DUTERTE: WE CANNOT AFFORD ANOTHER WAVE OF CORONAVIRUS INFECTIONS

MANILA - The Philippines cannot afford another wave of coronavirus

infections, President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday as he prepared the public

for the looming easing of restrictions.

Duterte, in a taped public address aired Tuesday, urged the public to wear

face masks and practice physical distancing as part of the new norm.

"The easing up of the restrictions, hindi iyan sabihin na wala na ang COVID,

just because we allow certain people [outside]," he said.

"We cannot afford a second or third wave na mangyari. Ito 'yung mabagong

mahawa na naman at dadami na naman dahil nga sa meron tayong rules na hindi

sinunod," he added.

In the middle of his speech, the President wore a face mask before warning

the public not to leave their homes without wearing one.

"Do not go out of your homes without a mask. That is a must. [You] must

comply," he said.

The government has made it mandatory for people to wear face masks or any

protective gear in public places.

Duterte added that COVID-19 is "very lethal" as he warned the public against

risking their lives with getting infected.

"COVID is very lethal, huwag ka talaga magsugal diyan sa COVID," he said.

As of Monday, the Philippines has tallied 11,086 infections since its first

case was reported on Jan. 30. This includes 726 deaths and 1,999 recoveries.

US SKIPPED IN DUTERTE'S 'THANK YOU' LIST DESPITE P768-MILLION AID

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte, through spokesperson Harry Roque,

expressed gratitude to several governments and groups that have provided

assistance to the Philippines in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The president, however, missed the United States, which has so far donated

more than P768 million ($15.2 million) to the country.

In a recorded video message, Roque thanked the governments of Australia,

France, Japan, United Arab Emirates, European Union, as well as the UN

humanitarian country team, UNICEF Philippines and UN Human Settlements

Program.

Roque also mentioned the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, Philippine Red

Cross, Philippine Stock Exchange, Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and

AirAsia.

Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National

Police who donated their salary were mentioned.

The Permanent Mission of China to ASEAN was also included in the list, along

with the municipal governments of several Chinese areas. Even Chinese

video-sharing app Tiktok made it to the list.

Just last week, the US Embassy announced an additional P298 million ($5.9

million) to help support the Philippines in its response to COVID-19, which

has infected more than 4 million individuals across the globe.

DUTERTE DANGLES P2 MILLION REWARD FOR KILLING, CAPTURE OF COMMUNIST LEADERS

MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte offered Tuesday a P2 million bounty to

anyone who would kill or capture a "top commander" of communist rebels.

The President said informants would be treated as witnesses and would

receive government protection.

"Ako ‘pag nakapatay kayo ng commander o nakapagturo kayo saan natutulog

‘yung commander o nakitulog --- makitulog ‘yan sila o nakitulog --- sabihin

lang ninyo sa akin at ano… P2 million ako basta ‘yung top commander," he

said.

Duterte also promised to give killers of communist leaders land and a "new

identity" to protect them.

"Totohanan kung sino ‘yung makaturo tapos doon sa army o pulis, o so ‘pag

ikaw ang nagturo at nahuli ‘yung commander na mabigat, may hati ka diyan sa

pera pero alisin kita sa lugar mo," he said.

"Bigyan kita lupa, doon ka na lang mag-ano kasi kung hindi papatayin ka

talaga eh," he added.

The government and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) initially

declared unilateral ceasefires due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The ceasefires however ended last month after both sides accused each other

of violating the truce.

LAWMAKERS URGE CAYETANO: CONVENE HOUSE PANEL, TACKLE ABS-CBN BILLS

MANILA — Lawmakers pushing for the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise asked

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to convene the Legislative Franchise

Committee to “tackle with dispatch” pending bills of the network’s

franchise.

A week since ABS-CBN shut its free channel and radio operations, 14

lawmakers wrote to Cayetano on Tuesday and urged the House leader to

immediately convene the House panel on legislative franchise to discuss the

networkÂ’s franchise.

The lawmakers said they also share Cayetano’s frustrations and take “strong

exceptions to NTC’s trickery and the [OSG’s] interventionist action,” but

pointed out that the blame is now pinned on Congress and the House panel

over the media giantÂ’s shutdown.

“That the citizenry also lost one of their man sources of credible and

efficient news and information in this time of crisis brought by the

COVID-19 pandemic was also largely blamed on our chamber,” the lawmakers

said.

