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(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — President Rodrigo Duterte has extended for another year the country’s state of calamity status due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Proclamation No. 1218 — signed by Duterte on Friday — the national state of calamity will be extended until September 12, 2022, “unless earlier lifted or extended as circumstances may warrant.”

The document cited the continuous spike in coronavirus cases in the Philippines, which has now logged over two million infections.

“All government agencies and LGUs (local government units) are enjoined to continue rendering full assistance to and cooperation with each other and mobilize the necessary resources to undertake critical, urgent, and appropriate disaster response aid and measures in a timely manner to curtail and eliminate the threat of COVID-19,” the proclamation further read.

Duterte first declared a national state of calamity on March 16, 2020… Read More

(GMA News) The country’s major telecommunications firms on Tuesday said they are preparing to provide assistance to areas that may be affected by Severe Tropical Storm Jolina.

Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. said it will deploy free calls, charging, and wifi services in Samar September 7 to 8, at 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The two stations are located in the Borongan Plaza in Baybay 3, Borongan City, Eastern Samar, and in front of the Municipal Building of Sta. Margarita in Western Samar.

“Globe assures the public that it is ready to assist as necessary to ensure continuous communications services,” it said in an emailed advisory.

“The company’s technical and support personnel are on standby. It also has generators for facilities in case of power supply interruption,” it added.

For its part, Pangilinan-led PLDT Inc. and its wireless unit Smart Communications Inc. are mobilizing personnel, equipment, and relief aid.

The group is also ready to deploy free calls, charging, and wifi stations to residents who will be affected by the storm.

“Quick response teams and mission-critical equipment have been prepositioned in provinces that are in the typhoon’s path, ready to repair communications that will be affected by ‘Jolina’,” the group said in a separate advisory.

“PLDT and Smart continue to engage local government units on how they can assist communities that are under threat by the typhoon,” the advisory read.

Jolina first made landfall in the vicinity of Hernani, Eastern Samar on Monday evening. A tropical cyclone wind signal (TCWS) 2 has been raised over the northern portion of Eastern Samar.

Shares in Globe closed Tuesday up by P90.00 or 3.33% to P2,790 apiece, while those in PLDT gained P10.00 or 0.68% to P1,472.00 apiece… Read More

(GMA News) More than half of Quezon City’s target population already received complete doses of COVID-19 vaccines since the city launched its immunization program in March.

On Facebook, the city government’s data on Tuesday showed that it administered 2,626,579 doses of various vaccines in its locality.

Of the number, 1,728,673 or 101.69% of the 1.7 adult population in Quezon City got their first dose while 897,906 or 55.90% received their second dose.

Overall, the city fully vaccinated 991,636 or 58.33% of its adult population. This number includes those who were injected with the single-shot Janssen vaccine.

“Malaking bagay ito lalo na ngayong may Delta variant. (This is a big help especially with the threat of the Delta variant.),” the city government said.

The Quezon City government, likewise, encouraged the public to secure reservations in the vaccine rollout by online registration at https://qceservices.quezoncity.gov.ph/qcvaxeasy.

Currently, Quezon City, the most populous area in Metro Manila, is vaccinating those aged 18 years old and above.

The Department of Health has yet to recommend the inoculation of children but it so far approved Moderna and Pfizer’s request to inoculate children using the manufacturers’ COVID-19 vaccines.

To date, over 15 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated, which is still not enough as the country seeks to inoculate 70% of its population. With the Delta coronavirus variant, however, the national government is mulling to raise its inoculation target to 80%… Read More

(GMA News) Seven areas were placed under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 1 before noon Monday as Tropical Depression Jolina slightly intensified as it moved westward over the Philippine Sea.

In its 11 a.m. report, PAGASA said under TCWS No. 1 are:

Sorsogon
Northern Samar
Samar
Eastern Samar
Dinagat Islands
Siargao Islands
Bucas Grande Islands
PAGASA said Jolina may likely intensify into tropical storm by Wednesday.

“The highest possible TCWS that will be raised throughout its passage will be TCWS #2,” it said.

Jolina is seen to make landfall over Northern Luzon by Thursday morning before moving westward while traversing over Northern Luzon. It may re-emerge over the West Philippine Sea by Thursday evening and exit ng Philippine Area of Responsibility by Friday morning.

“However, the public is advised to continue monitoring for possible changes in the track forecast in the succeeding bulletins,” PAGASA said.

