More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
In Philippine politics count on corruption. Count also on that corruption being explained away. Five mayors have been accused of receiving the vaccine before they should have, cutting the line. They all say, "We did it for the people."
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/781135/mayors-accused-of-jumping-line-for-covid-19-jab-we-did-it-for-the-people/story/ |
Some mayors defended themselves after receiving show cause orders for getting vaccinated against COVID-19 ahead of the prioritized sectors, according to Joseph Morong's report on Unang Balita on Thursday.
Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez said he decided to get the jab to convince his constituents to get the COVID-19 vaccines amid public apprehension toward the vaccine.
Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal also gave a similar explanation for his vaccination, saying that he did it for the people in his city.
Bataraza, Palawan Mayor Abraham Ibba, for his part, said many of their frontliners had doubts receiving the vaccines so he decided to get inoculated to hopefully alter their perception.
(Many of our frontliners are uncertain about the vaccine. They don’t want to get vaccinated. Since the vaccines are here, I would go first to allay their doubts. I am also a frontliner.”)
Sto. Nino, South Cotabato Mayor Sulpicio Villalobos, meanwhile, said that he was among the last recipients who got the jab during the vaccination of frontliners.
(The frontliners and I got inoculated at the same time. Every batch is by 10. I am near number 40, the last one so to speak.”)
They did it for the people, of course. Why would they do it for themselves. Only four are quoted here but there is one more mayor who got the vaccine as well as other LGUs. They all have the same excuse.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1411207/mindanao-local-execs-who-got-jab-we-only-want-to-show-the-vaccine-is-safe |
Mindanao local officials who jumped the vaccine line said they were not doing it to save themselves but to show to their reluctant and fearful constituents that taking the vaccine is safe.
Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong, Jr., the first and only elected government official in the province who received a vaccine together with health workers on Monday, was questioned why he got the jab when he was not a healthcare worker.
Jennie Tamano, the provincial information officer, said Adiong was inoculated to boost the people’s confidence in the vaccine.
“Governor Adiong wants to set an example to his constituents, who mostly do not believe in the COVID-19 virus and vaccination,” Tamano said.
Dr. Alinader Minalang, head of the Integrated Provincial Health Official (IPHO) in Lanao del Sur, said Adiong was qualified to be vaccinated as a frontliner and a person with comorbidities.
“He is asthmatic, the first among the local chief executives, so far, who was inoculated,” Minalang said.
“Municipal mayors who want to be vaccinated will be qualified, only if they are senior citizens or have comorbidities.”
In Parañaque two government employees and an actor allegedly jumped the line to get vaccinated.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1411197/fwd-dilg-councilor-doj-employee-also-allegedly-jumped-vaccine-line-in-paranaque-city |
Apart from an actor, a city councilor and a Department of Justice (DOJ) employee also allegedly skipped the COVID-19 vaccine priority line in Parañaque City, a Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) official said Thursday.
Actor Mark Anthony Fernandez was vaccinated in Parañaque City the other day despite not being a health worker in the vaccination priority list.
“In fact, nadagdagan pa yan dahil naka-receive ako ng information ngayong umaga na merong konsehal din na Parañaque na nagpabakuna rin kahapon at meron din isang empleyado ng Department of Justice na hindi binigay sa akin ang pangalan, mga nagsumbong lang,” DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said in a televised briefing.
(In fact, there’s more because I received information this morning that a Parañaque City councilor and a Department of Justice employee, whose names were not disclosed to me, were also vaccinated yesterday.)
(They really did not follow the priority list. When we say priority list, if the person scheduled to be vaccinated is not available, the substitute should also be within the priority individuals, not those outside the list.)
Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez has since defended Fernandez’s vaccination, saying he has comorbidities such as hypertension and depression which makes him qualified to be a substitute on the priority list.
It is funny that the governor of Lanao del Sur and an actor were eligible to receive the vaccine because they had existing comorbidities. If you have been paying attention COVID-19 exacerbates existing diseases and that is how people die. Not many people have died from COVID-19 alone. Only about 6% of all COVID deaths are from COVID alone. The rest all had existing health conditions.
Barring these cases the DILG has moved up governors, mayors, and barangay executives on the priority list to receive the vaccine.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/781148/governors-mayors-barangay-captains-moved-up-in-vaccination-priority-list-dilg/story/ |
Governors, mayors, and barangay captains have been moved up in the priority list of the government for the vaccination rollout, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Thursday.
Interviewed on Dobol B TV, DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said the adjustment was approved after he recommended it to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases
(They are already considered as A4. Last Thursday, I recommended to the IATF through the Recovery Cluster of the IATF to move them up from B3 to A4.)
