480K DOSES OF SPUTNIK ARRIVING APRIL 29

 

 

 

MANILA — The second tranche comprising 480,000 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine will arrive in the country on April 29, accoding to Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. of the National Task Force against COVID-19.

 

Galvez yesterday said the Sputnik V vaccines will be arriving along with another 500,000 doses of Sinovac jabs from China.

 

An initial batch of 15,000 vaccines from Russia’s Gamaleya Institute is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

 

The vaccine czar also said that the COVAX Facility may be able to deliver 195,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine by the end of the month.

 

Four local government units (LGUs) in the National Capital Region (NCR) are set to receive the initial 15,000 doses of Sputnik V, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

PHILIPPINES SEEKS TO LIFT MEDICAL CAPACITY AS COVID-19 CASES TOP ONE MILLION

 

 

 

MANILA — The Philippines announced on Monday that its COVID-19 cases had exceeded one million, as the country sought to boost healthcare capacity to ease strains on hospitals and medical staff stretched by a second wave of infections.

 

The Philippines imposed a two-week lockdown of Manila and surrounding provinces late last month to try to stem a surge in cases blamed on more contagious COVID-19 variants.

 

But while daily infections have eased slightly they have still averaged more than 9,000, against 5,525 in March and 213 per day in April 2020, health ministry data showed.

 

In the capital region, an urban sprawl of 16 cities home to at least 13 million people, intensive care unit (ICU) capacity is above 70%, while 57% of isolation beds and 64% of ward beds for COVID-19 patients were occupied as of April 26.

 

In a bid to admit more patients, tents were turned into COVID-19 emergency rooms at the National Kidney Transplant Institute, a government hospital in Manila.

 

“All in all we waited for almost six hours It’s a long difficult wait,” COVID-19 patient Roel Galan told Reuters, speaking outside a makeshift emergency room.

 

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said on Monday 289 additional ICU beds would be made available in the capital.

 

To free up beds for severe COVID-19 patients, the Philippine Red Cross said on Monday it has set up field hospital tents and converted unused classrooms and buildings into quarantine facilities to care for patients with moderate and mild symptoms.

 

Dr. John Wong, a member of the government’s coronavirus task force’s data analytics team, said authorities must ramp up vaccinations to contain the virus and allow the economy to reopen.

 

He said 350,000 people needed to be vaccinated a day so the government could meet its target of immunizing 70 million, or a third of the country’s population, this year.

 

Since the Philippines started its vaccination drive in March, 1.5 million people have received a first dose of vaccine, with close to 231,000 people getting two doses, officials said.

 

The Philippines recorded 70 new deaths from COVID-19 on Monday bringing total fatalities to 16,853.

 

 

 

 

 

EXTENDING MODIFIED ECQ IN METRO MANILA SOUGHT, AS HOSPITALS REMAIN FULL

 

 

 

MANILA — The modified strict lockdown in Metro Manila and nearby provinces should be extended, even as the trend of COVID-19 cases have started to decline, 2 local officials and an infectious disease expert said Tuesday.

 

The NCR Plus bubble, composed of the capital region, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal and Laguna, is under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until April 30 following a surge in virus cases.

 

Metro Manila mayors will reach a consensus on its quarantine status recommendation to national government "within the day," said Parañaque mayor Edwin Olivarez.

 

"Meron po kaming mixed reaction po dito. Sa akin pong palagay, siguro kailangan po natin i-maintain ang ating MECQ siguro isang linggo pa," Olivarez told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.

 

In a separate interview on Teleradyo, San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora said: "Sa ngayon di ko pa nakikita ang resulta ng aming votation. Ako ay mas pabor talaga na manatili ang MECQ. Bagamat nakakaranas tayo ng pagbaba ng bilang ng kaso, ito ay nasa lebel pa rin na mataas."

 

 

 

 

 

'BY JUNE, THINGS WILL BE BETTER': GOV'T ADVISER SAYS MORE COVID VACCINATIONS AHEAD

 

 

 

A presidential adviser believes things will improve in the second half of the year as more COVID-19 vaccines from different manufacturers arrive by the month of June.

 

Presidential adviser on entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said vaccine maker AstraZeneca has confirmed the arrival of 1.5 million doses of its vaccine by the first week of June.

 

He said he expects an order of 17 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to be completed by the end of 2021 to February 2022.

 

Another 100,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine will also arrive by the first week of June while a shipment of Novavax vaccines will arrive in August-September.

 

The government is also set to meet with Bharat Biotech for the purchase of its COVID-19 vaccines COVAXIN, which can arrive by June.

 

"Ang maganda dito - by June, things will be better because we will start vaccinating a lot of people," he told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.

