SC LEAVES ANTI-TERRORISM ACT OF 2020 MOSTLY INTACT

MANILA — The Supreme Court has struck down parts of the feared Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 as unconstitutional, a partial victory for 37 groups of petitioners that sought the nullification of the entire law, which is seen to have long-lasting effects on civil liberties in the Philippines.

The SC in an en banc session on December 7 voted 12-3 to declare as null parts of Section 4 that defines terrorism, particularly the proviso qualifying "advocacy, protest, dissent, stoppage of work, industrial or mass action, and other similar exercises of civil and political rights" that cannot be considered terrorism.

The proviso reads  "...which are not intended to cause death or serious physical harm to a person, to endanger a person's life, or to create a serious risk to public safety" and the Supreme Court Public Information Office said that the court voted 12-3 to declare ir unconstitutional "for being overbroad and violative of freedom of expression."

The SC PIO said this was struck down and declared as unconstitutional “for being overbroad and violative of freedom of expression.”

Petitioners had wanted all of Section 4 struck down, but counsel Theodore Te said this still counts as an "important win as it strengthens the protections for civil liberties that the proviso in Section 4 carves out."

The court also voted 9-6 that allowing the Anti-Terrorism Council to adopt requests for designation by other jurisdictions or supranational jurisdictions is unconstitutional, the second method of designation under the law.

Under Section 25 of the ATA, the Anti-Terrorism Council, upon finding of probable cause, may designate individuals, groups, organizations and associations, whether domestic or foreign, as terrorists.

"The designation shall be without prejudice to the proscription of terrorist organizations, associations or groups of persons under Section 26 of this act," the provision further read.

One of the heavily assailed parts of Section 25, which petitioners wanted to be struck down in full, is the power given to the ATC under the section on designation of individual or groups, "upon finding of probable cause" is upheld.

During the oral arguments, justices raised that designation will have effect on the "reputation both of person and property of designate." Designation will result in the freezing of assets of the subjects.

The SC PIO also said in its advisory: "On the basis of the current petitions, all the other challenged petitions of R.A 11479 are not unconstitutional."

It also advised the parties and the public to "await the publication and read the decision and the separate opinions for the explanation of votes."

PALACE URGES TRAVELERS FROM SOUTH AFRICA TO REPORT TO AUTHORITIES, UNDERGO COVID-19 TESTING

MANILA — Malacañang on Wednesday urged the unlocated travelers from South Africa who arrived last month to report to authorities, noting that the giving of false information during a public health emergency is punishable by the law.

The government is still looking for seven travelers from South Africa who entered the country from November 15 to 29 as a precautionary measure against the Omicron variant. Some of the travelers provided incomplete or incorrect contact numbers while others were unresponsive, according to the health department.

Acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles noted that the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act enumerates penalties for anyone who gives false information during a public health emergency.

"First and foremost, I do not want to scare them. Whoever you are, please come immediately and report yourselves, submit yourselves for testing immediately and report yourselves immediately to authorities. We’re not scaring you; we want your cooperation," Nograles told CNN Philippines.

"I will leave it to our law enforcement agencies or our prosecutors to investigate. So it (imposition of punishment) will not be immediate. We will investigate first, we’ll have to ask them also. They’ll have to ask them questions," he added.

Nograles, also the spokesman of the government's pandemic task force, clarified that the filing of cases against those who provided inaccurate information is the "last resort."

DUTERTE OFFERS DOH CHIEF POST TO PRIEST-SCIENTIST

MANILA — President Duterte has offered the health secretary post to a priest and molecular biologist, saying Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has expressed a desire to take a rest.

Fr. Nicanor Austriaco Jr., an OCTA Research fellow and a University of Santo Tomas (UST) biological sciences professor, presented the preliminary findings about the Omicron variant during a meeting of the government’s pandemic task force last Monday.

After his presentation, Duterte thanked Austriaco and asked him if he is based in the Philippines.

Austriaco said he has a joint appointment and that he spends six months of the year in the US and the other six months in the Philippines. He added that he has two laboratories, one in the US and one at the UST.

The priest also informed Duterte that he and his students are working on a vaccine for the Philippines.