They stressed: The “House now has the primary duty and responsibility to put

an end to the uncertainties and confusion brought by the pendency of the

application of renewal of the ABS-CBN’s franchise.”

“It is in this spirit that we write and appeal to you good office, Mr.

Speaker, to facilitate the immediate convening of the Committee on

Legislative Franchise so that it can tackle with dispatch the pending

renewal bills for consideration,” the lawmakers added.

The House panel on legislative franchise on Monday issued a show cause order

against NTC officials and ordered them to explain why they should not be

cited in contempt over their non-issuance of a provisional authority to

ABS-CBN despite telling the Congress they would do so back in March.

PHILIPPINES TO HIRE CONTACT-TRACERS 'EN MASSE,' RESTART 'BUILD BUILD BUILD'

MANILA -- The Philippines will "restart and accelerate" its P8 trillion

infrastructure program, hire contact-tracers "en masse" and push food

production as part of efforts to reboot the economy from the COVID-19

pandemic, the head of President Rodrigo Duterte's economic team said

Tuesday.

Some 1.2 million to 1.5 million jobs were "temporarily lost" due to the

pandemic, said Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez. "We need to do many

things to revive the economy," he said.

"After we are confident that we are in control of the death rate and

infections, we should restart and accelerate Build Build Build subject to

minimum health standards," he said.

"Our real problem is that the people are not buying things because their

incomes have gone down. We must provide them the means of buying tings," he

said.

"If they're not buying things it's useless to stimulate the companies," he

said.

Contact tracers will be hired "en masse to boost efforts to stop

transmissions and defeat" the pandemic, he said.

Dominguez pushed for the passage of the second tranche of tax reforms aimed

at corporate duties. It will now include "flexible tax and non-tax

incentives," he said.

Consumer demand should be stimulated, targeting foods, which consumers will

buy, "regardless of income and price," he said.

"We must push food production and food logistics," he said.

The government is working with lawmakers on recovery legislation that will

include shielding micro and small and medium enterprises from the fallout,

he said.

HUMAN SETTLEMENT'S DEPT COMMITS P261 MILLION FOR CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE

MANILA- The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development said

Tuesday it was committing P261 million for the government's COVID-19

pandemic response.

The amount is equivalent to 40 percent of the department's budget, and will

be returned to state coffers to finance efforts to contain the pandemic,

Human Settlements Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario said.

The Department of Budget and Management earlier asked all government offices

to account for "uncommitted" funds that can be used for the government's

coronavirus response.

Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, President Rodrigo Duterte can

realign items under the 2020 national budget, particularly government

savings.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque on Monday said the budget department was

expected to submit this week a report on funds that the government could tap

to address the coronavirus crisis.

TEMPORARY FRANCHISE THE REMEDY FOR ABS-CBN BROADCAST WOES: EX-DICT CHIEF

MANILA - The "short and swift" remedy for ABS-CBN to continue its broadcast

operation is Congress' granting of a provisional franchise, a former member

of the Duterte Cabinet said Tuesday.

At least 13 senators and 1 congressman have filed measures that would give

the network a temporary franchise while Congress is tackling ABS-CBN's bid

for a fresh 25-year license to operate.

This should be in form of a law, according to lawyer Rodolfo Salalima,

former secretary of the Department of Information and Communications

Technology (DICT), the parent agency of the National Telecommunications

Commission (NTC).

"The remedy is short, swift and adequate. Congress, with absolute plenary

power to hear and grant franchise, must immediately grant a provisional

franchise in the interim if Congress is of the mind that it must conduct a

meticulous hearing on the merit before it can grant the regular franchise,"

Salalima told ANC.

Salalima earlier said the NTC's cease and desist order against the network

was void as it did not give ABS-CBN a chance to explain its side.

"The NTC itself...may batas sila which says before a cease and desist order

can be issued, there must first be a show-cause order detailing therein the

particulars of the charges against ABS-CBN," he said.

"Under our bill of rights, no person can be deprived of life, liberty,

property without due process of law."

ABS-CBN has since asked the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining

order against the CDO. The high court is set to tackle the petition on May

19.

