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(GMA News) Two malls in the City of Manila on Wednesday received a Safety Seal from the city government for compliance with COVID-19 health protocols.

The issuance of the Safety Seal to Robinsons Place Manila and SM City Manila was attended by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, and Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, among others.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government and all local government units (LGUs) have been checking government and business establishments’ compliance with health protocols meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

According to the DILG, the Safety Seal is given to satisfactory establishments to indicate that it complied with health protocols.

In a Facebook post, Robinsons Place Manila said it is the first mall to receive the certification in the city.

“Robinsons Place Manila is the first shopping mall in the City of Manila to receive the safety seal certification,” the commercial establishment said.

“This certification is definitely a proof we prioritize your safety, well-being, and security as we contribute to rebuilding the economy and innovating the shopping experience in the City of Manila,” it added.

Meanwhile, SM City Manila vowed to maintain the safety of the shoppers by following the minimum health standards set by the government.

“The Safety Seal is a guarantee that the business is compliant with the requirements set by the government to ensure their health, safety, and security. Its ultimate purpose is to increase consumer confidence,” it said in a Facebook post.

“As a commitment to our shoppers we make sure that SM is a safe place where you and your family can shop, dine and enjoy,” it added… Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — The country’s COVID-19 death toll exceeded 21,000 after 46 more people lost their lives to the disease, the Department of Health reported on Tuesday.

The death toll rose to 21,012, which is 1.7% of total cases. Tuesday’s death count is the first time in a week that there were less than a hundred fatalities recorded in a day, but the DOH clarified that ten laboratories were not able to submit their reports on time.

The case tally stood at 1,235,467 with 5,177 new infections. Of this total, 53,203 are active or currently sick patients, making up 4.3% of the cases.

At least 93.1% of the active cases are experiencing mild symptoms, 2.3% without symptoms, 1.8% with severe symptoms, 1.4% in critical condition and 1.3% in moderate condition.

The recovery count is at 1,161,252 or 94% of the case tally after 6,230 more people were cleared of the coronavirus.

The agency added that the ten laboratories excluded from the total contributed an average of 4.3% of samples tested and 6.6% of positive individuals in the past 14 days.

Fifteen of the newly reported deaths were mistakenly tagged as survivors previously and added after validation. The DOH also deleted 11 duplicate cases, including eight survivors.

The daily positivity rate or percentage of patients that tested positive, slightly dropped to 11.7% based on 36,978 tests done as of May 30. The figure is still more than double the ideal rate of below 5% by the World Health Organization. Experts said high rates may mean high transmission.

Among Filipinos abroad, 11 morecases were detected as well as 16 additional recoveries and 14 fatalities, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. The total number of infected is now 19,765 with 4,499 cases verified by the DOH. There are 12,037 survivors in total and 1,194 deaths with 6,534 active patients.

The national government recently retained the general community quarantine or GCQ status in Metro Manila, Laguna, Rizal, Cavite and Bulacan – also known as NCR Plus – with leeway for travel to modified GCQ areas.

The Department of Health said that although NCR Plus saw a downward trend in infections, the rate of decline has been slowing which meant it was too soon to ease restrictions.

Meanwhile, 14 areas were placed under the stricter modified enhanced community quarantine, including areas in Visayas and Mindanao which the DOH had warned were logging sustained and gradual growth in cases… Read More

(PhilStar) MANILA, Philippines — As expected, investors were quick to take profits yesterday from the impressive four-day rally last week as thin trades and lack of positive catalysts failed to sustain the market’s gains.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index or PSEi ended 46.02 points or 0.69 percent lower to 6,628.49, while the broader All Shares index declined 24.65 points or 0.60 percent to close at 4,022.83.

Total value turnover fell to P5.4 billion as decliners edged out advancers, 103 to 85, while 57 issues were unchanged.

Net foreign buying, however, continued for the second day with P56 million.

“Philippine shares closed lower after several days of successive gains last week as the index consolidated in the 6,500 to 6,700 range. There were also a lack of leads, with the US being closed for Memorial Day tomorrow. Furthermore, investors are waiting for the maiden listing of consumer heavyweight Monde Nissin which lists (today) to kick start the month of June. Many are assessing the latest economic data sets coming out,” Luis Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital, said.

In a market commentary, AB Capital Securities said the index took a breather and trades remained quiet at just over P5 billion as investors await (today’s) biggest Philippine IPO on record.

Monde Nissin is set to debut following a P48.6-billion (roughly $1 billion) initial public offering that was four times oversubscribed as global investors gobbled up the deal.