TRUSTWORTHY GOVERNMENT NEEDED TO BOOST ECONOMY – ROBREDO

MANILA — Vice President Leni Robredo stressed the importance of a trustworthy, empowering and agile government to strengthen the country’s economy heavily affected by the pandemic.

In a message during the Arangkada Forum organized by the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines on Tuesday, Robredo said the character of the government that will implement policies should be factored in when considering candidates for next year’s elections.

“It is not too difficult for anyone to come up with a laundry lists of steps. We should, however, consider first of all the character of the government that will be tasked to implement these steps,” she said.

The Vice President outlined three imperatives that she said are necessary to ensure that the government will be able to implement measures to boost the Philippine economy.

“First, government should be trustworthy. When rules are unevenly applied, when they are changed in the middle of the game to favor one interest over another, when government cannot be trusted to keep its word, then the economic environment becomes unpredictable,” she said.

The second imperative, according to Robredo, is that the government should empower the people that it serves.

Robredo said her third imperative, to have an agile government, will be achieved through modernization and by harnessing new technology.

Digitization, she said, should be treated as the front-end domino to unlock the economy.

SENATE SETS PROBE ON AGRICULTURAL SMUGGLING

MANILA — The Senate will convene the committee of the whole on Tuesday to start an inquiry into the large-scale smuggling of agricultural products into the country that senators warn has been inflicting severe damage to farmers’ and fishermen’s incomes and the economy.?

The convening of the committee, where all senators are members, was prompted by Senate President Vicente Sotto III’s privilege speech on Monday slamming the apparent inaction of government agencies, particularly the Bureau of Customs (BOC), in addressing the scourge.

Sotto told reporters that aside from BOC officials, also invited are executives from the Department of Justice as well as representatives from farmers’ groups and the trucking industry.

He said there is again a need for the chamber to exercise its oversight powers as large-scale agriculture smuggling continues with impunity despite the enactment of Republic Act 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 that categorized the crime as economic sabotage.

“As legislators, we strive to pass laws to modernize the agricultural sector in the hopes of uplifting the lives of our farmers… But all these efforts are futile if smuggling and corruption continue to reign, killing and destroying our local agriculture industry and robbing our farmers of a decent living,” Sotto said.

“This is a call for this august body to exercise its oversight function and look into these matters. It’s not only the pandemic that is the biggest problem, but also corruption. Some have said that ‘the biggest disease is corruption.’ This is the one that continues to bring hardship to us all,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.

PHILHEALTH SHOULD SEEK HELP FROM PRIVATE SECTOR: SOLON

MANILA – State insurer PhilHealth should consider tapping the private sector to improve the way it manages its funds, a lawmaker said Thursday.

“As we know, health insurance companies are doing quite well in the private sector. We don’t hear of these management problems, right?” Marikina Representative Stella Quimbo said.

“So clearly, there is expertise in the private sector and so this bill allows the PhilHealth to precisely outsource from the private sector certain segments of their operations, and in fact create a management transition team."

"Meaning, we can use the experts from the private sector to really set up the management operations of PhilHealth and sort of train the career executives, in other words have a transfer of skills and technology from the private sector to PhilHealth,” she said.

Quimbo’s comments came after the Commission on Audit bared that the state health insurer released P14.97 billion to hospitals last year under the Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) supposedly without legal basis.

NOBEL LAUREATE MARIA RESSA URGES JOURNALISTS TO DEFEND THEIR RIGHTS

GARDERMOEN, Norway - Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, this year's co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, on Wednesday urged fellow reporters to defend their rights in order not to lose them to "authoritarian-style leaders and budding dictators."

"It has become incredibly hard and far more dangerous for every one of us," Ressa told reporters awaiting her arrival at Oslo's airport ahead of Friday's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, where she will be honoured alongside Dmitry Muratov of Russia.

Ressa, the co-founder of the investigative news site Rappler, and Muratov, a co-founder of Russia's leading independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, were given the award in October for their efforts to "safeguard freedom of expression".

Criticizing "our authoritarian-style leaders and budding dictators" who "want us to voluntarily give up our rights", Ressa urged journalists to defend their rights.

"Now more than ever we need to protect our rights, otherwise we will lose them," she said.

"When facts are under threat, when you don't have integrity of facts, you cannot have integrity of elections. So it begins with us, we must keep getting the facts and serving the people," the former CNN correspondent said.