As of 10 a.m., Jolina’s center was estimated based on all available data at 205 km east southeast of Guiuan, Eastern Samar or 230 km east northeast of Surigao City, Surigao del Norte (10.4°N, 127.5°E). It is packing maximum sustained winds of 55 km/h near the center, gustiness of up to 70 km/h, and central pressure of 1004 hPa.

Eastern Samar, Dinagat Islands, and Surigao del Norte, including Siargao and Bucas Grande Islands, should expect moderate to heavy rains in the next 24 hours due to Jolina, PAGASA said… Read More

(PhilStar) MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has suspended the implementation of its cash assistance program in the second district of Quezon City following reports of alleged irregularities in the distribution of benefits there.

In a press briefing yesterday, DOLE spokesman Rolly Francia said the suspension of the agency’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program is effective immediately.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III directed DOLE National Capital Region director Sara Buena Mirasol to look into the anomalies.

“We are calling on the complainants to coordinate with us or our regional office so that we can strengthen the case that we may file against those proven involved in the (irregular) implementation of this flagship program of DOLE,” he added.

Some residents of Barangay Holy Spirit have complained that they received only P2,000 instead of P7,518 that they should get from the government under the TUPAD program.

According to a coordinator of the program, she was instructed to accompany the beneficiaries to a remittance center and deduct P5,518 from their cash assistance… Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila – Health experts in the country agree that the implementation of granular lockdowns in Metro Manila starting Sept. 8 would not be enough to significantly decrease COVID-19 cases in the region.

OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said granular lockdowns must be complemented by other interventions, such as randomized mass testing, more aggressive contact tracing, and early detection and isolation efforts to effectively curb the spread of the virus.

David added that based from experience, granular lockdowns alone are not effective if the virus expanded its reach in an area.

“Our local governments will have a hard time in this setup because of their limited manpower. For example, there are 100 barangays in a city and 10 of them only have cases, it will be easier to implement a granular lockdown. But if there are 90 barangays with cases, the local government will have a hard time dealing with those because there will be persons assigned to man the locked down area and bring food there,” Guido told CNN Philippines’ Newsroom Weekend on Sunday.

Infectious disease specialist Dr. Benjamin Co said the granular lockdowns should not only last for two weeks, the timeframe imposed by the Inter-Agency Task Force in implementing the localized quarantine classification.

“It takes one family of five or six people in the household at least three to four weeks to be fully recovered. If you have one whole street, one whole barangay that’s infected, it will take them two to three months to recover,” Co told CNN Philippines.

Co said local governments should utilize their isolation facilities, instead of granular lockdowns in barangays, to easily separate sick individuals… Read More

(GMA News) Malacañang said Thursday that the mandatory policy of wearing a face shield outdoors will stay on unless the World Health Organization (WHO) comes up with a different recommendation.

“Sa ngayon pa wala pero I understand that even the WHO will render an expert opinion on whether or not the use of face shields is justified (We are not changing the policy for now but we understand that the WHO will make render an opinion on whether the use of face shield is justified),” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said.

“So, hintayin po natin iyong opinion ng WHO (Let us wait for WHO’s recommendation),” Roque added.

Roque reminded the public that the mandatory use of face shield is still aimed at protecting the people and not to benefit businesses.

“Wala pong relasyon iyan. Ang pagsusuot po ng face shields, nakikita naman ninyo sa ating Press Briefings ay sang-ayon po sa mga opinyon ng eksperto (This does not involve corruption. The use of face shield is based on the recommendation of our experts),” Roque said. -MDM, GMA News.. Read More

(BusinessWorld) CORONAVIRUS infections in the Philippines crossed the two-million mark after the Health department reported 14,216 more cases on Wednesday.

The country’s death toll rose to 33,533 after 86 more patients died, while recoveries increased by 18,754 to 1.83 million, the Department of Health (DoH) said in a bulletin.

There were 140,949 active cases, 96.1% of which were mild, 1.1% did not show symptoms, 1.2% were severe, 1.03% were moderate and 0.6% were critical.

The agency said 118 duplicates had been removed from the tally, 91 of which were tagged as recoveries and one as a death, while 37 recoveries were reclassified as deaths. Five laboratories did not submit data on Aug. 30.

The country’s coronavirus situation was unlikely to improve if the government fails to improve its pandemic response, said health expert Antonio C. Leachon, who used to be a member of an inter-agency task force against the coronavirus.

The country may soon become the virus epicenter in Southeast Asia, he told the ABS-CBN News. “The healthcare system will soon collapse if we will not be able to control it.”

Coronavirus infections in the country may increase to 25,000 in the coming days, Mr. Leachon said on Tuesday, citing projections by health experts… Read More