“As it is right now, it’s realistic to expect that some profit taking will hound the PSEi this week, but as we also noted two weeks ago, the vaccination drive and economic recovery for the balance of 2021 may just be the narrative that will drive the market from hereon,” said COL Financial in an outlook report… Read More

(Reuters) A 41-year-old man in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu has been confirmed as the first human case of infection with the H10N3 strain of bird flu, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday.

The man, a resident of the city of Zhenjiang, was hospitalised on April 28 after developing a fever and other symptoms, the NHC said in a statement.

He was diagnosed as having the H10N3 avian influenza virus on May 28, it said, but did not give details on how the man had been infected with the virus.

The man was stable and ready to be discharged from hospital. Medical observation of his close contacts had not found any other cases.

H10N3 is a low pathogenic, or relatively less severe, strain of the virus in poultry and the risk of it spreading on a large scale was very low, the NHC added.

The strain is “not a very common virus,” said Filip Claes, regional laboratory coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases at the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

Only around 160 isolates of the virus were reported in the 40 years to 2018, mostly in wild birds or waterfowl in Asia and some limited parts of North America, and none had been detected in chickens so far, he added.

Analysing the genetic data of the virus will be necessary to determine whether it resembles older viruses or if it is a novel mix of different viruses, Claes said.

Many different strains of avian influenza are present in China and some sporadically infect people, usually those working with poultry. There have been no significant numbers of human infections with bird flu since the H7N9 strain killed around 300 people during 2016-2017.

No other cases of human infection with H10N3 have previously been reported globally, the NHC said… Read More

(GoodNewsPilipinas) The Jollibee Group is continuing to provide food assistance to communities and frontliners in need through the Jollibee Group Foundation’s FoodAID Program which has distributed over 6.4 million meals since March 2020.

The initiative is part of the homegrown Filipino global restaurant chain’s promotion of food access amid the hunger problem in the Philippines due to the COVID-19 pandemic as it notes that hunger remains prevalent among low-income families.

In response to the hunger situation, the Jollibee Group has mobilized more than PHP321 million worth of meals, hygiene kits, and other food items sent through the FoodAID Coin Bank, as well as donations from various partner organizations such as Temasek Foundation and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through DEG (German Investment Corporation).

Of the total resources mobilized by the Jollibee Group Foundation, PHP240 million-worth of food products was donated directly by the Jollibee Group through ready-to-eat meals from brands, specifically Jollibee, Chowking, Mang Inasal, Red Ribbon, Greenwich, Burger King, Panda Express, and PHO24. The Jollibee Group also developed and distributed ready-to-cook beef meatballs and sauteed chicken to ensure that families in need have enough food while coping through the pandemic.

“The Jollibee Group recognizes the crucial need to address hunger in the country and commits to effectively promote food access among communities and healthcare workers through our FoodAID Program. As we continue to grapple with the effects of the pandemic, we would like to thank the generous donors and partners for trusting us. Together, we can continue to help the people who need it the most,” said JGF Executive Director Gisela Tiongson.

“Where there is hunger, there is fear. But where there is a hot meal put together by the kindness of so many people, there is hope. The Art Relief Mobile Kitchens in Los Baños, Iligan, Davao, and Zamboanga have been beneficiaries of much-needed protein and other ingredients from the Jollibee Group. Salamat (thank you) for helping us sustain our work,” said Art Relief Mobile Kitchen founder Precious Leano. ARMK cooks hearty and healthy meals for low-income residents, frontliners, and victims of disasters… Read More

(CNNPhilippines) A Makati court has found former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV guilty of libel over statements he made against then Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay in 2015, where he accused the latter of bribery and corruption.

The Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 has fined Trillanes P₱100,000 and ordered to pay Binay ₱500,000 in moral damages.

Trillanes claimed in various interviews in April 2015 that the magistrates of the Court of Appeals were bribed to stop the first suspension order issued by the Office of the Ombudsman on Binay over alleged anomalies in the construction of Makati City Hall Building 2.

In one of his statements, he accused Binay of being part of a “family of syndicates.” The former senator filed a resolution then to investigate the alleged “justice for sale” scheme.

The local court ruled that Trillanes “should not have relied on his assumptions and should have refrained from making such grave allegations against the private complainant and his family, until after the proper verification was completed and the appropriate resolution was filed before the Senate.”

“Making and releasing the subject statements absent a serious verification and investigation is recklessness bordering on a disregard of what is true and false,” read the court decision.