 

Concepcion said vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. has also agreed to prioritize the private sector in the next round of AstraZeneca vaccinations. He said that of the 17 million AstraZeneca doses set to arrive, 11 million will go to local government units while 3 million will go to the national government.

 

The final 3 million doses will go to the private sector.

 

 

 

 

 

COMMUNITY PANTRIES RISK SHUTDOWN IF COVID-19 PROTOCOLS VIOLATED - DILG

 

 

 

MANILA - Community pantries risk being shut down if they violate COVID-19 health protocols that lead to a surge in infections, the Department of the Interior and Local Government said Tuesday.

 

DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said his department would be issuing an advisory and memo to local government units on how best to handle community pantries initiated by private sector and individuals.

 

He said community pantry organizers must coordinate with the LGUs to effectively implement health protocol, maintain peace and order, and ensure that distributed goods reach those really in need.

 

“Unang-una, magkakaroon dapat ng masusi at closer coordination ang ating organizer at saka LGU sapagkat unang-una dapat maimplement 'yung minimum health standard. Kung may mag violate d'yan, ito ay ground para pa stop natin 'yung community pantry kasi ito ang pwedeng maging sanhi ng surge at tinatawag nating breakout,” he said in an interview on TeleRadyo.

 

“Dapat makaabot 'yung tulong na ito sa tunay na mga beneficiaries, kasi ang gusto sana nating mangyari dadalhin natin 'yung community pantry doon sa lugar mismo,” he added.

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE LEADER WANTS CHR, NBI PROBE INTO RED-TAGGING OF COMMUNITY PANTRIES

 

 

 

MANILA — A House leader is asking the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe into the reported incidents of red-tagging of community pantries, which forced some of them to pause operations.

 

“There is a need to look into the red-tagging activities to put a stop to it if it results in good ideas like community pantries being forced to close down,” Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro) said in House Resolution No. 1725.

 

Rodriguez said a community pantry in his city closed down after being “red-tagged and systematically harassed,” while a Muslim restaurateur also in his city was supposedly profiled by police after she set up a community pantry outside her restaurant.

 

It is not clear, however, what an investigation by the CHR and the NBI would result in as there is currently no law penalizing red-tagging.

 

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon has filed a bill in the upper chamber which seeks to define and penalize the crime of red-tagging, but this is still pending at the committee level.

 

Aside from Rodriguez, other House leaders including have also ramped up the offensive against the red-tagging of community pantries.

 

Deputy Speaker Bienvenido Abante Jr. (Manila), for one, has filed a resolution seeking to realign P16 billion from President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-communist task force to fund cash aid for displaced workers and the poor.

 

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Michael Romero (1-PACMAN party-list), has called for an investigation into how the task force's spending.

 

It is only now that House leaders have pushed back against the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict's unsubstantiated red-tagging of civilians, which the leftist Makabayan bloc has been consistently sounding the alarm on.

 

 

 

 

 

COPYCAT? PNP TO 'PLANT' CIVILIANS IN COMMUNITY PANTRY-LIKE 'BARANGAYANIHAN'

 

 

 

MANILA — After reports of police profiling and intimidation of community pantry organizers over the past week, the Philippine National Police is now rolling out its own iteration of the initiative called "Barangayanihan."

 

To recall, community pantries, where the hungry can get or donate goods, so long as they "take what they need, and give what they can"—sprouted one after the other around the country during the past week.

 

Reports of harassment and intimidation from police personnel at some of the sites followed closely behind in what academics and progressive groups alike say was the response of a government that felt threatened with the fruit of its incompetent pandemic response suddenly front and center in the news cycle.

 

According to a project brief from the PNP Directorate for Police-Community Relations acquired by Philstar.com, police-community precincts have been instructed to "cite the Maginhawa community pantry as an inspiration" for their own "Barangayanihan Lugawan."

 

PCPs are outposts that are administratively under a police station.

 

In the directive, the planted beneficiaries are also expected to post on social media praising the security forces for the pantry initiatives.

 

The project is meant to "clearly manifest in respective PCPs that there's a clear partnership between the police and the community," the brief reads, adding "respective beneficiaries will take pictures of the activity and post in their respective [Facebook] accounts."

 

"These netizens can be planted beneficiary civilians so as to manifest community appreciations."

 

"For other efforts not involving serving breakfast lugaw, don't use #LugawIsEssential," the project brief also reads, in reference to a hashtag that went viral after an incident at a barangay checkpoint where a delivery rider was accosted for trying to deliver lugaw during a curfew. The hashtag was also used after an interior department official's comments on Vice President Leni Robredo, whom government supporters refer to as "Lugaw".

