More news from the coronavirus ECQ's and GCQ's and MGCQ's around the nation.
More people are out begging for change because the lockdown drained them of all their cash and the Sap funds are simply not enough.
A 70-year-old grandmother spends her days begging for change along Amang Rodriguez Avenue in Pasig City in order to feed her three grandchildren who were orphaned by their mother.
According to 24 Oras report by Mark Makalalad on Monday, Cindy Carigitan is accompanied by her grandchild Lea as she begs for help from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
Carigitan said she received aid from the government’s amelioration program but she had to use up those funds to pay for the burial expenses of her late daughter.
In this sad case it seems the mother left no savings behind so the grandmother had to use the SAP funds not for food but for burial expenses. Sad.
You know Recto U right? That's the place in Manila where you can get any document you want.
Seven people were charged on Tuesday with falsification and using falsified documents following their arrest for fabricating and selling fake government identification cards that give quarantine exemptions.
Graphic designer Johnny Perez and six other men were caught on Monday in an entrapment operation by the Manila Police District’s Sampaloc station at a small shop in a building on Recto Avenue.
The area has acquired the unenviable reputation through the years for hosting clandestine shops specializing in document forgery. Located on Manila’s University Belt, it has been derisively called “Recto University” for churning out a wide array of fake diplomas, bogus school records and even ready-made term papers.
The charges against the seven suspects were filed in the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office.
The IDs seized by the police have the logo of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and identical IATF-EID quick response (QR) codes. The QR codes are supposed to be unique to help the authorities match the identity of the bearer to the person authorized to carry the ID.
Police Lt. Col. John Guiagui, Sampaloc station commander, said the group might have started fabricating the fake IDs after the start of the enhanced community quarantine imposed by the government on Luzon in mid-March to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Guiagui said officers seized around 50 IDs with names and addresses of persons from Manila and Quezon City, and as far away as Cavite and Laguna provinces.
Obviously the QR codes are not sopping counterfeiters.
In this series about coronavirus news I have focused on local news. But Fil-Ams have been active too.
While most clothing retail businesses have stopped for a while and mass gatherings such as fashion shows have been put on hold, Filipino American fashion designer Kenneth Barlis has remained busy producing masks and distributing donations.
“It’s like having this adrenaline rush going through my veins to think fast, and act fast to help others in any way I can.’’
People have jumped at the chance to wear designer masks that have been seen on celebrities, music videos and covers of magazines such as Vogue and Cosmopolitan.
“As of today, we have shipped Kenneth Barlis masks to 51 states and also in Canada! Super exciting!,” the designer beams.
Designer masks? Never let a crisis go to waste!
Another COVID-19 clinic run by Chinese doctors was raided.
In a report on Wednesday, Police Major Gideon Ines Jr., chief of Makati Police Station Investigation and Detective Management Section, identified the suspects as David Lai, 49, the head doctor, and Liao Songhua, 41, the assistant doctor of the clinic.
Ines said the arrest came after the Makati Police in coordination with Felipe Albayda Jr. of Makati Health Department Incident Management Team Task Force COVID-19 inspected the Goldstar Medical Clinic, which is located at the 5th floor of a building along Sampaloc Street in San Antonio Village. The inspection was made after authorities received reports of a Chinese doctor treating Chinese nationals who are suspected to be coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients.
Ines said they also found four Chinese patients in the clinic. They were referred to the Makati Health Department.
Seized during the inspection were rapid test kits allegedly used to detect the coronavirus, swab sticks, vials, syringes, and multiple boxes of Chinese medicine that are not registered with the Food and Drug Administration, police said.
This illegal clinic was discovered after the PNP received reports about
medical waste being collected by housekeeping. A third illegal COVID-19 run by and catering to the Chinese was found in Angeles City.
Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr, with the assistance of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and officers of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), raided an alleged illegal Chinese pharmacy in the tourist area of Barangay Anunas in the city on Thursday, May 28.
“An illegal underground medical facility in Korean Town, Barangay Anunas was shut down on May 28, 2020, as Angeles City Mayor Carmelo ‘Pogi’ Lazatin Jr., in coordination with National Bureau of Investigation, Food and Drug Administration and Philippine National Police, raided the makeshift medical facility, where two Chinese nationals were arrested,” the city information office said in its Facebook post.
The drug store, which apparently lacked FDA permit to operate, was allegedly selling Chinese-labeled medicines and medical products.
Media reports said that COVID-19 testing kits were also confiscated during the raid.
There
are certainly
more illegal clinics
to be found and the NBI is hot on the trail to find them all.
PhilHealth has not been paying premiums which is bad news for hospitals.
More than 300 small private hospitals are in danger of closing down due to the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic and the failure of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to release insurance claims, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPi) revealed.
Rustico Jimenez, president of the 744-member PHAPi, said some members have already partially stopped operations, with only the emergency rooms still open.
