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(BusinessWorld) US PRESIDENT Joseph R. Biden wants to meet President Rodrigo R. Duterte, as a military pact on the deployment of troops between the two nations hangs in the balance.

The US President had written to the tough-talking leader, assuring him that strong ties between the two countries would continue, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel G. Romualdez said at a taped briefing.

Mr. Duterte had sought closer trade and investment ties with China away from its former colonizer as soon as he assumed the post in 2016. Mr. Duterte had also criticized the US for what he claimed was its ill treatment of its former colony.

The two countries, which will celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations next month, earlier concluded bilateral discussions.

His spokesman Herminio “Harry” L. Roque, Jr. earlier said the President had not decided whether to keep the visiting forces agreement (VFA) with the US.

Mr. Duterte in February last year said he would end the VFA after the US Embassy canceled the visa of his friend Senator Ronald M. de la Rosa, who led his deadly war on drugs as his former police chief.

Meanwhile, Mr. Romualdez said America’s donation of coronavirus vaccines had no strings attached.

Mr. Romualdez said Washington would announce this week the distribution of the first batch of vaccines that it will donate to the Philippines.

The Philippine envoy earlier said the US would donate its excess supply of the shots made by Moderna, Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc.

“It’s actually free,” Mr. Romualdez said. “It’s part of the help that they’re giving to allies like the Philippines and other countries.”

He said Mr. Biden was seeking to hold talks with Southeast Asian leaders in Brunei this November… Read More

(GMA News) At least three minors aged 10, 12, and 14 said they were sexually assaulted by a supposed cult leader in Quezon City.

Identified as a certain Romeo Delos Reyes, the suspect works as a janitor and a leader of a religious group. He also allegedly practices as a witch doctor.

The children said Delos Reyes assaulted them and touched them in sensitive areas to supposedly continue the healing that was done on them.

“Base dito sa isang nanay, ‘yung kanyang anak ay biktima ng panggagahasa kasama ‘yung dalawang bata. Biktima ng panggagahasa ng isang suspect na sinasabi nilang leader ng kulto,” Police Liutenant Colonel Elizabeth Jasmin said in a report on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend.”

(Based on one of the mothers, her daughter is a victim of rape, along with the two other children. Victims of rape of a suspect which they claim to be a cult leader.)

Jasmin said the children were said to have been hypnotized and would tolerate Delos Reyes’s touches as this was part of the supposed blessings.

Currently detained, Delos Reyes denied sexually assaulting the children but was reported to have admitted touching the chest of one of them.

“Kasi minsan may puyatan kami magdasal, so ‘dun na kami natutulog. May mga kasama kami so pano masasabing inaano sila kung meron akong mga kasama,” he said.

(Sometimes we have all-nighters praying, so we sleep there. We have companions so how could they accuse me when I have companions.)

“Ang totoo niyan ay ang batang ‘yan ang pumupunta sa akin kada umaga, madaling araw,” he said in the same report.

(The truth is that child comes to me every morning, early morning.)

Delos Reyes will face charges of rape in relation to child abuse, and illegal possession of ammunition after bullets were found in his home, which he also denied.

The religious group has since been disbanded by the Barangay Damayang Lagi… Read More

(PhilStar) MALOLOS, Philippines — Eleven suspects were killed in anti-drug operations in Bulacan and Nueva Ecija on Friday.

Col. Lawrence Cajipe, Bulacan police director, identified four of the seven killed in drug stings in the province as Ferdinand Urian, Percival Paguia, Jayson Hernandez and Mandy de Silva.

Cajipe said the slain suspects drew their guns when they sensed they sold shabu to undercover agents in Pulilan, Pandi Obando, Bustos and Balagtas towns.

He said a 9mm pistol, four caliber .38 revolvers, a .357-caliber revolver, a gun of unknown caliber, 127 sachets of shabu, two motorcycles, drug paraphernalia and marked money were recovered from the fatalities.

Col. Jaime Santos, Nueva Ecija police director, said Reyelito Ramos, Francis Liwanag, Jonathan Miranda and Ruben Galvez shot it out with anti-narcotics agents in Barangays Bantug Hacienda and La Torre in Talavera, Barrera in Cabanatuan City and San Antonio Este in Lupao.