 

The PR effort was seen across police regional districts around the country, though given different names.

 

 

 

 

 

DE LIMA DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL AFTER THREE-DAY MEDICAL FURLOUGH

 

 

 

MANILA — Sen. Leila De Lima on Tuesday morning was discharged from the hospital after her three-day emergency medical furlough.

 

The senator left the Manila Doctors Hospital at around 9:00 a.m. and traveled back to the Philippine National Police’s headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

 

De Lima went on a three-day emergency medical furlough, which started on Saturday morning, to rule out a possible case of mild stroke.

 

 

 

 

 

THE REST

 

========

 

 

 

 

 

PHILIPPINES' COVID-19 INFECTIONS TOP 1 MILLION WITH 8,929 NEW CASES

 

 

 

MANILA — The Philippines' total COVID-19 cases breached the 1 million mark on Monday with 8,929 new infections, as the country struggles to cope with another virus surge that pushed hospitals in the capital region near the breaking point.

 

The country is the 26th in the world to reach the grim milestone, and the 2nd in Southeast Asia, the running tally from Johns Hopkins University showed.

 

The Philippines breached the 800,000 mark, the 900,000 mark and the 1 million mark all in the same month, according to the ABS-CBN Data Analytics Head Edson Guido.

 

The day's newly reported cases pushed the country's overall tally to 1,006,428, according to the Department of Health (DOH), with 74,623 remaining as active infections. The number of active cases is the lowest since March 21, according to Guido.

 

 

 

 

 

TWO MORE HOSPITALS RECEIVE SPECIAL PERMIT TO USE IVERMECTIN AS COVID-19 TREATMENT

 

 

 

MANILA — The country’s Food and Drug Administration granted two more hospitals compassionate special permits to use the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19, its chief said Tuesday.

 

To date, five hospitals have received the permit to use unregistered medical products for limited off-label use, FDA Director General Eric Domingo confirmed in a text message to Philstar.com.

 

The use of ivermectin is limited to the hospital to which the CSP is granted, which means the drug cannot be sold commercially.

 

“The concept [of CSP] is you have a patient who is suffering and you don’t have anything else to give the patient, and there is a drug that is available somewhere else and you ask for permission to use this investigational drug on this patient,” Domingo said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel Tuesday.

 

“On those grounds, we grant it because we do accept that it is an investigation drug for COVID-19,” he added.

 

 

 

 

 

MAKATI PROSECUTOR JUNKS RAPS VS 11 IN DACERA CASE

 

 

 

MANILA — The Makati prosecutor’s office has dismissed the criminal charges filed against 11 suspects in connection with the death of flight attendant Christine Dacera in January.

 

In an 11-page resolution issued by Makati Assistant City Prosecutor Joan Bolina-Santillan, the complaint for rape with homicide lodged against the respondents was dismissed for lack of probable cause.

 

Cleared of the charges were John Pascual dela Serna III, Rommel Galido, John Paul Halili, Gregorio Angelo Rafael de Guzman, Jezreel Rapinan (alias Clark Rapinan), Alain Chen (aliases Valentin Rosales and Val), Mark Anthony Rosales, Reymar Englis, Louie Delima, Jamyr Cunanan and Eduardo Pangilinan III.

 

“The issues raised in this office’s resolution dated Jan. 6, particularly the crime committed and the culpability of each respondent, even at this point, have not been established,” Santillan said.

 

Based on the Philippine National Police medico-legal report, Dacera died of a ruptured aortic aneurysm.

 

The family of Dacera believes that the 23-year-old flight attendant was drugged and sexually assaulted before she died, a charge denied by the respondents.

 

On Jan. 1, after a New Year’s Eve party with some friends and acquaintances, Dacera was found unconscious in the bathtub of a Makati hotel.

 

Closed-circuit television footage showed Dacera and her friends going back and forth between rooms 2009 and 2007 of the City Garden Grand Hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

COVID-19 FREE ERAP DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL

 

 

 

MANILA — Former president Joseph Estrada was discharged from the hospital yesterday after nearly a month of battling COVID-19, according to his son Jinggoy Estrada.

 

“Our family is overjoyed to announce that he will finally be discharged from the hospital today,” Jinggoy posted on Facebook.

 

Jinggoy expressed gratitude to Estrada’s doctors for their expertise and care.

 

“We would like to thank everyone who prayed with us and supported us through this harrowing experience,” the former senator said. “But most of all, we thank the Lord for his love and guidance.”

 

 

 

 

 

DIOCESE OF CUBAO OPENS COMMUNITY PANTRY

 

 

 

Residents line up to get free breakfast food items at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral pantry at the Diocese of Cubao in Quezon City Tuesday.

