SENATE RESUMES PROBE ON DISINFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE THIS WEEK

MANILA — The Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of laws will resume this week its inquiry into the effects of the rise of social media platforms and rapid advances in their technology.

The inquiry was prompted by Senate Resolution 953 filed last year by Sen. Francis Pangilinan and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, who both cited the need to amend the country’s criminal laws to address what he described as the rampant online disinformation.

The resolution stated the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 was passed when social media platforms and other applications “were still smaller than the giants they are today.”

Aside from SR 953, 12 senators also earlier filed SR 768 seeking an inquiry into reports that public funds were being spent on troll farms that spread disinformation, misinformation and fake news in social media sites.

Pangilinan, who chairs the committee, earlier warned that “disinformation, misinformation, hate speech, and mass deception via digital platforms are the COVID-19 variants of the digital world.”

“Disinformation, misinformation, hate speech, and mass deception through coordinated mass distribution of fake news are digital wildfires, which destroy trust and confidence in our democracy and democratic institutions such as the independent and free press,” he said at the first hearing in December.

“Professionals engaged in delivering news, content, and information through a free and independent press must not be targets of disinformation and hate speech. We need them to do their jobs conscientiously to enable our democracy to function optimally,” he said.

Maria Ressa, the first Filipino to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, will attend the hearing scheduled on Wednesday where she is expected to discuss the disinformation infrastructure.

ROBREDO URGES GOV'T: GIVE INCENTIVES TO BEEF UP COVID-19 VACCINATION

MANILA — Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday urged the national government to use incentives to encourage the unvaccinated to get COVID-19 jabs instead of threatening to arrest them.

"Kailangan nagbibigay tayo ng mga incentive para magpabakuna," Robredo said in her weekly radio program.

Robredo made the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered barangay officials to "restrain" and "arrest" unvaccinated individuals who refuse "to stay put."

Officials in Metro Manila and Calabarzon have disallowed the unvaccinated from leaving their homes except when buying essential goods.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government has clarified that arresting the unvaccinated would only be used as a last resort.

Robredo said the use of incentives has been successful in her office's vaccination efforts, recounting how they were able to convince skeptic Aetas in Tarlac to get inoculated against the respiratory illness.

"Kailangan lang pinag-iisipan, hindi 'yong punitive kaagad," said Robredo, who is eyeing the presidency in this year's elections.

GOVT READY TO ESCALATE METRO MANILA TO ALERT LEVEL 4 IF HOSPITALIZATION RISES: PALACE

MANILA - Government is ready to escalate Metro Manila to Alert Level 4 if it reaches the healthcare utilization threshold of more than 70 percent, Malacañang said Monday.

The capital region remains under Alert Level 3 as it has high average daily attack rate, high 2-week growth rate, and moderate hospitalization rate, according to acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles.

"We will not hesitate to do Alert Level 4 if we see that it breaches the threshold. We continue to manage the situation so we do not reach the threshold so that means making sure our healthcare is well enough to accommodate those who need hospitalization," he told ANC's Headstart.

"'Yung total bed utilization, that’s not hitting the metric yet. Tayo sa (Here in) NCR we’re what--well not 100 percent fully vaccinated--that’s where the importance of fully vaccinated comes into being."

Hospitals and temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs) nationwide must increase their bed capacities in preparation for this, Nograles said.

Local government units must also activate their triage system to prioritize those vulnerable such as the elderly and persons with comorbidities for hospitalization, Nograles added.

"We must increase also the utilization of telemedicine and telehealth so panawagan sa lahat ng (we call on all) LGUs to increase their telemedicine and telehealth," he said. "Let's conduct active case finding down to the 3rd generation."

Government also want to "push the labs to increase their capacities and speed up the applications" of new laboratories to increase testing capacity, Nograles said.

Confirmatory swab or RT-PCR tests are free under PhilHealth packages if an individual is symptomatic, he added.

The country on Sunday announced a record-high 28,707 daily new infections, raising its total COVID-19 cases to 2,965,447 with 44 percent virus positivity rate.

ROBREDO HITS 'FAKE NEWS' PURVEYORS: STOP SPREADING LIES IN TIMES OF CRISIS

MANILA — After her own daughter was in the news as the latest target of false information, Vice President Leni Robredo urged accounts creating and circulating false claims to stop their activities, saying that "such dishonesty is detrimental to the public that is already in a difficult situation."