Santos said three caliber. 38 revolvers, a caliber .45 pistol, sachets of shabu, two tricycles and a motorcycle were recovered from the fatalities.

P13.4 million marijuana destroyed
In Kalinga, police destroyed P13.4 million worth of marijuana in Tinglayan, also on Friday.

Philippine National Police chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said police raided a 6,900-square meter marijuana plantation in Barangay Loccong.

“We are warning those who engage in this prohibited trade that we will intensify our police operations to thwart your illegal activities,” Eleazar said.

Probers have yet to determine the cultivators and owners of the marijuana plantation… Read More

(Reuters) HANOI – Authorities in Vietnam have detected a new coronavirus variant that is a combination of the Indian and UK COVID-19 variants and spreads quickly by air, the health minister said on Saturday.

After successfully containing the virus for most of last year, Vietnam is grappling with a rise in infections since late April that accounts for more than half of the total 6,856 registered cases. So far, there have been 47 deaths.

“Vietnam has uncovered a new COVID-19 variant combining characteristics of the two existing variants first found in India and the UK,” Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said, describing it as a hybrid of the two known variants.

“That the new one is an Indian variant with mutations that originally belong to the UK variant is very dangerous,” he told a government meeting, a recording of which was obtained by Reuters.

The Southeast Asian country had previously detected seven virus variants: B.1.222, B.1.619, D614G, B.1.1.7 – known as the UK variant, B.1.351, A.23.1 and B.1.617.2 – the “Indian variant”.

Long said Vietnam would soon publish genome data of the newly identified variant, which he said was more transmissible than the previously known types.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified four variants of SARS-CoV-2 of global concern. These include variants that emerged first in India, Britain, South Africa and Brazil.

“At the present time, we have not yet made an assessment of the virus variant reported in Vietnam,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Technical Lead for COVID-19, said in an emailed statement. “Our country office is working with the Ministry of Health in Vietnam and we expect more information soon.”

From the WHO’s current understanding, the variant detected in Vietnam was the B.1.617.2 variant, more commonly known as the Indian variant, possibly with an additional mutation, she said.

“However we will provide more information as soon as we receive it,” Van Kerkhove added.

Long said laboratory cultures of the new variant showed the virus replicated itself very quickly, possibly explaining why so many new cases had appeared in different parts of the country in a short period of time.

The health ministry told the meeting the government was working to secure 10 million vaccine doses under the COVAX cost-sharing scheme, as well as a further 20 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine and 40 million of Russia’s Sputnik V.

The country of about 98 million people has so far received 2.9 million doses and aims to secure 150 million this year. .. Read More

(PepPh) Direct assault at driving without license ang mga kasong isinampa ng Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau laban sa modelong si Pauline Mae Altamirano.

Si Altamirano, 26, ay inaresto kahapon, May 27, dahil sa pananakit niya kay Marcos Anzures, ang traffic enforcer na sumita sa kanya habang nagmamaneho siya ng Fortuner vehicle sa Malate, Manila.

Kaagad nag-viral ang video kung saan makikita ang paglapastangan, pagmumura, at pananakit ni Altamirano kay Anzures na nagtamo ng mga sugat sa mukha.

Inaresto si Altamirano ng Manila Police District Special Mayor’s Reaction Team (MPD-SMaRT). Pero hindi natapos ang isyu sa pagsasampa ng mga kaso laban sa kanya dahil napag-alamang drug courier siya.

Live na napanood sa Facebook page ni Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno ngayong Biyernes ng hapon, May 28, ang pagharap nito sa tatlong most wanted suspects na may bitbit na illegal drugs at naaresto sa Maynila.

“Hindi naman kayo sasakotehin kung walang ebidensiya laban sa inyo. Ang titigas ng mukha niyo, sa Maynila niyo pa ginagawa. Hindi pa kayo nadala,” sabi ni Isko sa mga dinakip na suspects.

Mariing itinanggi ng isa sa mga suspek ang paratang laban sa kanya dahil driver lamang daw ito ng inarkilang van.