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PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS ENDS WITH NO CONCLUSION

In a much-awaited address supposed to be on whether to extend the lockdown,

the Palace concluded the 48-minute event without saying anything about the

quarantine's fate. Most of the recorded address showed President Duterte

tackling other matters, most notably the military's campaign against the New

People's Army.

The decision on the community quarantine was supposedly made last night,

with the president's recorded address meant to make it public.

His spokesperson, Harry Roque, only ended up thanking the private sector for

their help during the health crisis.

NBI ARRESTS SOCIAL MEDIA USER OFFERING P50-MILLION FOR DUTERTE'S KILLING

MANILA — The National Bureau of Investigation arrested a teacher over his

post offering reward for killing President Rodrigo Duterte.

NBI Deputy Director Ferdinand Lavin, also bureau spokesperson, confirmed to

reporters that its agents arrested a teacher who posted on Twitter that he

is offering a P50-million reward to anyone who can kill the president.

NBIÂ’s Dagupan office arrested the teacher.

Lavin also said that the arrested social media user is now up for inquest.

The NBI said early April that they sent out dozens of “invitations” to

individuals under its fact-finding probe into social media posts bearing

false news.

The Bayanihan to Heal as One act prohibits the spread of false information

regarding the COVID-19 crisis on social media.

At least one of NBI’s “invitations” cited a violation of the decades-old

Article 154 of the Revised Penal Code on the “unlawful use of means of

publication and unlawful utterances.”

NBI summoned a Facebook user that lamented “misused” taxpayers' money. He

pointed out that the Philippines had money to buy a private jet for the use

of top officials, money that he said could have been spent for healthcare

instead.

The bureau has yet to respond to Philstar.comÂ’s repeated requests for data

on fact-finding investigation and complaints filed over fake news posts

since the declaration of a public health emergency.

ZAMBOANGA JAIL POSTS 14 MORE COVID CASES

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Fourteen more persons tested positive for coronavirus

disease 2019 or COVID-19 at the Zamboanga City Reformatory Center (CRC) on

Sunday.

The new infections brought to 63 the total number of cases in the facility

alone, and to 74 in the city, according to the local inter-agency task force

on COVID-19.

The cases included six personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and

Penology and eight persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), according to Dulce

Amor Miravite, chief of the city health office.

The patients were taken to an isolation area of the facility.

The test results for the new cases were released by a newly established gene

expert laboratory located at the Zamboanga City Medical Center.

The laboratory was established with the help of the national Inter-Agency

Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases, to strengthen the testing

capability for suspected COVID cases in the countryside.

The local task force allayed fears of the residents due to the rising cases

at the CRC.

For three weeks now, no new local community transmissions have been recorded

in the city, according to health authorities.

As this developed, at least 60 former PDLs, who were released on orders of

the courts, will undergo quarantine for 14 days in a local hotel before they

will be sent home.

CAVITE UNDER RELAXED QUARANTINE FROM MAY 16: GOVERNOR

MANILA - Cavite province, home to some 3.7 million people, will ease its

lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic from May 16, Governor Jonvic

Remulla said Tuesday.

Cavite and the entire Luzon have been under enhanced community quarantine or

ECQ since March 17. The province south of the capital will be implement a

less stringent general community quarantine or GCQ starting Saturday,

Remulla said, quoting information from Malacañang.

Under general quarantine, Cavite will gradually reboot its economy by

reopening the following, he said.

- "limited" stores at malls with warmer air-conditioning

- take-out services at restaurants

- construction

- factories

Liquor will remain prohibited, an 8 pm to 5 am curfew will still be in place

exempting those with work permits, and residents will be required to wear

face masks outside their homes, Remulla said on Facebook.

Apart from workers, residents who have no quarantine pass should remain in

their homes, he added.

Remulla told his constituents to wait for the national government's

guidelines on public transportation and motorcycle backrides.

President Rodrigo Duterte deferred earlier Tuesday an expected announcement

on which areas would relax their lockdowns.

Laguna and Metro Manila would still be under ECQ, Remulla said without

identifying the source of the information.

The governor said he would talk to authorities about guidelines on the

movement of goods and people to and from these areas and Cavite.