In statement to media on Monday quoting from her weekly radio show, Robredo said that some take advantage of how many people fall for disinformation and misinformation.

"But who loses when that happens? It's the one who believes it that loses," she said, adding those who believe false information are the real victims, not the subjects of the disinformation.

Robredo, who is running for president in the May elections, said that creating and spreading disinformation has become a business for some people, but added, "when there is a crisis, I hope they stop first."

"What they are doing is wrong but it is made worse when you do that [when] many people are already suffering," she said in Filipino. "That is their offense against the people."

This comes after anonymous and named accounts on social media circulated the false claim that Robredo's daughter, Tricia, skipped quarantine after arriving from the US before Christmas.

Tricia, a medical doctor, tested positive for COVID-19 and was quarantined in an isolation facility until she fully recovered. The vice president's daughter documented her stay in the isolation facility, where she also contracted dengue, and shared her experience in a social media post.

Robredo said she and her office have reported numerous cases of fake news to a government agency, which has yet to take action on the cases. She said that failure to hold "fake news" purveyors accountable for their actions would only mean ending up with a society driven by lies.

LONGER TERMS FOR PRESIDENT, LAWMAKERS, LOCAL OFFICIALS PUSHED IN CONGRESS

MANILA — With the 2022 polls just a few months away, a lawmaker is proposing longer terms for the president, members of the Lower House and local officials on the argument that six years for a president and three years for House members are "too short."

Resolution of Both Houses No. 7, which urges both chambers of Congress to convene as a Constituent Assembly to consider the suggested amendments, proposes an extension of the terms of office for presidents and vice presidents up to ten years—five years upon elections and another five for succeeding re-election.

At present, the president is afforded six years without reelection. Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. (Pampanga 3rd District) who filed the resolution earlier Friday said in a statement that the current setup is insufficient for an incumbent president to implement long-term programs and policies.

“A six-year tenure is too short for a good President, especially if he is confronted with a crippling crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to wreak havoc on our health and economy and whose end is not yet in sight. It may take more than one presidency before the nation can fully recover from this catastrophe,” the statement sent to media Sunday morning reads.

The proposal has long been brewing. In 2019, Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro), who chairs the committee on constitutional amendments, said there is growing consensus among members of his panel for a four to five-year term of office for members of Congress and local officials because three was "too short."

Under the resolution, the president and vice-presidential candidates coming from the same political party will also be elected in tandem, Gonzales says, to "strengthen the political party system and ensure that the top two officials of the land are one." The proposed measure also bans the president from running for any elective post after his tenure.

RBH No. 7 also proposes five years and only one reelection for House lawmakers instead of the present three years with two possible re-elections, citing the "learning curve" for neophyte congressmen.

"The three-year term for members of the House of  Representatives, as the past experiences would show, is a very very short term," the resolution also reads.

OMICRON LIKELY CAUSING SPIKE IN COVID-19 INFECTIONS: OCTA

MANILA - The sharp rise in COVID cases in the country is “most likely” due to the Omicron variant, according to an independent research group.

OCTA Research Fellow Guido David said this was evident in the genome sequencing data.

“Sa latest genome sequencing na isinagawa ng Philippine Genome Center.. 60 percent ng mga sample test nila ay omicron, as of Jan 2.

Most likely ngayon mas marami na,” Guido said.

Guido added that international travelers who broke quarantine may have caused the local spread.

While there is no guarantee how the virus would pan out, David said he hopes that the omicron variant would be the last, and the Philippines would experience a 1- 1.5 month surge just like in South Africa.

On Sunday, an additional 2.7 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine arrived from the COVAX Facility donated by the US government, raising the total number of delivered COVD-19 vaccines to 213.4 million.

PNR STARTS ANTIGEN TESTS FOR PASSENGERS TODAY

MANILA — The Philippine National Railways will start its random antigen tests for PNR passengers today.

PNR assistant general manager Ces Lauta said the rail line aims to test at least 288 passengers daily.

Passengers will be asked to volunteer for the antigen tests at Tutuban, Dela Rosa, Bicutan and Alabang stations, Lauta said.

