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(BusinessWorld) PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte may simply leave the fate of the military pact with the United States to the hands of his successor and maintain the administration’s current relations with both America and China, according to analysts.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. announced last week that the President suspended for another six months the termination the visiting forces agreement (VFA) between the US and Philippines, which allows the entry of American troops in the country for joint drills.

Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco, research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center, said Mr. Duterte may choose not to make a final decision on whether the VFA should be terminated.

“I am not particularly confident that President Duterte will make a firm decision on the fate of the VFA before his term ends. I think more than likely, he will just let the next President take on this matter in his term,” he told BusinessWorld via email.

“I think delaying the abrogation of the VFA, while at the same time insisting on his personal appeasement policy stand with regards to our troubles in the West Philippine Sea, is a delicate balancing act which he has been successful at doing. So why change tactics so close to the elections, right?” he added.

Renato C. de Castro, international studies professor at the De La Salle University, said there are chances that Mr. Duterte would again extend the suspension by another six months in November.

“It will be up to his successor to determine whether we will sign or of course do away with the visiting forces agreement. So, he’s leaving it to his successor,” he said in a phone interview… Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — The Philippine government has signed a supply agreement for 40 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, the biggest vaccine procurement for 2021.

“We are very happy to report that the government and the management of Pfizer have finally concluded our negotiations. Secretary Duque and I signed yesterday the supply agreement for the biggest and most decisive deal we had for 2021,” said National Task Force against COVID 19 Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. in a statement on Sunday.

A term sheet for the procurement inked in May detailed all the conditions and offers for the supply.

Galvez said the deliveries of the vaccine would start “eight weeks starting August.”

He added the Pfizer vaccines would be delivered to all provinces and regions through what he called “hubs and spokes,” and urged local government units to be ready for the arrivals.

“We again emphasize for LGUs to ensure third party logistics and cold chain service providers for very sensitive vaccines like Pfizer, Moderna and Sputnik V. We don’t want any vaccine to be wasted because of spoilage and mishandling, “he said.

In the statement, Galvez said the procurement of the vaccines would be done through a multilateral arrangement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), saying the loan funds through multilateral partners — like the ADB — follows a direct disbursement scheme wherein payments are paid directly by the fund manager to the vaccine manufacturer… Read More

(sunstar) NEW coronavirus infections are slowly declining nationwide, but remain above 6,000 a day as the daily positivity rate continues to average 13 percent, the Department of Health (DOH) case bulletins in the past week showed.

In the recent seven days from June 14 to 20, 2021, new cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid.19) averaged 6,208 a day, about 6.0 percent lower than the 6,611 daily average in the previous week from June 7 to 13.

On Sunday, June 20, 2021, DOH reported 5,803 new Covid-19 cases and a higher daily positivity rate of 13.2 percent based on tests done two days earlier.

The new cases brought the total case count in the Philippines to 1,359,015, including 57,679 active cases in hospitals and isolation facilities.

Eight duplicates, including six recoveries and one death, were removed from the count… Read More

(Sunstar) Romayne Danielle Rivera
Sat, 19 June 2021, 3:10 am
IN A life that’s filled with wonder and awe, there are things- and events- that humans will never be able to grasp an answer for.

Call it unique, weird, bizarre, and in some cases a miracle, people– if lucky– will live to see something extraordinary that’s something worth telling.

In today’s article for Father’s Day, this father is nowhere near “ordinary”.

At the age of five, Pepard Bagares lost his sight due to Stevens-Johnson Syndrome which is a rare, serious disorder of the skin and mucous membranes.

To some people, living a life without the ability to see may be daunting, but this never stopped Pepard from living his best life and enjoying his gift– the gift of being a “human calculator” and “human calendar”.

“Wa gyud ko’y training. Pagkamatngon nako og buot, sige ko’g duwa og tansan… Didto ko sa tansan nag Algebra, pero wa pa’y pangan; wala koy ‘ngan nahibaw-an. Akong mga uyo-an nalang nga engineer ang ni ingon nga ‘Algebra na’,” Pepard shared as he recalled the earliest joys in his life which was solving math problems using bottle caps.

According to Pepard, nobody taught him these things. Despite having other toys to play with, his favorites were the bottle caps which allowed him to immerse in a world of numbers and solutions. He even had his own terms like “gamay” for decimal points.

At the age of 14, he traded bottle caps for a comb, where he used the comb’s teeth to compute millions.

“Nag gamit ko og sudlay, makuyawan man ko og maayu. Nadugay ako nalang gi-labay ang sudlay, kadugayan na kat-on ra man ko,” he said.

When Pepard became a teenager, his friends who were engineers admitted to him that he was extraordinary with mathematics, but added that “it wasn’t practical”. Instead, they told Pepard to try playing the piano.

He did give piano a chance, Pepard said, but he couldn’t let go of doing maths.

“Labi nag maguol ko, magsolve-solve dayun ko aron ma-ulian ko. Kung wa pa ni siya, dugay ra kong naguol; kani siya akong counter sa kaguol,” Pepard said.

While the world of Mathematics became Pepard’s comfort zone, love was something he couldn’t put into equations and solutions.

In December 1984, he left Tagbilaran, Bohol to come home to Mandaue City.

