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(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon described the controversy involving overpriced COVID-19 medical supplies from a company without sufficient credentials as a “deliberate plan to plunder” public coffers, with a mysterious backer who is yet to be revealed.

Speaking to CNN Philippines’ The Source on Monday, Drilon lamented the involvement of former Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, who awarded an ₱8.68 billion deal to Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp. to procure personal protective equipment and testing kits that were later found to be overpriced.

“I was saying, this did not happen by accident,” Drilon said. “There was a deliberate plan to plunder the coffers to the tune of what we’re talking about. All the indications are there.”

“What we are looking for now is the missing link,” he added, “and the identification of who the backer is of Usec. Lao and Pharmally to be able to get into this kind of monumental graft we are talking about.”.. Read More

(The Manila Times) The number of Filipinos who continue to practice minimum health protocols to protect themselves from Covid-19 infection has dwindled, a survey conducted by Octa Research revealed.

The July 2021 Tugon ng Masa survey showed that majority of those polled -89 percent- said that they wear face masks.

Meanwhile, 85 percent said that they regularly wash their hands with water and soap or disinfect using alcohol.

Additionally, 70 percent said that they use face shields, and 64 percent said that they observe physical distancing.

“However, the percentage of adult Filipinos practicing either of these four measures decreased in the past month, with a face shield having the highest fall of 11 percent,” OCTA said in a statement.

This was followed by a decrease of 5, 3, and 2 percent in regular handwashing, observing physical distancing, and using face masks, respectively.

Moreover, 80 percent of Filipinos approve of the national government’s response to prevent the spread of Covid-19, with 30 percent reporting that they truly approve and 50 percent said that they somewhat approve.

OCTA conducted face-to-face interviews with 1,200 respondents aged 18 years and above from July 12 to 18, 2021. The results of the survey have a ±3 margin of error and a 95 percent confidence level… Read More

(The Manila Times) THE Philippines sent two more cube satellites (CubeSats) – Maya-3 and Maya-4 – to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday.

The CubeSats left Earth aboard Space X Falcon 9 rocket in a Dragon C208 cargo as part of Space X Commercial Resupply Mission-23.

“In addition to approximately 1,000 kilograms of science experiments riding aboard the spacecraft, the crew can look forward to assortments of cheese, ice cream, and veggies,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on Facebook.

Dragon will arrive at the ISS on Monday.

The initial launch was set on Saturday but was postponed because of the bad weather in Florida, United States.

Maya-3 and Maya-4 were the first university-built satellites in the country. Each weighs 1.15 kilogram and measured 10 centimeters (cm) by 10 cm by 11.35 cm at stowed state with RGB camera and Near-Infrared (NIR) camera to capture images for general visual assessment of landmass and bodies of water… Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — The country posted 18,528 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday, the second biggest one-day jump in cases.

The highest-ever was recorded just a day before, Aug. 28, when new cases surged to 19,441.

The total count is now at 1,954,023, of which 143,221 or 7.3% are active cases, the Department of Health reported.

Of the currently sick, 95.3% exhibit mild symptoms, 2% are asymptomatic, 1% are moderate cases, 1.1% are severe, and 0.6% are critical.

The DOH also announced 101 new fatalities, including 38 cases previously tagged as recoveries. This raised the death toll to 33,109.

Meanwhile, the number of survivors reached 1,777,693 after 17,922 more were confirmed.

The department said data from seven testing laboratories which failed to submit reports on time were not part of the count. These facilities contributed around 2.7% of all samples tested and 2.1% of positive cases over the past two weeks.

The DOH also deleted 205 duplicates, including 204 recoveries, after final validation.

The daily positivity rate continued to increase and stood at 27.9% based on the 66,225 tests reported on Aug. 27. This meant at least 1 in 4 people who had themselves tested the same day was found positive for the coronavirus.