The PNR targets to test more after five of 30 passengers turned out positive for COVID-19 in random antigen tests on Friday.

“We have walking positive (riding the PNR),” Lauta said.

The PNR services up to 10,000 commuters daily.

Passengers testing positive for COVID may still ride the train, but segregated in another coach. They will be asked to undergo confirmatory tests in their barangays.

At least 261 PNR personnel have tested positive in antigen testing since the holidays, Lauta said. They will undergo confirmatory swab tests.

The PNR is still waiting for the guidelines from the Department of Transportation to restrict rides only among the vaccinated, Lauta said.

SHORTER ISOLATION, QUARANTINE FOR FULLY-VACCINATED HEALTH WORKERS 'UNSAFE, UNFAIR' — NURSES' GROUP

MANILA — The directive to shorten the quarantine and isolation period of healthcare workers will endanger medical frontliners and will not solve a severely lacking workforce, an organization of nurses said.

In a statement, the Filipino Nurses United called the shortened quarantine period for fully-vaccinated medical workers "unsafe, unfair and irrational."

"While we, nurses, continue to vow to fight this pandemic, we cannot agree with the policies that put the nurses and other health workers in a suicidal mission," FNU said.

"We believe that this shortened quarantine for vaccinated and asymptomatic but COVID infected health workers compromise our health and safety. Ultimately, this equally puts our patients and communities at greater risks and would further spread the virus," it added.

The Philippines is reporting record numbers of COVID-19 infections, threatening to overwhelm the country’s health system anew.

In an advisory last week, the Department of Health said that hospitals are authorized to implement shortened quarantine protocols for fully vaccinated healthcare workers who are close contacts.

Hospitals, "in extreme circumstances of manpower shortage and upon weighing risks and benefits," are also allowed to implement shortened isolation period for fully vaccinated healthcare workers with COVID-19 up to five days.

Alliance of Health Workers president Robert Mendoza said the new policy "will never solve the chronic and acute problem of understaffing of health workers who for the longest time are burned out, had meager wages and felt betrayed by the unjust treatment of this government by not releasing the COVID benefits of the health workers."

FNU called on the government to hire additional health personnel and enhance its public measures by providing free and accessible COVID-19 tests, aggressive and systematic contact tracing, improved quarantine services, and adequate aid for displaced sectors.

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PHILIPPINES PREPARES MORE HOSPITALS BEDS WITH RECORD COVID-19 CASES

MANILA — The Philippines ordered an increase in hospital beds and medical resources in and around the capital Manila, a senior government official said on Sunday, as the country set another record for new COVID-19 infections.

Nearly 60% of the 28,707 cases came from the capital region, which has seen a steady increase in admissions in recent days, although hospital capacity in the area was still below critical levels, government data showed.

Health authorities were also directed to increase inoculation rates outside the region, with many provinces lagging, acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said in a statement.

Another 15 people died from COVID-19, the health ministry said in a bulletin, bringing the death toll to 52,150. The country has reported a total of more than 2.96 million cases since the pandemic started, among the highest in Southeast Asia.

Government offices including the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Presidential Communications Operations Office have announced temporary closures as a precaution after several of their staff have been infected.

The rise in COVID-19 cases prompted the government to tighten mobility curbs last week. President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened unvaccinated people with arrest if they disobey stay-at-home orders.

ALARMED OVER VIRAL PHOTO OF PWD CLIMBING STAIRS, CHR CALLS FOR BETTER FACILITIES

MANILA — The Commission on Human Rights expressed "deep concern" Sunday over the now-viral social media post showing a person with a disability climbing a stairway as it urged the government to support the rights of PWDs in the country, particularly their right to mobility.

In the viral photograph, the PWD struggles to climb the tall stairway at Recto Station of the Light Rail Transit-Line 2 while security personnel and train marshalls carry his wheelchair ahead of him.

"Accessible transportation with functioning facilities that cater to the unique needs of Persons with Disability are crucial in ensuring equal opportunity and access to basic services for this vulnerable sector," the CHR said in its statement Sunday morning.

"We remind the State of its commitment to uphold the rights of Persons with Disabilities, as embodied in the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, including providing support and creating an environment that will ensure their rehabilitation, self-development, and self-reliance so they may live freely and as independent as possible."

