More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
Former Department of Health secretary Francisco Duque III and former Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service executive director Lloyd Christopher Lao have been charged with graft over irregularities in the DOH’s transfer of its P41.46-billion fund to PS-DBM at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The Office of the Ombudsman has formally filed a graft case against former Department of Health secretary Francisco Duque III and former Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service executive director Lloyd Christopher Lao in connection with alleged irregularities in the DOH’s transfer of its P41.46-billion fund to PS-DBM at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Copy of the charge sheet has yet to be released to the media yesterday but Ombudsman Samuel Martires confirmed to reporters that the case, which the anti-graft body’s Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) filed at the Sandiganbayan on Aug. 27, involves the violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Section 3 (e) of RA 3019 prohibits public officials from giving unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference to a private party or from causing any party, including the government, undue injury.
Graft is a bailable offense, with bail bond usually set by the court at P90,000 for each defendant.
The case is to be raffled today to one of Sandiganbayan’s seven divisions.
Will anyone else be charged over shutting down and ruining the Philippine economy? Probably not.
Philippines office space occupancy is the 3rd highest globally but remains low as a result of the pandemic.
 |
| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/economy/918671/ph-office-space-occupancy-3rd-highest-globally-in-h1-consultancy-firm/story/ |
Philippine office space occupancy averaged 80% in the first half of the year, the third-highest in the globe mainly due to the growth of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, real estate consultancy firm PRIME Philippines said Thursday.
According to PRIME Philippines executive vice president Cholo Florencio, the country’s office rate was only behind Singapore’s 88% and India’s 85%. It is also higher than the global average of 70%, the United States’ 62% and Europe’s 60%.
Florencio attributed the occupancy rate to the BPO sector, which reported an annual growth rate of 7% to 8%, the increasing demand from the government, and the high adoption of flexible working arrangements.
For Metro Manila alone, the occupancy rate was recorded at 85%, slightly higher than the previous year’s 84%.
“I think we will be able to sustain our momentum in terms of adding a bit of occupancy levels. The challenge really is when more buildings will be left by the online gaming companies,” Florencio said on the sidelines of a briefing in Makati City.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., in his third state of the nation address (SONA) in July, announced the ban on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), and ordered the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. to wind down and stop all operations by the end of the year.
A cost-benefit analysis by the Department of Finance (DOF) showed that the POGO industry had a net cost of P99.52 billion to the Philippines, equivalent to 0.41% of the country’s economy as of 2021.
According to Florencio, there has been a decline in office space takeup, especially from POGOs since the COVID-19 pandemic, and vacancies are expected moving forward following the ban ordered by Marcos.
“There has been a very sharp decline ever since the pandemic. As you all know, the pandemic really triggered everything. It’s unfortunate lang, of course, we’ve heard a lot of negative stories about criminality, about scams that have really affected the POGOs here,” he said.
“The President has announced of course a total ban so once it is fully implemented, it will be more challenging for developers to attract more (locators) to come in,” he added.
First the pandemic and now the POGO ban.
Air Asia continues to fly tourists to Boracay at a rate greater than the pre-pandemic period.
AirAsia Philippines has sustained its passenger growth to the island of Boracay, Caticlan, since the pre-pandemic period.
From January to August this year, the airline flew over 1.1 million passengers, while last year, it flew more than 1.3 million passengers with the opening of AirAsia’s flights from Clark to Cebu.
The passenger traffic showed significant growth over the last four years, with more than 450,000 passengers in 2019, then it went down to 81,000 in 2020 during pandemic but recovered in 2021 with 202,000, and more than 610,000 in 2022, the airline said.
“There is no season required for visiting Boracay. We have seen families and groups of friends visit the island even during Christmas and New Year’s Eve. To say that Boracay is just a summer destination is already passé. Even now Boracay has also become a favorite destination for workation or work from home-hub. Vacation, staycation, or workation, AirAsia Philippines will continue to support our guests’ travel needs by providing the most competitive airfare to Boracay,” said Steve Dailisan, AirAsia Philippines communications and public affairs head.
Surely the DOT is happy.
A short film about mental health which was conceived during the pandemic is finally getting its Philippines premier.
 |
| https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2024/09/03/2382395/sinag-maynila-2024-as-moth-flies-examines-mind-person-battling-mental-illness |
Conceived during the pandemic, the short film “As the Moth Flies” delves into what’s going through the mind of a person suffering from mental illness. The film is one of the entries at the Sinag Maynila Independent Film Festival 2024 under the short film category.
Produced by Creative Kartel, in association with Desi Matters and Happy Manila, “As the Moth Flies” is helmed by Gayle Oblea. It centers on the story of a woman who tries to assess her mentally ill partner and their turbulent relationship, only to unravel haunting truths about their unsettling past.
Direk Gayle narrated during a presscon at Flavours Indian & Mediterranean Cuisine in Makati City how her project started during the pandemic. Executive producers Happy and Rav Singh, who hail from India, also graced the press event.
“I think everybody could (relate), even those who do not have mental illness or probably are not aware of it, dun talaga parang medyo na-emphasize (at the height of the pandemic) because people were stuck at home (and) couldn’t do anything with it. It’s the same thing with us, especially since we’ve been doing productions since 2018,” stated direk Gayle, who revealed that she is a “high-functioning bipolar.”
During the pandemic, the young filmmaker and her sister and screenwriter, M.B. Garcia, were also “dealing with our own demons” and “suffering (with) some questions in mind.” What they did was divert their attention to making the film, which was originally written for an eight-episode limited series.
“We made sure that when we were writing the script, (it was) very accurate (like) lahat ng references to people who suffer from mental illness or probably people who are not aware of it. Because we designed it na talagang when the audience watches it, it’s like going inside someone’s head who suffers from mental illness.”
On why they let the film be screened abroad first before the Philippines, she said, “During our research, we found out that you don’t get to qualify for a world premiere in festivals if we premiere it here in the Philippines. So that’s really the main reason. That’s why we initially went to the international scope and then really entered like the short film to numerous film festivals.”
Why does screening the film in the Philippines prevent qualifying for a world premier in festivals? Did each screening get the stamp of being a world premier? They don't say.
A new paper is out examining if COVID-19 influenced the hand washing behavior of Filipinos.
 |
| https://discovery.researcher.life/article/did-covid-19-risk-perceptions-influence-the-handwashing-behavior-of-the-filipino-population/82a7de5a248933e3a55dd1a776f514ae |
The COVID-19 pandemic reminded people of the importance of proper handwashing. The degree of health risk perceptions and handwashing behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic opens essential lessons for delivering water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs across the globe. We measured the relationship between COVID-19 risk perception and the handwashing behavior of 386 Filipinos in a highly urbanized city in the Philippines. Self-made COVID-19 risk perception scale (CRPS) (Cronbach's α 0.93) and handwashing behavior scale (HBS) (Cronbach's α 0.84) were administered face-to-face. The results show that the overall handwashing behavior has a median of 4.1 (frequently), while the interquartile range (IQR) is 0.5. Regression analysis revealed that COVID-19 risk perception has a significant positive association with overall handwashing behavior (B=0.369, p-value <0.05). The COVID-19 risk perception accounts for 36.9% of the variance in handwashing behavior, F (1, 384) =11.6360, p-value=0.0007. This study proposes that public health authorities target people's experiential learning style in designing and delivering intervention programs against non-compliance with proper handwashing.
It seems that is the case.
No comments:
Post a Comment