According to U.S. nonprofit Covid Act Now, a positivity rate is at critical level if it is above 20%. This suggests testing efforts are inadequate and that there are likely more infected individuals who have gone undetected. The group also said an area has sufficient testing if its positivity rate is below 3%.

The DOH warned that new cases may continue to rise in the following days, as it stressed the importance of compliance with health protocols. A few hours before, it confirmed 711 new cases of four coronavirus variants, including over 500 of the highly contagious Delta variant… Read More

(BusinessWorld) CORONAVIRUS infections are expected to peak in the coming weeks, Health authorities said on Thursday, a week after the capital region was placed under a strict lockdown to contain a more contagious Delta variant.

“In the next days and weeks, we’ll probably be seeing additional peaks,” Alethea De Guzman, director of the Health department’s Epidemiology Bureau said at a virtual forum.

The new peak from Aug. 19 to 25 had surpassed the previous peak experienced from Aug. 12 to 20, she said.

The Department of Health (DoH) reported 16,313 coronavirus infections on Thursday, bringing the total to 1.9 million.

The death toll rose to 32,728 after 236 more patients died, while recoveries increased by 9,659 to 1.74 million, it said in a bulletin.

There were 131,921 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 201 duplicates had been removed from the tally, 201 of which were tagged as recoveries, while 125 recoveries were reclassified as deaths. Five laboratories failed to submit data on Aug. 24.

The country had a daily average of 15,537 cases from Aug. 19 to 25, Ms. de Guzman said, higher than the 12,897 cases reported daily from Aug. 12 to 20… Read More

(GMA News) An OCTA Research survey found that, even before the recent surge in cases, most Filipinos followed the minimum COVID-19 health standards with 89% of them regularly using face masks to avoid infection.

In its Tugon ng Masa (TNM) National Survey conducted from July 12 to 18, 2021, the research body found that the use of face masks and regular cleaning of hands using water and soap or alcohol were the top measures adult Filipinos followed to avoid COVID-19 infection, with 89% and 85% of adult Filipinos practicing each, respectively.

The use of face shields followed with 70%, then the observance of physical or social distancing at 64%.

However, the survey also found that the percentage of adult Filipinos practicing any of the four measures decreased in the past month, with the use of face shield showing the steepest decrease at 11%.

Further, only a quarter of adult Filipinos or 25% avoided domestic travel, while 20% consulted a doctor or healthcare provider when they were not feeling well.

The survey found that staying at home was practiced more in the National Capital Region compared to the other areas.

Also, more than 75% of adult Filipinos are always wearing a face mask when going out of their homes, while seven out of 10 adult Filipinos wash their hands several times a day.

According to the survey, a majority, or 64%, also still cover their nose and mouth when coughing.

“Observing physical and social distancing and wearing a face shield when going out of the house is still frequently done by adult Filipinos but not as consistent as the other measures,” the TNM National Survey said.

The survey emphasized that the percentage of adult Filipinos who often or frequently practice the precautionary public health measures to avoid contracting and spreading COVID-19 declined compared to the January 2021 TNM Survey results.

The Tugon ng Masa survey used multi-stage probability sampling with face-to-face interviews, with a sample size of 1200respondents aged 18 and above. The survey utilized s a sampling design that allows for a 95% confidence level with a margin of error at ±3%… Read More

(PhilStar) MANILA, Philippines — Fil-Am swimmer Gia Pergolini of Team USA shoots for her second gold medal while Filipino tanker Ernie Gawilan chases a dream medal finish in the Tokyo Paralympics today at the Tokyo Aquatics Center.

Pergolini, whose mother Alice Masangkay was born and raised in Manila, aims to ride the crest of her record-breaking, gold-medal performance in the 100-meter backstroke (S13) Friday by adding another one in the 50m freestyle.

The 17-year-old Pergolini is scheduled to swim in the first of the three heats at 9:06 a.m. (Philippine time) and, if she ends up claiming one of the eight finals spots, would gun for her second mint and possibly deliver another record-shattering effort at 5:17 p.m.