ON NAZARENE FEAST, CARDINAL ADVINCULA CALLS FOR HUMAN DIGNITY AMID CRISIS

Cardinal Jose Advincula celebrated his first Feast of the Black Nazarene Mass as Manila archbishop on Sunday in an almost empty Quiapo Church, urging the devotees “to help each other live with dignity” in the face of crisis.

For the first time in recent memory, public Masses inside the minor basilica were banned for the feast amidst the sharp spike in coronavirus cases.

Instead, more than a dozen Masses were held in the church throughout the day and were livestreamed through the archdiocese’s different online platforms.

In his homily to devotees following the Mass on television and online, he exhorted them to rise from the challenges, turn away from sin and live as God’s children.

“Let us reach out to our brothers and sisters, especially those who are struggling today,” Advincula said in Filipino.

According to him, God does not want the people’s dignity to be trampled on. “He does not want us to be destroyed by sin and wickedness,” he said.

“Let us also stand to lead one another to holiness and prosperity in life,” Advincula said.

ENTERTAINMENT & LIFESTYLE

SHARON CUNETA IN ISOLATION AFTER HUSBAND KIKO TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19

MANILA -- Screen veteran Sharon Cuneta is now in home isolation, after her husband Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan on Sunday said he tested positive for COVID-19.

The country's Megastar shared her thoughts to her fans through a social media post on Sunday night.

"I have not been this lonely in years… and right after the new year came in, right after my birthday," Cuneta, who turned 56 last January 6, wrote on her Instagram page.

Cuneta and her children have all tested negative in antigen tests but are still in isolation.

"Last night, I tested negative on my Antigen. Kiko tested positive on his PCR test results. This morning, all of us at home tested negative on Antigen. A couple of days or so to see this morning’s PCR test results -- all of ours. We are all isolating in different parts of our home. I worry for my children. Please pray for us all, including our beloved Yayas… Thanks so much," she wrote.

Cuneta is currently part of ABS-CBN primetime series “FPJ's Ang Probinsyano.”

SPORTS

NBA SCORES JAN 8

FINAL

1          2          3          4          T

Grizzlies27-14   28        38        28        29        123

Clippers19-21    36        20        28        24        108

CRYPTO.COM ARENA, LOS ANGELES, CA

SCORING LEADERS

            J. Jackson Jr. MEM

26 PTS 8 REB 3 AST

            M. Morris LAC

29 PTS 8 REB 2 AST

FINAL

1          2          3          4          T

Bucks26-16       29        12        34        31        106

Hornets21-19    27        20        42        25        114

SPECTRUM CENTER, CHARLOTTE, NC

SCORING LEADERS

            G. Antetokounmpo MIL

43 PTS 12 REB 3 AST

            T. Rozier CHA

28 PTS 4 REB 4 AST

FINAL

1          2          3          4          T

Magic7-33         26        19        28        19        92

Pistons8-30       31        21        21        24        97

LITTLE CAESARS ARENA, DETROIT, MI

SCORING LEADERS

            G. Harris ORL

28 PTS 6 REB 2 AST

            H. Diallo DET

17 PTS 6 REB

FINAL

1          2          3          4          T

Jazz28-12         27        25        34        27        113

Pacers15-25     33        28        29        35        125

GAINBRIDGE FIELDHOUSE, INDIANAPOLIS, IN

SCORING LEADERS

            D. Mitchell UTA

36 PTS 2 REB 9 AST

            D. Sabonis IND

42 PTS 6 REB 3 AST

FINAL

1          2          3          4          T

Knicks19-21      26        16        18        15        75

Celtics19-21      21        23        32        23        99

TD GARDEN , BOSTON, MA

SCORING LEADERS

            R. Barrett NY

19 PTS 6 REB 2 AST

            J. Brown BOS

22 PTS 11 REB 11 AST

FINAL

1          2          3          4          T

Heat25-15         33        38        27        25        123

Suns30-9          29        21        29        21        100

FOOTPRINT CENTER, PHOENIX, AZ

SCORING LEADERS

            T. Herro MIA

33 PTS 5 REB 3 AST

            D. Booker PHO

26 PTS 4 REB 3 AST

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need. – Voltaire