“All 1,715 governors and mayors, and 42,046 barangay captains, inaprubahan po natin na iangat po ang kanilang classification (we approved to elevate their classification),” he added.
According to Densing, these government officials were previously in the same classification with other essential workers at B3.
Now, they are included in A4 like frontline personnel in essential sectors including uniformed personnel and those in working sectors identified as essential during an enhanced community quarantine.
Based on the prioritization of the government, they will receive the COVID-19 vaccines after frontline health workers (A1), indigent senior citizens (A2), and the remaining senior citizens and persons with comorbidities (A3).
They can get the jab before the remaining indigent population (A5) as well as teachers and social workers (B1).
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1411499/doj-goes-after-illegal-swab-centers |
Multiple charges await operators of illegal COVID-19 swabbing centers as well as those who issue or use fake swab test results, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra warned on Thursday.
Guevarra told reporters that those behind the operation of illegal coronavirus testing centers could be charged with violating local ordinances on business establishments, the Consumer Act and Republic Act No. 4688, which regulates the operation and maintenance of clinical laboratories in the country.
Police officers earlier shut down a testing center in Singalong, Manila, that allegedly offered COVID-19 swab tests without a certification from health authorities. The testing facility found inside a house at a residential area reportedly offered swab tests costing P3,000 each.
Recently, several tourists have also been caught and charged for submitting fake negative COVID-19 test results—one of the requirements set by some local governments in destinations that have reopened to local travelers.
On Wednesday, former Health Secretary Janette Garin, now an Iloilo congresswoman, pushed a congressional probe of the fake test results that were even being peddled on Facebook.
“While fake results are partly to blame for the COVID-19 surge, it will also be worth looking into the exorbitant cost of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing … Those caught faking results should be quarantined for three months and help man the quarantine centers,” she said.
Screenshots of conversations involving the peddlers of the fake results showed that the test results can be bought for P1,500 to P2,000.
There is a black market for everything in the Philippines.
Wth Manila going back to ECQ for two weeks the World Bank has forecasted slower economic growth in the country.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/03/27/2087356/philippines-reliance-prolonged-lockdowns-caused-economic-deterioration-wb |
The Philippines’ reliance on prolonged lockdowns rather than prioritizing mass testing at the onset of the pandemic caused an economic deterioration that it struggles to recover from, even as regional peers are already seeing significant improvements, the World Bank said in a report.
“The Philippines relied more on prolonged restrictions on mobility rather than an effective test-based strategy,” the WB report said, adding that “countries with greater quarterly growth contraction in 2020 had higher infection rates, imposed more stringent mobility restrictions, had more highly indebted governments and were more dependent on earnings from tourism.”
The report also described the relationship between the number of COVID-19 tests conducted and GDP growth among countries in the Asia-Pacific.
According to the WB, the Philippines conducted only 17 tests per confirmed COVID-19 case, way below the testing in Vietnam (4,277), Laos (2,080), China (1,853), Cambodia (897) and Malaysia (244).
Because of mass testing, mobility restrictions were not as severe, resulting in gross domestic product growth for Vietnam (2.9 percent), China (2.3 percent) and Laos (0.4 percent) in 2020. Cambodia’s GDP also contracted, but only by 3.1 percent, and Malaysia by 5.6 percent.
The Philippine economy, on the other hand, shrank 9.5 percent, its worst in several decades and the sharpest drop in the region.
Considering all these, the World Bank said only China and Vietnam are expected to grow strongly this year by 8.1 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Philippines will remain below pre-pandemic levels until 2022, with a projected 5.5 percent GDP growth this year.
Further, new COVID-19 variants are expected to exacerbate outcomes by impairing vaccine effectiveness and increasing coverage levels needed for herd immunity.
“In countries where COVID-19 control has not been achieved, like the Philippines, rapid vaccination is a priority to reduce high numbers of deaths and pressure on struggling health systems,” the World Bank said.
The Palace brushed off that analysis by declaring the country is doing its best. Moody's has also given the Philippines a negative credit rating saying uncontrolled restrictions have lead to a fiscal strain. Despite criticism from within, health workers says the government should rethink its response, and without the government says they have no plan on changing the way they have been fighting the pandemic.
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| https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/03/21/2085948/record-covid-19-cases-not-convincing-economic-planners-change-tack |
Not even the Philippines’ record-breaking coronavirus cases can force President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic managers to change their pandemic fighting strategies.
Instead, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua insisted on their typical tack of keeping lockdowns to a minimum and controlling spending, over a year since the health crisis started, at which point many see the country is back to a grim square one.