This would be Pergolini’s third and final event. She finished fifth in the 100m butterfly (S13) a few days ago before breaking her own world record twice – the first in the qualifying heats (1:05:05) and in the finals (1:04:64).

Pergolini’s feat was a ray of sunshine for a Philippine team still searching for its first Paralympic gold.

Gawilan is one the country’s bets hoping and dreaming to achieve this target as he plunges back into action in the 400m free (S7) at 8 a.m. today.

Wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan is currently competing in the heats of the 1500m (T52) at press time.

The other two Philippine bets with the same hope are Jeannette Aceveda, who will compete in the discus throw (F11) Tuesday, and Allain Ganapin, who will do battle in taekwondo’s K44-75-kilogram division on Sept. 3.

Pergolini, from Atlanta, Georgia, started swimming at age four before she was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, an inherited degenerative disorder of the retina that can lead to total blindness, at fourth grade… Read More

(The Manila Times) PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has accused former Interior secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd and former Justice secretary and now Sen. Leila de Lima of stealing public funds, citing the Commission on Audit’s (CoA) previous findings that flagged millions to billions of supposedly unliquidated funds.

In his prerecorded public address, Duterte said CoA, in its past audit findings, had also flagged the Department of Justice (DoJ) then under de Lima for its unliquidated cash advances in 2013.

“Mayroon dito ha (There’s this) agency, DoJ, under [then] secretary Leila de Lima, unliquidated (P617.44) million worth of cash advance in the year 2013,” Duterte said.

“Nakulong na lang ang g***, hindi niya ma-account itong ano. Tapos sabi nila, nag-press release na na-liquidate na raw (That stupid is now detained and could not account for this [CoA report]. She just issued a press release saying it was already liquidated),” he added.

Duterte also mentioned the past CoA report on the unliquidated fund transfers in the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) led then by Roxas.

He said the fund transfers accumulated a huge amount of P7.04 billion because of failure to monitor the liquidation and submission of financial reports.

“[The] DILG unliquidated P7 billion worth of fund transfers to various projects implemented under the term of former DILG secretary Mar Roxas as of Dec. 31, 2014,” he added.

Duterte compared this to the P67-billion “deficiencies” uncovered by CoA on the Department of Health’s management of Covid-19 funds in 2020, saying that the DoH used the funds to buy medical supplies and personal protective equipment, whereas the money was taken in cash during Roxas’ time.

“Ito unliquidated cash advances. Ito perang kinuha talaga. Eh itong kay Duque magbili eh, ito nag-cash advance, nag-bale (These are unliquidated cash advances. This is really stolen money. Duque made cash advances for purchases),” he said.

The President also slammed de Lima for criticizing his administration without taking into consideration her questionable cash advances during her stint at DoJ.

On Monday, de Lima said Duterte was “corrupting” CoA when he asked the agency to “reconfigure” its audit reports by stating that flagged agencies are not involved in corruption.

Duterte then turned the tables on de Lima, telling her to respond to CoA’s previous findings on DoJ.

“Ngayon si de Lima maingay. Sige nga, mag-ingay ka nga ngayon (Now de Lima is making noise. Go ahead, make noise),” he said.

“Mabuti nang malaman ng Pilipino kung sino ‘yung magnanakaw (Filipinos should know who’s the thief),” the President added.

Back in 2013, the CoA said DILG had P7.040-billion unliquidated fund transfers, which were supposedly used for various projects.

Roxas, who served as DILG secretary from 2012 to 2015, also faced corruption allegations in relation to the rehabilitation projects in areas devastated by Typhoon “Yolanda” in 2013.

Roxas’s camp then explained that the funds were unliquidated as the projects were still being implemented.

In 2014, the DoJ denied that it had accumulated such an amount of unliquidated cash advances, noting that this only amounted to P890,000. It said that “nearly all unliquidated cash advances have been properly liquidated.”.. Read More