PACQUIAO RULES OUT BOXING RETURN

MANILA — Manny Pacquiao has stressed that he is done with boxing.

In an interview with Teleradyo on Wednesday, the Filipino icon and now presidential aspirant ruled out fighting again even if he loses in next year’s elections.

“Wala na po sa isipan ko 'yung pagka-comeback ng boxing. Natapos na po 'yung boxing career ko. (A boxing comeback is no longer on my mind. My boxing career is over.),” said Pacquiao.

Boxing’s only eight-division world champion announced his retirement about a month after losing to Yordenis Ugas in their fight in Las Vegas last August.

Pacquiao made the surprise announcement amid expectations that he has plans for one more fight — possibly a “farewell bout” — either this month or in January next year.

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COVID-19 CASES IN METRO MANILA DOWN TO 105 DAILY

MANILA — The number of new COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila has continued to decrease, with the OCTA Research Group projecting a good Christmas season.

Citing data from the Department of Health, OCTA said yesterday the National Capital Region recorded an average of 105 new cases of COVID-19 per day from Dec. 1 to 7, down from 123 cases in the preceding week.

The number of new COVID-19 cases translates to an average daily attack rate of 0.74 per 100,000 population, considered as “very low” based on OCTA’s metrics.

OCTA said other indicators such as reproduction number, healthcare utilization and positivity rates are also within the ideal standards.

Metro Manila has been classified as “very low risk” based on covidactnow.org metrics used by the independent research group.

LGUS DAPAT MAGDAGDAG NG ENCODERS PARA SA MAAYOS, MABILIS NA PAGKUHA NG VAXCERTPH

MAYNILA - Nanawagan ang Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) sa lahat ng lokal na pamahalaan na magtalaga pa ng maraming encoder para agad na mailagay ang impormasyon ng taong nagpabakuna.

Ayon kay DICT Undersecretary Manny Caintic kailangan ang impormasyon ng mga nagpabakuna para sa mas mabilis na pagkuha ng vaccine certificate.

“Patuloy po ang panawagan namin sa mga LGUs na in as much as naglalaan sila ng mga sapat na tao sa mga vaccination, and we are thankful for that, kailangan kasama sa vaccination team ang encoders sa dulo at kailangan ma encode agad on that day or even on the following day nang sa ganun yung mga nagrerequest ng mga vaccination certificate ay makukuha nila,” sabi ni Caintic.

Sa panayam sa TeleRadyo Huwebes ng umaga, sinabi ni Caintic na mahalaga rin na tama ang impormasyong mai-encode sa pangalan, kung may Jr., o Sr. ba ito.

2 MAKATI HOSPITALS NOW COVID-19-FREE

MANILA — The Makati Medical Center (MMC) and Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) have zero COVID-19 patients, the city government reported yesterday.

Mayor Abby Binay said the city-run OsMak has not recorded new COVID-19 cases since Nov. 24.

“Earlier this month, we had 54 patients with COVID-like symptoms at OsMak,” Binay said. “They all tested negative for the virus after undergoing RT-PCR tests. Therefore, we have zero COVID cases at OsMak.”

Binay said a 75-year-old man was the last person to be admitted at OsMak on Nov. 24. The patient died on Dec. 3.

The MMC management also confirmed that it has not accepted new COVID-19 patients in the past weeks.

ARMY UPROOTS, BURNS P7.6-M OF MARIJUANA IN LANAO DEL SUR

MARAWI CITY — Soldiers destroyed a hectare of marijuana plants near a New People's Army lair in Maguing, Lanao del Sur whose occupants they flushed out following an hour-long gunfight.

Police and barangay officials said Thursday the marijuana plants were jointly propagated by a group of NPAs and a certain Lumala, a disgruntled Moro guerilla.

Local officials and traditional leaders in Maguing said personnel of the Army’s 5th Infantry Battalion stumbled early this week on the marijuana plants in an upland area in the municipality while clearing the surroundings of an abandoned NPA hideout nearby.

Army officials estimated the value of the marijuana at P7.6 million.

NO MORE ACTIVE COVID-19 CASES IN PHILIPPINE JAILS

MANILA — As of December 8, there are no active COVID-19 cases in Bureau of Jail Management and Penology personnel and Persons Deprived of Liberty.

