GDP GROWTH SEEN TO SLOW BELOW 1.1%

Worse than during global financial crisis in 2008

MANILA — Analysts are not discounting the possibility that the Philippine

Economy will be worse off this year than during the global financial crisis

in 2008.

In separate reports, bank economists said they expect the Philippines to

book a slower gross domestic product (GDP) growth due to the impact of the

novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

Union Bank chief economist Ruben Carlo Asuncion said the economic slowdown is

likely to be worse than the global financial crisis in 2008 that dragged the

country’s GDP growth to 4.2 percent in 2008 and 1.1 percent in 2009.

“we’re still finalizing our scenarios, at this time. This situation is so

fluid that current numbers become immediately not current the next day. I

cannot give you a point estimate now, but be reminded that back in 2009,

Philippine GDP settled at 1.1 percent. So, we may be seeing 2020 GDP lower

than this,” Asuncion told The STAR.

PALACE OFF-LIMITS; DUTERTE ,CABINET EXECS ON QUARANTINE

MANILA — After being exposed to officials who tested positive for

coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), President Duterte will have to spend

his 75th birthday today and the next two weeks isolated at the Palace

grounds in Manila, along with his official bodyguards who, under current

health protocols, are now considered persons under investigation (PUIs).

Long-time aide now Sen. Bong Go confirmed this, saying the Chief Executive

had been advised to go on self-quarantine by his doctor and the Presidential

Security Group (PSG).

Go said the President is used to celebrating his birthday modestly.

“He’s been advised by his doctor and the PSG to undergo self-quarantine for

his protection. Nevertheless, he will continue monitoring the situation

across the country and provide necessary instructions to government

officials,” Go said in a statement in Filipino.

“As the father of the nation, what’s in his mind is the good of the country

– not his birthday. In my opinion, the President will only celebrate when we

have fully conquered the COVID-19 situation,” he said.

“For now, he is focused on what needs to be done and I’m here to always

support President Duterte,” the senator said.

The PresidentÂ’s only birthday wish, Go added, is for Filipinos to stay home

and observe quarantine.

In a statement issued last night, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo

also said Duterte will continue to discharge his duties while on two-week

self-quarantine, possibly until April 11.

The PresidentÂ’s partner, children and grandchildren are in Davao City.

Panelo said the President is following the advice of his doctors “following

his exposure to some officials who themselves have been exposed to a

confirmed COVID-19 victim.”

“He will continue with his work while on quarantine. His only birthday wish

is for our countrymen to stay home and the total eradication of the

coronavirus,” Panelo said.

Duterte will be in constant communication with his officials in the fight

against COVID-19 via video-conferencing, his spokesman said.

'LIKE WARTIME': FILIPINO DOCTORS OVERWHELMED BY CORONAVIRUS DELUGE

MANILA - Private hospitals in Manila have stopped accepting coronavirus

patients in the face of surging numbers of sufferers and people seeking

tests, the hospitals said.

The Philippines has reported relatively fewer infections than many other

countries in Southeast Asia, but medical experts say a lack of testing has

meant that the scale of the epidemic has gone undetected.

"It's like wartime," said Eugenio Ramos, a doctor and head of The Medical

City, a Manila private hospital, which was among the first to turn away

coronavirus patients.

It has attended to more than 1,000 people who feared they had coronavirus

and is currently treating more than 100 suspected coronavirus patients, 14

in intensive care.

"More and more are coming, a lot of scared people, some of them already in

their advanced stage," Ramos said this week - adding that facilities were so

stretched that many who should be in the intensive care unit were just being

intubated with breathing tubes to keep them alive.

The scenes are akin to those in hospitals in countries that have been

overwhelmed by coronavirus cases, but comes less than three weeks since the

country of 107 million reported its first case of local transmission.

The Philippines has reported 803 cases and 54 deaths. Malaysia, with the

highest number of infections in Southeast Asia at 2,161, has had 26 deaths.