“Among our members, about 50 percent are about to close,” Jimenez said in an interview with “The Chiefs” aired on One News/TV 5 on Wednesday night.
“There are many factors,” he explained. “Number one, there are only a few patients going to non-COVID facilities because they are scared. Coupled with that is the much delayed payment from PhilHealth.”
Jimenez said only 46 percent of their members have so far received the payment that PhilHealth said it had advanced.
372 hospitals are about to close because people are too scared to go to the hospital because of COVID-19 and because PhilHealth is not paying their premiums. Remember PhilHealth is who will be running Universal Health Care.
PhilHealth denies all these allegations.
Just like with martial law in Mindanao between 2017-2019 the crime rate has dropped during the ECQ lockdown.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año described as "positive" the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on peace and order in the Philippines.
Crime incidents across the country went down by 60 percent since the community quarantine to contain the spread of the virus was implemented, he said.
Año reported that crimes committed in the country have decreased from March 17 to May 27, compared to January 5 to March 16
Before the lockdown, criminal cases in the country reached 11,004, but went down to 4,479 as of Wednesday.
Of course when you force people to stay home or face arrest for two
months
crime will certainly decline. As soon as the lockdowns lift crime
will rise again. Is that really
a net positive? Is there
realy a gain here?
Corruption
is a way of life in the Philippines. But
sometimes there is a little light shining
through the clouds.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) said a total of PHP19,524,300 excess social amelioration program (SAP) fund was returned to the agency.
“Marami ang nagbalik (Many [local government units] have returned excess funds),” Leo Quintilla, regional director of the DSWD-CAR said in a press conference on Thursday.
"This is part of good governance that the LGUs followed the guidelines," Quintilla said.
He said the LGUs returned the excess fund because they have already distributed the cash aid to the low-income families in their respective areas.
This is good. Hopefully LGUs across the nation can keep up this kind of honesty.
Testing for COVID-19 is important. But what if you want to do it home?
A former actress and model was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Friday for the unauthorized sale of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rapid test kits worth P70,000.
Avigail Siwa was arrested at an entrapment operation in Intramuros, Manila after a businesswoman reported her to authorities for estafa.
Siwa advertised on social media that she was selling four brands of COVID rapid test kits for a “home service COVID testing.”
Jessielyn Fernando told the NBI she paid P4.4 million as downpayment for 10,000 sacks of rice that did not arrive.
Siwa, in a television interview, said Fernando still owed her money for the order.
She said she ran a medical trading equipment company which is registered with the Department of Trade and Industry.
NBI international operations division chief Ronald Aguto said Siwa was not authorized by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to sell rapid test kits.
Don't do it. Just go to the hospital.
Part of the new normal due to the virus will be homeschooling. This idea is not sitting well with some parents.
The shift to online classes and blended learning this coming academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic is making some parents wary, according to a report by Mark Salazar on "24 Oras."
They feel they might not be up to the challenge of the new system where the home will serve as the school, and the parents as teachers or tutors.
Another parent, April Lim, wonders how they can get linked to the new method of learning, which will sometimes entail online activities.
She said the added expense for mobile load to have internet connection is not part of the household budget.
Meanwhile, Michael Cruz expressed doubts that he and his wife could assist their child in the online class because they are occupied in making a living for the family.
He also said that instead of using the internet for school works, his kid might use it for mobile games.
Many Filipinos do not have a computer but connect to the internet through phones or tablets. They also pay a little at a time using loads. Doing school through the internet will cost them money they cannot pay. Many parents are also busy working and have no time to act as teachers.
Can suob cure COVID-19?
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that a cure or vaccine for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has not yet been developed.
However, some Filipinos have been saying “suob” or steam therapy helps, but what is the truth behind this?
In a special online series titled “Survivors,” professional basketball player Chris de Chavez and his family shared how they won their battle against COVID-19 with the help of suob.
Chris’ mother, a chief nurse at a hospital in New Jersey, suddenly fell ill one night.
Since her mother was a medical frontliner, they knew right away that she was possibly infected with COVID-19.
The rest of the family eventually felt COVID-19 symptoms as well, such as flu and body aches.
Despite feeling sick, Chris and his father fought it and forced themselves to exercise.
According to Chris’ father Jun, suob also helped them recover.
Suob or steam therapy is done by inhaling salt water on a basin while using a piece of cloth, such as a towel, to cover one’s head and shoulders and enclose the steam.
Jun learned this cure from his mother in Batangas when he was young.
The De Chavez family claimed that suob helped them decongest their lungs.
A week after getting infected, the family felt better.
However, pediatric pulmonologist and sleep specialist Dr. Rolando dela Eva said there was no strong evidence to prove that steam therapy helps cure COVID-19.
Wow! Inhaling salt water steam cures COVID-19? Oh wait! Nowhere do these people say they were actually diagnosed with COVID-19! These people say they only thought they had it. Big difference.