Cavite is the most populous province in Calabarzon region, according to 2015

data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

500 INDIBIDWAL NAGSAULI NG NAKUHANG CASH AID SA GENSAN PARA SA MGA MAS

NANGANGAILANGAN

Aabot sa 500 indibidwal sa General Santos City ang nagsauli ng nakuha nilang

cash aid mula sa social amelioration program ng gobyerno ngayong may banta

ng coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Batay ito sa tala ng City Social Welfare Office ng lungsod, na umanoÂ’y

dinagsa ng mga nagbabalik ng kanilang cash aid.

Isa rito ang residenteng si Gilda Imbong. Aniya, may anak siyang overseas

Filipino worker at nakakatanggap ng pensiyon ang kaniyang mister kaya

minabuti niyang isauli para sa mga mas nangangailangan ang salapi.

Kasama rin sa mga pumunta si Romeo Buscas, na nagsabing nakatanggap ng ayuda

mula sa Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program ng pamilya.

Ayon sa CSWD, hindi pa matiyak kung maibabalik ang pera sa tamang

benepisyaryo dahil natapos na ang pamimigay ng SAP sa lungsod.

Pero anila, nagpapasalamat sila sa mga naging tapat at nagsauli ng ayuda sa

gitna ng krisis.

Kasalukuyang nasa general community quarantine ang General Santos City

hanggang Mayo 15.

'AMBO' TO HIT BICOL, CROSS METRO MANILA

MANILA - Tropical depression Ambo is expected to strengthen before slamming

into Bicol Region and crossing Metro Manila later this week, the state

weather bureau said Tuesday.

The Philippines' first storm in 2020 was 340 kilometers east of Surigao

City, packing maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour and 70 kph

gusts, PAGASA weather forecaster Ariel Rojas said at 6 a.m.

Moving north northwest at 15 kilometers per hour, Ambo will strengthen into

a tropical storm later Tuesday and intensify into a severe tropical storm

before making landfall in Albay or Sorsogon province on Thursday afternoon,

he told DZMM.

Ambo will pass north of Metro Manila on Friday or Saturday and head towards

the West Philippine Sea, he said.

The storm's trough or extension on Tuesday will start bringing cloudy skies

and thunderstorms that may spawn floods and landslides in Mindanao, said

Rojas.

Luzon and Visayas will experience hot and humid weather that thunderstorms

might mar in the afternoon or evening, he said.

Metro Manila on Monday logged a temperature of 36 degrees Celsius and a 41

°C heat index, which measures human discomfort based on the actual

temperature felt by the body, said Rojas.

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

MGA ARTISTA NG ABS-CBN, KUMASA NA SA #LABANKAPAMILYA

MAYNILA — Ipinakita ng mga bituin mula sa iba’t ibang programa ng ABS-CBN

ang kanilang suporta sa kanilang mother network.

Sa Instagram, gamit ang #LabanKapamilya, ibinahagi ng mga artista ang

kani-kanilang mga larawan kung saan kita ang pagpatong ng kanilang kanang

kamao sa tapat ng kanilang puso.

Ang #LabanKapamilya ay pagpapakita ng suporta para maibalik ang ABS-CBN sa

ere matapos ipatigil ng National Telecommunications Commission ang

pagbo-brodkast nito noong Mayo 5.

Sa pangunguna ni Coco Martin, naglabas ang Dreamscape ng mga larawan ng mga

bituin ng FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano.”

Nakisali rin ang “Love Thy Woman, ”Asintado,” “Magandang Buhay” at “ASAP

Natin ‘To.”

Narito ang mga larawan ng mga bituin mula sa mga paborito niyong programa sa

ABS-CBN.

SPORTS

FOOTBALL: PREMIER LEAGUE GETS GREEN LIGHT FOR JUNE RESTART

LONDON -- Premier League clubs received a boost to their hopes of completing

the season on Monday as the government published a "roadmap" that could see

the return of elite sport in England from June 1.

As the 20 English top-flight clubs met for further talks on "Project

Restart", ministers announced plans to ease the coronavirus lockdown.

Under step two of that process, which cannot begin any earlier than June 1,

sporting events would be allowed "to take place behind closed doors for

broadcast, while avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he believed the return of sport on TV

would "provide a much-needed boost to national morale."

Supporters face a long wait to be allowed to attend matches, though, with

the latest guidelines recognising a return to sport in front of a crowd "may

only be fully possible significantly later depending on the reduction in

numbers of infections".

INDICATORS

FOREX $1 = P 50.30

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would

like it to be. - Saul Alinsky