 

Churches have opened up pantries in their respective dioceses in support of the community pantries that have been set up to assist those who have lost their jobs and income due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

 

 

 

 

'SUPERMOON' VISIBLE TUESDAY, SAYS PAGASA

 

 

 

MANILA - A bigger and brighter moon will light up the sky on Tuesday morning, PAGASA said.

 

A "supermoon" appears when the moon orbits closest to Earth during its full phase, according the astronomical agency. It appears 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the usual full moon, it earlier said.

 

The moon is expected to reach its closest point with the Earth at 11:32 a.m. Tuesday, according to PAGASA's astronomical diary.

 

The term is astrological in origin and has no precise astronomical definition, it said.

 

"The real association of the Moon with both oceanic and crustal tides has led to claims that the supermoon phenomenon may be associated with an increased risk of events like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but no such link has been found," PAGASA said.

 

 

 

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

 

 

 

 

 

Rabiya Mateo's latest gown looks like the Philippine flag

 

 

 

A new glam shot of Rabiya Mateo has been released as the Miss Universe pageant nears, and it shows the beauty queen wearing a Filipiniana that looks like the Philippine flag.

 

Beauty camp Aces and Queens released the photo taken by Filbert Kung on its Instagram page on Monday, saying the gown was designed by Florida-based Filipino designer Kirsten Regalado.

 

"Lalaban para sa Pilipinas," the post read.

 

In previous Instagram posts, Regalado referred to the Filipiniana she made for Mateo as the Sunrise Gown.

 

Mateo is already in Florida to prepare for the 69th Miss Universe on May 16 (May 17 in Manila).

 

She is hoping to win the Philippines' fifth crown after Catriona Gray (2018), Pia Wurtzbach (2015), Margie Moran (1973), and Gloria Diaz (1969).

 

 

 

 

 

SPORTS

 

 

 

 

 

NBA SCORES APRIL 25

 

 

 

FINAL

 

           1          2          3          4          T

 

Celtics  32-29    23        29        36        16        104

 

Hornets  30-30  33        30        37        25        125

 

SCORING LEADERS

 

            J. Brown BOS

 

20 PTS, 8 REB, 2 AST

 

            D. Graham CHA

 

24 PTS, 2 REB, 9 AST

 

 

 

FINAL

 

           1          2          3          4          T

 

Suns  42-18      32        29        31        27        119

 

Nets  41-20       27        32        38        31        128

 

SCORING LEADERS

 

            D. Booker PHO

 

36 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST

 

            K. Irving BKN

 

34 PTS, 6 REB, 12 AST

 

 

 

FINAL

 

           1          2          3          4          T

 

Grizzlies  31-28 23        35        32        30        120

 

Trail Blazers  32-28       20        27        31        35        113

 

SCORING LEADERS

 

            J. Morant MEM

 

28 PTS, 8 REB, 3 AST

 

            C. McCollum POR

 

27 PTS, 2 REB, 3 AST

 

 

 

FINAL

 

           1          2          3          4          T

 

Cavaliers  21-39            32        28        33        17        110

 

Wizards  27-33  27        36        24        32        119

 

SCORING LEADERS

 

            D. Garland CLE

 

28 PTS, 4 REB, 9 AST

 

            B. Beal WAS

 

33 PTS, 6 REB, 3 AST

 

 

 

FINAL

 

           1          2          3          4          T

 

Bucks  37-23     29        22        27        26        104

 

Hawks  34-27    26        17        27        41        111

 

SCORING LEADERS

 

            G. Antetokounmpo MIL

 

31 PTS, 14 REB, 4 AST

 

            B. Bogdanovic ATL

 

32 PTS, 1 REB, 3 AST

 

 

 

FINAL

 

           1          2          3          4          T

 

Pacers  29-31   36        26        41        28        131

 

Magic  18-42     25        32        20        35        112

 

SCORING LEADERS

 

            M. Brogdon IND

 

24 PTS, 8 REB, 9 AST

 

            D. Bacon ORL

 

20 PTS, 5 REB, 1 AST

 

 

 

FINAL

 

           1          2          3          4          T

 

Kings  24-36     39        26        27        21        113

 

Warriors  31-30 32        31        31        23        117

 

SCORING LEADERS

 

            B. Hield SAC

 

25 PTS, 6 REB, 3 AST

 

            S. Curry GS

 

37 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST

 

 

 

 

 

INDICATORS

 

 

 

FOREX $1 = P 48.39

 

 

 

 

 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

 

 

 

Well, I tell you, if I have been wrong in my agnosticism, when I die I'll walk up to God in a manly way and say, Sir, I made an honest mistake. - H. L. Mencken