“We would like to announce that as of this minute, we no longer have a case of COVID in BJMP, both among our PDL and personnel,” the BJMP COVID-19 Management said in a statement, partly in Filipino.

“Even with a zero record on COVID-19 cases in our jails, we will continue to strictly implement our health protocols to ensure the health and wellness of PDL under our care,” it added.

The BJMP operates and oversees city and municipal jails across the country.

Jail Director Allan Iral, BJMP chief, however reminded bureau staff to continue being vigilant and to ensure that health and security protocols are enforced in offices and facilities.

FROST HITS BENGUET TOWN

BAGUIO CITY — Frost formed in Atok town in Benguet yesterday amid the cold weather.

At past 4 a.m. yesterday, the temperature in the town was recorded at 10 degrees Celsius compared to six degrees on Tuesday.

Local officials said there was no report of damage to vegetable farms as of yesterday.

Frost commonly appears as white crystals or frozen dewdrops and is known to damage crops or reduce yields.

Vegetable farmers in Atok and nearby areas have adapted to frosting and developed strategies to prevent crop damage.

Atok Mayor Raymundo Sarac gave assurance that only a few vegetable farms are affected by frost whenever it develops.

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

PHILIPPINES' TRACY MAUREEN PEREZ IN THE RUNNING TO WIN MISS WORLD 2021 VIA FAST TRACK CHALLENGES

MANILA — With just a week left to the final show, the Miss World 2021 has rolled out most of its fast track challenges, the most recent being the Top Model competition.

For this challenge, Miss World-Philippines 2021 Tracy Maureen Perez wore a stunning yellow "Ylang Ylang"-inspired evening gown that gained approval from the Puerto Rican audience.

Like the Top Model challenge, the Multimedia and Head-to-Head challenges allow a candidate to automatically land in the semifinal round should she win any of the fast track competitions.

Our very own candidate has a chance to win any of the challenges, particularly the Head-to-Head and Multimedia challenges. But she needs fan votes to achieve that end.

There are three ways to vote for Tracy:

First is through the Mobstar app. After installing it through the Apple IOS or Google Play store, create an account. Then search for @tracymaureenperez (look for the one with the red check mark), her official account handle for Miss World 2021. Voting in Mobstar is unlimited and free so like all her posted photos. 1 Like = 1 Vote!

Second, you may also vote for Tracy on the Miss World Facebook page. And lastly, you can also vote for her on the Miss World website.

Meanwhile, the Miss World 2021 candidates all came together to express themselves with art through hand painting face masks as a tribute to those severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While Tracy is deeply immersed in the pre-pageant activities, her co-winner in the 2021 Miss World-Philippines pageant, Tatyana Austria, will be flying to Egypt to compete in the forthcoming Miss Teen International search in Cairo on December 22. Reigning titleholder Roberta Tamondong, also from the Philippines, is already in Egypt in preparation for the coronation night. Tatiana is going for another win to achieve a back-to-back victory for the country.

Catch the live broadcast of the Miss World 2021 on December 17, 8 a.m. (Philippine time) or its replay at 10 p.m. on CNN Philippines.

SPORTS

NBA SCORES DEC 7

FINAL

1          2          3          4          T

Nets17-7           21        29        25        27        102

Mavericks11-12 27        35        24        13        99

AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER, DALLAS, TX

SCORING LEADERS

K. Durant BKN

24 PTS 7 REB 3 AST

L. Doncic DAL

28 PTS 6 REB 9 AST

FINAL

1          2          3          4          T

Knicks12-12      28        34        33        26        121

Spurs8-15         28        28        25        28        109

AT&T CENTER, SAN ANTONIO, TX

SCORING LEADERS

R. Barrett NY

32 PTS 5 REB 2 AST

D. White SA

26 PTS 6 REB 7 AST

FINAL

1          2          3          4          T

Celtics13-12      33        22        20        27        102

Lakers13-12      31        29        31        26        117

STAPLES CENTER, LOS ANGELES, CA

SCORING LEADERS

J. Tatum BOS

34 PTS 8 REB 3 AST

L. James LAL

30 PTS 4 REB 5 AST

INDICATORS

FOREX $1 = P 50.37

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence. - Robert Frost