Pero hindi na siya nakapagsalita nang sabihin ni Mayor Isko: “Itinuro agad nga kayo [ng mga kasama mo], hindi pa nga pinipitpit ang mga bayag ninyo.

“Kaya pala malakas ang loob nung babae. Maraming pera kaya nanggugulpe ng enforcer.

“Isokpa niyo sa oblo ‘yan [ipasok niyo sa loob]. Ang lalakas ng loob niyo.

“Talagang sa Maynila niyo gagawin. Susunduin niyo yung drugs, ha?

“Bakit kayo umiiyak? Kapag nasa labas kayo, ang tatapang n’yo.”

Natuklasan ng MPD- SMaRT ang koneksiyon ni Altamirano sa mga dinakip na drug suspects dahil sa palitan ng mga text message sa cellphone.

Napag-alaman din ng MPD-SMaRT na inarkila lamang ni Altamirano mula sa isang residente ng Clark, Pampanga ang Fortuner na minamaneho niya nang sitahin siya kahapon.

Ayon kay MPD-SMaRT Chief Col. Risalino Ibay, may nakuha silang illegal drugs sa bag ni Altamirano na ihahatid sana nito sa kanyang kausap, pero nasita siya ng traffic enforcer dahil sa beating the red light violation… Read More

(GMA News) The number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases within the Philippine National Police (PNP) climbed to 23,571 on Friday after the agency reported 200 new infections.

According to the PNP, 184 more personnel have also recovered from the illness, bringing the total to 21,766, while the death toll rose to 65 with one more fatality.

Meanwhile, there are 1,740 active cases in the agency.

At present, the Philippines has reported 1,209,154 confirmed cases, of which 1,134,818 have recovered and 20,566 have died.. Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — The country logged 156 new COVID-19 deaths on Saturday, pushing the death toll to 20,722, according to the Department of Health.

This is the fourth time in a row this week that there were at least 150 daily fatalities recorded. The death toll is now 1.7% of the number of cases.

The DOH daily bulletin counted 1,216,582 cases in total after 7,443 more people got infected. Of this total, 4.4% or 53,614 are active or currently ill cases, with at least 93.1% experiencing mild symptoms, 2.3% without symptoms, 1.8% in severe condition, 1.4% in critical condition, and 1.28% in moderate condition.

The recovery number also jumped to 1,142,246 or 93.9% of the COVID-19 tally after 7,533 more people were cleared of the coronavirus.

Of the newly reported deaths, the DOH said 91 were previously tagged as recoveries. It also deleted 15 duplicate cases, including 14 survivors.

The DOH said the total excludes data from two laboratories that failed to submit their reports on time. These laboratories contributed about an average of 0.3% of samples tested and 0.7% of positive individuals in the past 14 days, the agency added.

The daily positivity rate or rate of individuals who tested positive was at 12.5% based on 46,442 tests done as of May 27. The rate continues to stay at the 11-13% range which has been recorded daily since May 5. The recommended percentage is below 5%, according to the World Health Organization, as high rates may mean high transmission and more undetected cases… Read More

(BusinessWorld) Budget carrier AirAsia expects domestic operations in the Philippines to be below 25% of pre-pandemic levels until at least September while the population awaits widespread vaccination against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The airline company posted an 87% revenue decline to RM298 million (P3.4 billion) in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, AirAsia Group Berhad said in a press release on Thursday.

Month-on-month operations in the Philippines has improved with a 57% increase in passengers in March, although this was lower than the 85% increase seen by AirAsia Malaysia.

AirAsia said that it is aiming to raise RM 1 billion (P11.57 billion) under a Danajamin financing scheme in Malaysia, and to raise new capital in both Indonesia and the Philippines.

The airline added that it expects COVID-19 vaccine rollout in most of the markets it operates in.

“This is expected to deliver a huge boost for air travel demand for our key ASEAN markets, on top of strong pent-up demand. We are also keenly exploring opportunities to gain market share, particularly in Indonesia and the Philippines,” the company said.

“Once borders are lifted, our robust business model provides confidence for a fast and strong recovery in our overall performance given our low-cost model and dominant positioning in ASEAN.”

Philippines AirAsia, Inc. recently said that it is eyeing travel incentives for fully vaccinated individuals to help stir up demand. .. Read More