The situation in the Philippines is similar to that in Indonesia, the

region's most populous country, where there is an even higher ratio of

deaths to detected cases - an indicator for doctors that the number of

infections may be much higher.

Former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral said the reported infection rate

was probably just the tip of the iceberg, given the Philippines has so far

only tested 2,147 people.

"We cannot gauge the extent of the outbreak until we have tested about

10,000 to 20,000 people," Cabral told Reuters.

Testing in the Philippines is to be ramped up with the arrival of 100,000

test kits from China.

Modelling from the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford

suggests the number of infections in the Philippines may already be higher

than 11,000.

The Philippines took drastic measures to contain the spread after its first

domestic case on March 7, becoming the third country after China and Italy

to put its people under home quarantine, suspend transport, work and

commercial activity.

But the health system is weak.

The Philippines, which on average sends 19,000 trained nurses overseas each

year, has 10 beds and 14 doctors per 10,000 people, according to data from

the World Health Organization. Italy has more than 40 doctors and 30 beds

per 10,000 people.

An emergency ward worker who spoke to Reuters described patients waiting up

to six hours to be seen and inexperienced staff treating critical patients

due to manpower shortages.

Nine medical workers have died, and hundreds more have been quarantined for

being close to sufferers.

OFFICIALS DENY RUMORS OF TOTAL, EXTENDED LOCKDOWN AMID COVID-19 THREAT

MANILA — Officials on Friday denied that the government is imposing a total

lockdown nor an expanded nationwide lockdown next week.

The Presidential Security Group said circulating messages on a supposed

“total lockdown” from March 28 to April 15 is false.

“There is no such guidance coming from the PSG and no such approval coming

from the president himself,” the advisory read.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles also nixed rumors that there will be

military control starting next week, lockdown will be extended for another

60 days, and that public markets, including Divisoria, are closing.

“I want to clarify that these are all fake news. Let us not believe [these

posts],” he told DZMM in Filipino.

Nograles is the designated spokesman of the Inter-Agency Task Force on

Emerging Infectious Diseases Task Force.

At Friday’s “Laging Handa” briefing, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar

also said that posts claiming that the Malacañang will declare a nationwide

lockdown next week is “fake news.”

He asked the public to wait for official announcements. “If it is not coming

from the IATF itself, from the president, or the DOH, do not believe it,” he

also said.

DILG: QUARANTINE PASSES, MASKS NOT NEEDED FOR SHOPPING

MANILA — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has

clarified that “no mask, no quarantine pass, no entry” should not be imposed

on any market or establishment even with the Luzon-wide enhanced community

quarantine.

The DILG, one of the lead implementers of the lockdown, also thumbed down

the market curfew hours being imposed by some local government units that

restrict the public from buying their supplies to as little as four hours

per day.

DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing explained that quarantine passes and

masks should not be required at any market or grocery establishment as all

Filipinos have the right to freely buy their supplies, especially with the

COVID-19 crisis.

“I repeat the order that we have given to our regional offices to announce

to local governments not to implement the no mask, no entry or no quarantine

pass, no entry policy,” he said in Filipino over radio dzMM.

Densing also ordered local government units not to impose 4-hour window

hours for buying supplies, as he noted this will lead to residents crowding

establishments.

“Just maintain the 12 hours,” he added.

POPE FRANCIS HOLDS DRAMATIC SOLITARY SERVICE FOR RELIEF FROM CORONAVIRUS

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis said the coronavirus had put everyone "in the

same boat" as he held a dramatic, solitary prayer service in St. Peter's

Square on Friday, urging the world to see the crisis as a test of solidarity

and a reminder of basic values.

"Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities,"

he said, speaking from the steps of St. Peter's Basilica into an eerily

empty and rainy square before delivering an extraordinary "Urbi et Orbi" (to

the city and the world) blessing - something he normally does only twice a

year.

"It has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence

and a distressing void that stops everything as it passes by; we feel it in

the air...We find ourselves afraid and lost," he said.

