More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
There has been an uptick in cases across the country. How is the government going to deal with it? By throwing the full force of the law on health protocol violators.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1444047/cagayan-de-oro-local-govt-threatens-to-sue-virus-infected-people-resisting-isolation |
The local government here has threatened to file charges against individuals who refused to be picked up from their homes even as they are confirmed to be infected with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
This came as acting city health officer Lorraine Nery revealed that some individuals who were taken from their homes have shown resistance to be transferred to designated isolation facilities.
“To tell you honestly, there are still some who have a little aggression because they don’t want to be extracted. Ever since we have experienced these kinds of challenges,” Nery said.
“We would like to remind them that we have a law. We can still actually convince them but it would take a long time. It will be an added effort on the part of our team,” she added.
Mayor Oscar S. Moreno has earlier ordered that even if they are asymptomatic, individuals who tested positive for the coronavirus must be brought to isolation facilities to prevent the further spread of the disease at home.
"They don't want to be extracted." Of course not! The government is practically imprisoning people who test positive for the virus. That is totalitarianism at its finest. And they justify it becasue they have a law. As if this is a nation where laws are strictly observed and not broken at one's convenience.
Roque says the government will push for a new law to punish violators.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1143113 |
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Wednesday pushed for the passage of a “special” and “permanent” law that will impose heftier penalties against quarantine violators.
In an interview with DZRH, Roque said a “quarantine law” is more necessary instead of filing murder raps against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) spreaders.
“(The easiest thing to impose the penalty is to have a special law),” Roque said.“(We really need a permanent quarantine law. Other countries already have that).”
“(Once we have a permanent quarantine law, there will be no more issue. There is no need to issue a local ordinance imposing penalties on those defying minimum health standards),” he said.
What other countries have a "permanent quarantine law?" Roque does not say but since when defending face shields they bring up Peru he is probably referring to Peru or some other backward nation that is not exactly handling the pandemic in the best way possible.
Last week Duterte mandated that all flights into Cebu because Cebu was following a different protocol for arrivals that that recommended by the IATF. In Manila all incoming passengers must quarantine for 14 days. In Cebu all arriving passengers merely were swabbed and based on the result were either quarantined or could go. Now some Senators are saying the Cebu model should be implemented.
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| https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/381851/more-senators-back-cebus-swab-upon-arrival-policy |
More Senators are backing Cebu province’s own Swab-Upon-Arrival policy, a few days after Malacañang announced all international flights bound for Mactan to be diverted to the country’s capital.
Senators Sonny Angara and Bong Revilla, in separate statements, said they supported the Capitol’s move to swab Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs) and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) upon arriving at Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
Angara said he hoped Cebu’s swabbing procedures for ROFs and OFWs, which deviated those from the policies rolled out by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-MEID), could be implemented nationwide.
Both Angara and Revilla agreed that prolonging the quarantine of a Filipino traveler from abroad just meant added burden.
They also said the province’s protocols did not necessarily violate the objectives of IATF and that is to screen incoming passengers for signs of COVID-19.
Under IATF’s guidelines, ROFs and OFWs will have to complete the required 14-day quarantine rule, in which 10 days will be in designated quarantine facilities or hotel rooms, and the remaining four days in their respective houses.
Independence Day this year was celebrated a a day of freedom...from COVID-19!
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| https://www.panaynews.net/freedom-from-pandemic-following-health-protocols-is-patriotic/ |
Today is the 123rd anniversary of Philippine independence. How can Filipinos show patriotism in this time of pandemic?
For Iloilo’s Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr., Ilonggos can show love to the country by following the health protocols – wearing of facemasks, frequent hand washing and physical distancing, among others.
If all Ilonggos could fulfill this “duty”, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections in this province would dwindle and exhausted healthcare frontliners could rest.
Defensor said today’s Independence Day celebration should be dedicated to healthcare frontliners.
“Sila gid ang naga-atinder sa aton pasyente. We want independence from COVID-19 and dengue, among other diseases,” said Defensor.
“Today, we (must) work very hard to achieve freedom from any type of discrimination, abuse, false information, hate speech, harassment, and even freedom from the effects of this pandemic,” he stressed.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1445200/on-independence-day-velasco-tells-filipinos-to-unite-to-free-ph-from-pandemic |
“Many of us are unable to go to work, schools remain closed, millions have lost their jobs and livelihoods, and a lot of people can’t avail of medical care because hospitals are filled with COVID-19 patients. Indeed, some of our basic rights have been momentarily taken away due to the coronavirus,” Velasco said.
“While we continue to navigate the challenges brought by the pandemic, may we be reminded of the immense sacrifices our ancestors made and what they had to pay for the freedom we enjoy. We, too, have to take up the fight to free our country from COVID-19,” he added.