“Di man ko magsilbi nga ako rang usa. Mao tung ni ingon si Mama nga ako sang hulman ang maid (helper) ni Lola Sensiang,”

And that’s how he met Helen Gelasque, the woman who became Pepard’s eyes and later became the one who held his heart… Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 19) — Another study on the impact of virgin coconut oil on suspected COVID-19 patients has yet to hit its target number of volunteers, a Cabinet official said on Friday.

The clinical trial in Valenzuela City that targeted 120 volunteers has 29 participants, Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato de la Peña said, with 10 undergoing interventions while 19 completed the program. There were an initial 35 participants but six backed out.

“As of the first week of June, the ongoing project entitled “Beneficial effects of VCO tested among suspect and probable cases of COVID-19” that is being implemented in Valenzuela City has 35 qualified subjects out of the 120 target participants,” he said during an episode of DOST Report.

The study stemmed from the clinical trial last year by researchers of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute in Laguna which found VCO can ease symptoms of suspected COVID-19 patients.

For 28 days, 29 participants received standard meals containing VCO, while another 28 patients got the same meals without VCO. The VCO group was free of symptoms on the 18th day, while the control group only stopped exhibiting symptoms on the 23rd day… Read More

(GMA News) Almost three out of 10 Filipinos aged five years old and below are stunted due to undernutrition, according to a report of the World Bank.

According to Raffy Tima’s report on “State of the Nation,” the Philippines is ranked fifth among countries in East Asia and the Pacific region with the highest prevalence of stunting, or being short for one’s age.

The country, meanwhile, is among the top 10 countries around the world with the highest number of stunted children.

“Silent pandemic” is how the World Bank described this condition as it has stalked children for years.

“Mula pa nung 1980s, ganyan na ‘yung sitwasyon ng ating mga bata. Unti-unti namang bumababa pero napakabagal kumpara sa ating level of development,” Philippine Association of Nutrition president Dr. Cecilia Acuin said.

(It’s been this way since the 1980s. Though it’s decreasing, it is very slow compared to our level of development.)

“It’s almost embarrassing because with the level of our development our undernutrition is not supposed to be like this,” she added.

The World Bank said the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, MIMAROPA, Bicol, and Western Visayas recorded over 40% of stunting among children aged five and below.

“Akala ng mga tao, normal ang undernutrition kasi halos lahat o kalahati ng mga batang nakikita nila sa kanilang paligid ay may ganyang problema. So hindi nahahalata,” she said.

(People think it’s normal because that’s what they see usually. It’s not obvious that there’s a problem.)

Children that lack nutrition may fall behind in classes or easily get sick .

“Poor performance in school, as we all know, will lead to lower productivity as an adult. I think for the Philippines, it’s less than 15% ang kanilang nararating na potential nila dahil sa undernutrition lang,” she said.

The World Bank recommended for the government to fund programs addressing the nutrition of the youth.

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said that though they have yet to see the report of the World Bank, programs to address malnutrition are continuous… Read More

(GMA News) The Philippines’ tally of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases rose to 1,353,220 on Saturday after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 6,959 new infections as six laboratories failed to submit reports on time.

This marks the third straight day where more than 6,000 cases were recorded.

The DOH also announced that total recoveries climbed to 1,270,243 after 9,407 more patients recovered from the illness, the highest daily recoveries recorded since May 9.

Due to this, the number of active cases slightly decreased to 59,439.

Of this, 92.2% are mild, 3.6% are asymptomatic, 1.7% are severe, and 1.3% are in critical condition.

Meanwhile, 153 new fatalities brought the death toll to 23,538.

Fifteen duplicate cases were also removed from the total case count.

“Moreover, 170 cases previously tagged as recoveries have been validated to be active cases, and 97 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation,” the DOH said.

Data from the DOH showed that 58% of the intensive care unit beds nationwide are in use while 36% of the mechanical ventilators are occupied.

In the National Capital Region, 44% of the ICU beds are being utilized by patients while 31% of the mechanical ventilators are in use.

The DOH earlier said that healthcare workers will get their allowances in cash after the allotment was “repurposed” to other COVID-19-related responses… Read More

(CNNPhilippines) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 18)— The delivery of the first batch of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines has been pushed back due to logistical issues.

Instead of June 21, Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the arrival of 250,000 doses in the country has been moved to June 25.

“Normally ‘yung nagiging problema natin is ‘yung transpo pati ‘yung logistical challenges,” Galvez told a media briefing on Friday. “It’s only four days delayed and normal naman ‘yan sa lahat ng vaccines natin, nagkakaroon ng mga delays na hindi natin maiiwasan.”

[Translation: Normally, the problems we encounter are transportation and logistical challenges. It’s only four days delayed and that’s normal for all of our vaccines, we encounter and we can’t avoid delays.]

This would be the first shipment of the US-made vaccine brand in the country. From this batch, 100,000 doses will be given to the private sector, while 150,000 will be for the government.

Galvez added that one million more Moderna doses are expected to arrive in July, while two million will be shipped by September.

The Philippines in March signed a tripartite agreement with the American company for 20 million doses of its vaccine — with 13 million shots secured by the government while the remaining seven million were ordered by the private sector.

More vaccine supply deals are also being finalized, according to Galvez.

“I’d like to announce also na (that) more or less ‘yung (the) remaining supply agreements, ‘yung sa (for) Pfizer, also with J&J and even Novavax, we’ll be closing it siguro (maybe) within the week or next week,” he said… Read More