The Vatican called the service "An Extraordinary Prayer in the Time of

Pandemic," a sombre echo of an announcement by Italian officials minutes

earlier that the coronavirus death toll in the country had surged past

9,000.

Francis walked alone in the rain to a white canopy on the steps of the

basilica and spoke sitting alone before a square where he normally draws

tens of thousands of people but is now closed because of the pandemic.

"We have realized that we are in the same boat, all of us fragile and

disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to

row together, each of us in need of comforting the other," he said.

Francis said the virus had exposed people's vulnerability "to those false

and superfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily

schedules".

He praised doctors, nurses, supermarket employees, cleaners, care givers,

transport workers, police, and volunteers, saying they, and not the world's

rich and famous, were "writing the decisive events of our time".

The leader of the world's 1.3 billion Roman Catholics said God was asking

everyone to "reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable

of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems

to be floundering."

He prayed before a wooden crucifix which is normally kept in a Rome church

and brought to the Vatican for the special service.

AFTER SHELTER CLOSURE, QC CAFE SHIFTS TO DISTRIBUTING RELIEF PACKS

MANILA - A cafe in Quezon City that served as temporary shelter for the

homeless amid the Luzon lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus

disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has shifted to distributing aid after it

was shut down over alleged quarantine violations, its management said

Saturday.

Officials in Barangay East Kamias ordered the closure of Popburri as a

homeless shelter due to violation of quarantine protocols, the cafe

announced on its Facebook page.

"For the record, we at Popburri learned along the way to enforce the

protocols required," the management said.

Popburri maintained it had applied precautionary measures when accepting

street dwellers and stranded workers, such as fever checks, other hygiene

practices and physical distancing.

On Friday, the cafe took in 72 people who have nowhere to go during the

government-ordered lockdown.

The cafe's shelter may have been ordered closed, but it wouldn't stop

providing services to the homeless.

Starting Saturday, Popburri said it would distribute grocery bags that were

donated by its customers and neighbors, among others.

"I hope this is only the beginning of the process to get them permanently

off the street and hope together we can create an alternative, long-lasting

solution to our issue of homelessness," it said.

DOJ CHIEF CHANGES TUNE ON KOKO

MANILA — The Department of Justice (DOJ) changed its tune yesterday on the

case of Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel, after it received flak from the

public on what appeared to be its soft treatment of the senator who breached

COVID-19 quarantine protocols.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the DOJ “will investigate and

resolve Sen. Koko PimentelÂ’s case in exactly the same way that the DOJ

handles all other cases brought before it.”

Pimentel was chastised on social media after he allegedly went to the Makati

Medical Center (MMC) to accompany his wife Kathryna, who was about to give

birth on Tuesday, without disclosing that he is a person under investigation

for COVID-19. While there, the senator said he received a call from the

Research Institute of Tropical Medical that relayed the information he was

positive for the virus.

Aside from Pimentel, Guevarra also drew the publicÂ’s ire when he said that

they will act only if a complaint will be filed against Pimentel and that

they will address the issue with “human compassion,” contrary to how law

enforcers impose warrantless arrests against ordinary violators and often

subject them to physical punishment like sitting under the hot sun or even

beatings.

The MMC decried Pimentel’s actions as “irresponsible and reckless,” with up

to 22 of the hospitalÂ’s personnel on home quarantine because of him.

MMDA GENERAL MANAGER POSITIVE FOR COVID-19

MANILA — Metropolitan Manila Development Authority general manager Jose

Arturo “Jojo” Garcia Jr. on Saturday confirmed that he has tested positive

for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

“I wish to inform everyone that I will have to work from home as I have been

found positive for COVID-19,” he said in a statement.

"My work puts me under a lot of risk, and this is part of it. I embrace this

challenge with full trust and faith in God that I will overcome the same

with your prayers.”

