila had been classified as emerging virus hotspots.
In a televised briefing Monday afternoon, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire identified the cities of Marikina, Muntinlupa, Makati and Quezon City as emerging hotspots.
She said Marikina City had 51 cases for a case growth rate of 43.47%, while Muntinlupa had 30 cases for a case growth rate of 35.16%. Quezon City’s 406 cases represented a 34.5% growth rate and Makati’s 135 cases for a 30.18% growth rate.
The data that Vergeire mentioned, however, were from June.
“The following cities were mistakenly classified as hotspots and was based on a report last month,” the DOH said in a statement Monday night.
It's just the latest mistake made by the DOH.
The government is gung-ho about jeepney modernization but the pandemic could be throwing them a monkey wrench.
A coalition for better transportation has asked the COVID-19 National Task Force to review the design of air-conditioned modern jeepneys amid reports that poor ventilation in confined spaces could worsen the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019.
Alt Mobility PH, Commuters PH, Komyut and Sentro sent a letter dated June 5 to COVID-19 response chief implementor Carlito Galvez Jr. informing him about a June 22 advisory from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control titled “Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems in the context of COVID-19.”
The letter was also sent to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) chairman Martin Delgra III.
According to the coalition, the advisory “shines a light on the vulnerabilities of the Philippine government’s measures in reducing COVID-19 exposures and transmissions.”
It cited several cases of virus transmission in confined spaces due to poor ventilation.
The coalition said it reviewed the designs of the modern jeepneys and noted that “most have sealed windows with limited natural ventilation and airflow,” which could increase the risk of virus transmission.
The group said the importance of ventilation may have been “overlooked” by the Department of Transportation and LTFRB in giving priority to modernized jeepneys over traditional ones.
Looks like the smoke belching twenty-year-old jeepnies might be better after all.
Even though the lockdowns have eased up a bit the Philippines is not totally open for business, or business as usual anyway, and Duterte is not keen on fully reopening the economy.
“We have to be very circumspect in the reopening of the economy. Just go slowly. If ever there is going to be a spike again, there might be many who will be infected or reinfected. At least, the calibrated number of people we allow to go out would be still within manageable numbers,” Duterte said, speaking partly in Filipino, in a taped address aired early Wednesday.
“Because if you open the entire Philippines and thousands upon thousands of new cases would happen, then we are in deep shit. We will really suffer. First of all, we don’t have money,” he added.
Duterte made this assessment despite the government’s easing restrictions in several areas nationwide, including Metro Manila, the country’s economic center, starting June.
"Thousands upon thousands of new cases" are already happening. So where does that leave the Philippines but in the deep?