“We need to continue managing risks as Covid cases rise. We do this by focusing on localized quarantines and addressing the sources of highest risk so that the jobs/livelihood of the far majority will not be affected,” Chua told reporters in a Viber message.
With more granular lockdowns also come the government’s decision to stay pat against more fiscal stimulus. “The DOF (Department of Finance) has always advocated a policy of conserving all our resources in anticipation of a recurrence of the contagion,” Dominguez said separately.
But for Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, an economist, lockdowns and keeping people alive and their welfare protected can be attained simultaneously. In a series of tweets on Saturday, Quimbo noted that between the Philippines and Malaysia, the latter’s cases have peaked and going down already— with COVID-19 exacting far less economic damage than at home.
“The figure with Malaysia begs the question: what have they done differently? We both partially opened up, Malaysia even held their elections. Then COVID cases increased,” she said.
“6 economic stimulus packages including income replacement for those under quarantine, and wage subsidies. That’s the BIG difference: they continue to provide ayuda. We did not,” she explained.
Will localized lockdowns really help curb the rise in cases? This is what has been happening for a year and yet cases continue to rise. No one knows why. Some blame the government. The government blames people not following health protocols as well as new strains. With new strains the goal of defeating the virus by vaccinating everyone may proof fruitless.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/27/21/15-pasay-city-health-workers-test-positive-for-covid-19-after-sinovac-inoculation |
Some 15 health frontliners from Pasay City General Hospital (PCGH) have tested positive for COVID-19 after being inoculated with Sinovac's coronavirus vaccines, the hospital's officer-in-charge said.
In a statement, Dr. John Victor de Gracia said most of the medical workers who caught the virus are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms. A health worker, however, was sent to the hospital as "moderate risk."
They are all in stable condition, he said.
The development came as the country battles a surge of new coronavirus infections, mostly recorded from the capital region, with some hospitals declaring full capacity because of continued fresh admissions reminiscent of last year's peak.
But de Gracia believed that receiving the Sinovac jab ahead of their infection prevented them from being hospitalized or exhibiting severe symptoms of the virus.
(I am thankful that we were vaccinated ahead of our virus infection that is why we did not experience anything bad from it. To be honest, if this happened before we got vaccinated, maybe some of us were already critically ill.)
This person is thankful that the vaccine mitigated the effects of COVID-19. But preventing infection is the purpose of a vaccine!
The new ECQ in the NCR means an 11-hour curfew, no exercising except between 6 and 9 a.m., and perhaps an even longer lockdown as the DOH is recommending at least an additional week to make three. It's looking quite bleak which has Duterte acknowledging that the Philippines is "almost back to zero."
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/03/29/2087861/almost-back-zero-duterte-reverts-6-provinces-gcq-mecq |
Duterte in his weekly address said he has found himself "grappling with the issue" of COVID-19 that has infected over 731,000 and killed more than 13,000 Filipinos to date.
In reading the list of areas in new quarantine status, he commented that it was as if the country is in its standing last year when the pandemic hit.
"Kagaya 'yan sa una," said the President, whose administration has come under fire for its pandemic response. "Halos back to zero tayo."
(This is like before. We're almost back to zero.)
"Almost back to zero." Panelo has since spun this to mean "COVID infections are rising." What is there to say? I could tell you about the old man who died outside of an ER because they would not accept him. How about patients being confined in tents and being charged P1000 her hour? Jobs reopened after the initial ECQ have barely allowed people to get by. The loss of jobs has hit women disproportionately and has stymied equality goals. It's all a mess. Is that why Duterte is "close to tears?"
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/03/31/2088236/duterte-close-tears-warns-bleak-months-ahead
Duterte said the pandemic is taking most of his time and likened his situation to passing through purgatory.
“I’m having a hard time. I’m grappling with the issue of COVID. It takes most of my time actually. More than any other papers, it’s the COVID that is taking my time or most of my time looking for ways, checking what is happening outside,” Duterte said during a pre-recorded public address on Monday, his first since placing Metro Manila and the nearby provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Rizal and Bulacan on lockdown.
“Hay buhay. Kung alam lang ninyo... Para akong dumadaan ng purgatoryo ngayon at this time hanggang hindi matulungan ang lahat ng Pilipino (Oh, life. If you only knew... I’m like passing through purgatory at this time until I am able to help all Filipinos),” he added.
“That is how hard it is para makakuha lang talaga tayo... Gusto ko na ngang umiyak sa harap ninyo pero naubos na ang luha ko (That is how hard it is for us to get vaccines... I want to cry in front of you but I have run out of tears),” Duterte said.
Sincere or not the most cynical would say that this is a great way for Duterte to make the pandemic about himself.
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