“As advised by our General Manager Jojo Garcia, I am one of those who need

to self-quarantine since I attended a meeting where another attendee later

tested positive for Covid-19. The GM himself was at the same meeting and is

also doing self-quarantine,” Pialogo said in a Monday statement.

“This is part of the protocol to stop the spread of the disease. I ask those

I have been personally in contact with, please do the same, as you may be at

risk. Please don't underestimate Covid-19 and make sure to carry out proper

hygiene and health measures.”

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

'A LEGEND HAS PASSED': FASHION DESIGNER ITO CURATA SUCCUMBS TO COVID-19

MANILA — Veteran fashion designer Ito Curata, 60, died after reportedly

contracting pneumonia due to complications from the novel coronavirus

disease 2019 (COVID-19), which he and partner Bob Miller were hospitalized

for, close friends confirmed on Thursday.

Fellow designer Joey Galon on Thursday confirmed the sad news and offered

prayers for one of his "greatest mentors."

“A LEGEND HAS PASSED...Our dearest Ito Curata has passed from COVID-19. I am

so heartbroken of this news,” Joey mourned.

“He has been one of my greatest mentors pushing me to keep going with my

fashion designs as he was one of the most brilliant fashion designers ever.

He’s been friends with my family for over 35 years.”

Ito had over three decades of experience under his belt, dressing

high-profile figures from former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the

likes of Hollywood actress Sharon Stone.

People Asia editor-in-chief and The STAR columnist Joanne Rae Ramirez also

offered her condolences.

“It is with heartbreak that I share the devastating news that our beloved

Ito Curata has passed on. But it is a consolation that he has passed on to a

better place, in God’s loving arms. Bob continues to fight on,” she posted

Thursday.

Ito is survived by son Taj and Bob, who is fighting for his life under

hospital care.

“[Bob] is currently in ICU as they were both admitted for COVID. Please keep

Bob and ItoÂ’s family in your prayers. My dearest and beloved Ito, soar high

now with angels,” Joey pleaded.

SPORTS

QUARANTINED PACQUIAO SAYS NEGATIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS AFTER RAPID TEST

MANILA - Sen. Manny Pacquiao on Saturday said he has tested negative for the

coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) following exposure to carriers of the

disease at the Senate.

The lawmaker said he used a rapid testing kit from a friend in South Korea.

He said he has been under quarantine since after attending the special

session of the Senate on March 23. He has been considered a "person under

monitoring" since, the lawmaker said.

"Huwag po kayong mag-alala. May natanggap po akong Rapid Testing Kits mula

sa aking mga kaibigan sa South Korea. Gamit ang rapid test kit na approved

sa Korea, ako po ay nag-negatibo. Hindi pa approved ng FDA (Food and Drug

Administration) dito pero 'yon po ang ginagamit sa Korea," Pacquiao said.

He said he had been urged to take a test at the Research Institute for

Tropical Medicine (RITM), where other lawmakers had themselves tested, but

he refused as he had no symptoms - compliant with protocol.

Pacquiao said he would undergo a swab test if he feels symptoms.

"Once I experience symptoms, I am willing to undergo the swab testing for

the sake of my family and my country, but I will go through the regular

procedure," Pacquiao said.

"Naniniwala po kasi ako na marami tayong Persons Under Investigation o PUI

na dapat unahin pagdating sa testing," said the senator.

Earlier, Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, Aquilino Pimentel III and Sonny Angara

tested positive for the virus. How they got infected remains unclear, but

the Senate earlier had to restrict access and undergo disinfection after a

resource person at a March 5 committee hearing turned out to be a

coronavirus patient.

Pacquiao was known to have been present at a recent party with Pimentel,

exposure that a Dasmariñas village cited in a March 27 letter urging the

boxer-turned-senator and his family to go on quarantine. He, however, went

isolation even days earlier.

Several other senators also underwent testing despite having no symptoms,

drawing public criticism as the country's supply of testing kits remains

limited. s

INDICATORS

FOREX $1 = P 51.00

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while

waiting for it. - Baltasar Gracian