The court also said that Trillanes cannot use the freedom of expression or speech as a defense, noting that: “The exercise of any right enshrined in the Bill of Right comes with an equal burden of responsible exercise of that right. The recognition of a right is not free license for the one claiming it to run roughshod over the rights of others.”

It added that the former senator cannot use the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee resolution recommending the filing of charges against the Binays for their supposed involvement in corruption as his vindication in the libel case, pointing out that it’s different from his allegation involving Court of Appeals justices.

For his part, Trillanes said he will do everything to overturn the court’s ruling.

“That is the price to pay for standing up against very powerful people,” he said in a statement. “Regardless, we will not let this legal setback discourage us in pursuing our advocacy to purge our government of corrupt and abusive public officials.”… Read More

(BusinessWorld) STOCKS fell on Monday as investors pocketed their gains following a four-day rally in the market last week.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined by 46.02 points or 0.68% to close at 6,628.49 on Monday, while the all shares index went down by 24.65 points or 0.6% to end at 4,022.83.

“Philippine shares closed lower after several days of successive gains last week as the index consolidated in the 6,500 to 6,700 range. There was also a lack of leads with the US being closed for Memorial Day…,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a Viber message.

“Investors are waiting for the maiden listing of consumer heavyweight Monde Nissin, which lists [Tuesday] to kick-start the month of June. Many are assessing the latest economic data sets coming out,” Mr. Limlingan added.

“Investors booked gains while waiting for the government’s decision with respect to the quarantine measures of the country after May 31,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Senior Research Analyst Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco said in a separate Viber message. “Trading was tepid.”

Value turnover dropped to P5.39 billion on Monday with 1.39 billion shares switching hands, from the P12.41 billion with 1.67 billion issues traded on Friday.

Malacañang was expected to announce new lockdown measures for June as prevailing restrictions were only set to be in effect until May 31.

Investors are hoping for a slight easing in the lockdown so the economy can reopen further, boosting recovery prospects.

The Health department on Monday reported 6,684 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s infection tally to 1.23 million.

Active cases were at 54,290, while deaths stood at 20,966.

Majority of sectoral indices declined on Monday except for financials, which inched up by 1.04 points or 0.07% to 1,418.67.

Meanwhile, property shed 48.30 points or 1.47% to end at 3,225.42; services went down by 17.21 points or 1.13% to finish at 1,493.63; industrials lost 52.05 points or 0.57% to 8,937.59; holding firms declined by 19.91 points or 0.29% to 6,708.50; and mining and oil inched down by 5.82 points or 0.06% to close at 9,410.82.

Decliners outnumbered advancers, 103 against 85, while 57 names closed unchanged.

Net foreign buying dropped to P56.14 million on Monday from the P917.26 million recorded on Friday.

Philstocks Financial Research Associate Claire T. Alviar said she expects the PSE index to trade between the 6,600 to 6,900 range on Tuesday.

“The market may rebound on support area once the government eased the quarantine measures in Greater Manila,” Ms. Alviar said in a Viber message.

“Laxer restriction is expected to spur optimism in the market and recovery hopes would rise,” she added… Read More

(GMA News) The Philippines has fully vaccinated more than 1.2 million individuals against COVID-19 as of May 30, nearly three months since the launch of its vaccination campaign, the Department of Health said Monday.

In its latest bulletin, the DOH said a total of 5,180,721 doses have been administered nationwide. The country’s seven-day moving average of daily vaccinated individuals also reached 144,402.

A total of 1,206,371 people have been fully vaccinated against the respiratory illness, 671,422 of whom are health workers, 245,244 are senior citizens, 286,670 are persons with comorbidities, and 3,035 are essential workers.

Meanwhile, a total of 3,974,350 individuals have received their first dose. These include over 1.4 million medical frontliners, 1.3 million senior citizens, 1.1 million persons with comorbidities, and 10,827 essential workers.

“The government is urging eligible populations belonging to priority groups A1 to A3 to register, get vaccinated and complete the required number of doses as scheduled,” the DOH said.

“The vaccinated population are also urged to continue practicing the minimum public health standards as you may still get infected with COVID-19 and infect other people,” it added.

The government started its COVID-19 vaccination program last March 1.

The Philippines has at least 8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine supply so far.

Vaccine brands delivered to the Philippines to date include Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Sputnik V.

The country has so far recorded 1,230,301 cases of COVID-19, including 1,155,045 recoveries and 20,966 fatalities… Read More