Every industry in the Philippines has been hit hard by the lockdown and many want the government to ban them out. This includes the entertainment industry.
The country’s film and entertainment industry on Friday appealed to the government to come to its aid as the COVID-19 pandemic rendered its 865,000 workers jobless and was expected to result in revenue loss of P100 billion for the sector this year.
Liza Diño-Seguerra, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) chair, said the closure of movie theaters, concert halls, bars, hotels and other venues since March 14 had brought the entire entertainment industry to its knees.
She noted that a study done by the National Economic Development Authority revealed that the arts, entertainment and recreation sector was the “hardest-hit business sector,” eclipsing the devastating economic effects of the pandemic on tourism.
“We humbly pray that our industry will be given space in the economic stimulus package that our esteemed legislators are working so hard for,” Seguerra said during a seven-hour online Senate hearing.
Seguerra said the FDCP had distributed a total of P20 million in financial subsidy to freelancers, artists and other members of the audio-visual industry, who each received up to P8,000.She said the Department of Budget and Management did not grant its request for a P50-million budget for the subsidy.
Since four out of five workers in the entertainment industry were considered self-employed and members of the informal sector, she said they were not able to benefit from the cash aid from the Department of Labor and Employment and the Social Security System.
Seguerra said workers in the movie industry would need cash subsidies for at least six months.
The entertainment industry is harder hit then than the tourist industry! But TV shows and movies are really part of a synthetic culture. They aren't exactly part of the intangible heritage of a nation.
Just like health front-liners, there should be heritage front-liners during pandemics and disasters.
This was the call of cultural heritage planners and advocates in the online conference, “That Thing Called Pamana,” organized by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and Filipinas Heritage Festival Inc. recently to mark May as National Heritage Month.
Cultural heritage proved “essential” in making people cope with anxieties while on lockdown, said Arvin Manuel Villalon, consultant for cultural mapping of the NCCA and a member of the Technical Pane for Cultural Education of the Commission on Higher Education.
He explained that during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), people turned to Christianity and rituals because “religion is an intangible cultural heritage.”
Villalon said cultural heritage could also help in “normalizing” the situation post-new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).“Heritage is one way of restoring normalcy,” he said. “Heritage comes from a sense of identity and rootedness.”
“Religion brings back old memories and they bring back normalcy,” he declared.
Villalon cited the cancelation of the Panagbenga flower festival in his hometown of Baguio City.
He said the locals didn’t mind because Panagbenga was a mere tourist showcase.
But there was no canceling Holy Week and Easter for Baguio City, Villalon said. He said locals closely followed the Holy Week observances through the Internet. Villalon explained that “synthetic celebrations” like Panagbenga cater only to tourists.
“The test of celebratory events is if the community values them,” he said.
A psychologist and art dealer and curator, Robillos emphasized the importance of “intangible cultural heritage” such as religious rituals, literature and communal dances, practices, and observances in providing “healing” or “therapy” to cope with the stress of the lockdown.
He said that galleries and museums provided “virtual tours” of their collections, classified as “tangible cultural heritage,” during the ECQ.
Robillos added that even one town in Bulacan province held a virtual parade or religious procession that fostered communal “solidarity” during the pandemic.
When everyone is forced inside and mass gatherings are prohibited it is impossible to participate in the "intangible cultural heritage" of a nation. You can't worship online. Worship is a full body and communal experience. You also cannot transfer the culture of a people to the internet. They don't really say what a cultural frontliner is or would do but only stress the importance of cultural heritage during trying times.
What better way to stop the spread of COVID-19 then to decongest the cites? Duterte is actually paying people to do just that.
The coronavirus pandemic is giving Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte a reason to reduce overcrowding in Manila, which in recent decades has swelled into one of the most heavily populated areas on Earth.
Duterte is offering cash and goods to induce city-dwellers to move out of the greater capital region in an ambitious program called “Back to the Province,” one of the most aggressive attempts in decades to lure Filipinos to the countryside. With the pandemic exposing how swift population growth and urban migration have overstretched Manila’s transport, utility and health services, the government is now attempting to alter long-entrenched patterns of labor mobility.
Families approved for the program can receive as much as 110,000 pesos ($2,173) in money and goods. Almost 60,000 people have applied since the plan began in mid-May, Escalada said, with priority given to the unemployed, homeless and those living in disaster-prone areas. Thousands more are believed to have left Manila in the days leading up to the lockdown, sometimes with help from non-profit groups.
The big challenge will be finding work in the countryside, with the program at risk of becoming a temporary solution for many until the economy recovers.
Will relocating people to the provinces be a viable solution to the pandemic? At least with forcing people to work online they are still working. Finding a job outside the city might be difficult and a "
temporary solution for many until the economy recovers." So much window dressing in attempting to find a solution.