With COVID-19 vaccines already arriving, Velasco stressed the government must vaccinate as many Filipinos as possible to finally end the health crisis.
“To win against COVID-19, we need to work together and build on our strengths, just like what our forefathers did almost a century and a quarter ago. Together, there are no challenges we can’t overcome,” Velasco said.
It's a huge admission but no one's going to care. Nothing will come of it. For Filipinos patriotism is doing whatever the government tells you to do whether it's right or wrong, smart or stupid. No one in this country would ever understand Patrick Henry when he said, "Give me liberty or give me death."
The Philippines continues to receive vaccines from China. This week 1 million more doses of Sinopharm arrived. Only one problem, the shipment was missing paperwork!
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/06/14/2105418/sinovac-shipment-stuck-storage-until-drugmaker-sends-missing-document |
The latest shipment of COVID-19 vaccine doses procured from China’s Sinovac Biotech has yet to be distributed pending the drugmaker's submission of a necessary document.
A million doses of Sinovac’s two-dose CoronaVac arrived in the country last week. The delivery raised the total number of CoronaVac doses received by the Philippines to 7.5 million, including a million doses donated by Beijing.
But in a briefing Monday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the agency has yet to receive a certificate of analysis (COA) from Sinovac Biotech, delaying the delivery of shots to vaccination sites.
A certificate of analysis is one of the documents required by the country’s Food and Drug Administration.
"We cannot distribute or transport these vaccines to specific recipients in the regions, local governments if the document is incomplete. So we are waiting for the COA to be sent to us so we can already distribute Sinovac doses," Vergeire said in a mix of English and Filipino.
A terrible blunder indeed. They will surely send the missing papers ASAP. But what does it matter when the drug is not FDA approved but only given an emergency use authorization.
Despite all the hullabaloo about Ivermectin there will be no trials in the Philippines. Instead they will wait for the results of trials in other countries.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1444648/ph-to-just-wait-for-results-of-ivermectin-trials-in-other-countries |
There is no more need for the Philippines to conduct its own clinical trial on ivermectin as a prophylactic, or preventive medicine for COVID-19, because several trials are already being done in other countries, according to experts studying the drug.
Dr. Aileen Wang of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) said at least five international studies are already being conducted, “so my feeling is, we don’t really need to do one in the Philippines and [instead] just wait for the results of] these studies.”
UP-PGH Department of Internal Medicine vice chair for research Dr. Cecilia Jimeno said, “there is no plan, at the moment, for an ivermectin prophylaxis trial.”
That ought to save some money at least. Though it has not stopped Duterte from claiming that some people have been cured of COVID-19 by taking ivermectin.
Government officials across the nation have come down with the virus. In one town the entire government was taken down with the virus.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1446116/dilg-takes-over-cotabato-town-as-all-officials-go-on-quarantine |
For the first time since the coronavirus pandemic struck, a whole town was emptied of its elected officials, forcing the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to install its own municipal officer as the town’s caretaker.
All the elected officials of the Magpet municipal government in Cotabato province—from the mayor down to the last councilor—had to be quarantined because they were either infected by COVID-19 or had to be isolated for coming in contact with town officials who tested positive for the dreaded virus.
Ivy Cervantes, DILG municipal local government operations officer, took over as caretaker on Monday to prevent a leadership vacuum in the administration of the town’s affairs, the DILG in the town announced.
This should only last about two weeks until their quarantine time is up.
Nurses and hospital workers in the Philippines get treated like garbage. Last year they were demanding to know "Where’s our COVID hazard pay, allowance?" The DOH "repurposed it."
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1446699/doh-repurposes-hospital-workers-allowance |
The Department of Health (DOH) had “repurposed” or already spent on other COVID-related matters the funds originally intended as allowances of public hospital employees during the pandemic.
Sean Velchez, president of the National Orthopedic Hospital Workers Union, said it was “disheartening” to learn that they could no longer receive the money “that was rightfully ours” in the first place.
He said this was even after the Office of the President on June 1 granted the workers’ request to monetize or get the cash equivalent of the benefits.
In a copy of the letter to the Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC), the DOH on June 8 said the Sub-Allotment Advice or P35.5 million worth of meal, transportation, and accommodation benefits were “already repurposed for COVID-19 related activities or responses, such as hiring of additional emergency (Human Resources for Health), vaccination program, and compensation benefits of health workers who contracted COVID-19 infection.”
There was no longer any “additional funding or budget request” to cover the said benefits, added the letter signed by Maylene Beltran, the health assistant secretary for administration and financial management team.
That's a big middle finger to all these medical frontlines who are supposed to be the nation's heroes. Duterte even wants to build a wall commemorating them yet the government has stolen their rightful money. What a joke.
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