DOJ CHIEF VOWS FAIR IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON VFA TERMINATIONMANILA — The Cabinet cluster assigned to make an impact assessment on thetermination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United Statesvowed to be fair in its recommendations to President Duterte.Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the public canbe assured that both the pros and cons of an executive decision tounilaterally terminate the VFA will be discussed with the President.Guevarra, who had been tasked to convene the meeting of the Cabinet clusteron security, justice and peace last Friday, refused to disclose any of itsrecommendations at this time.“(I) can’t disclose the recommendation of the Cabinet security cluster atthis time, but there was a consensus to present the pros and cons of the VFAtermination to the President notwithstanding his seeming resolution to endthe agreement,” he said.A final meeting of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting ForcesAgreement will be held tomorrow, as the Cabinet cluster targets thesubmission of its memo on the VFA termination to the President within theweek.HOUSE LEADERS BACK DISASTER RESILIENCE DEPARTMENTMANILA — More lawmakers are pushing for the creation of a Department ofDisaster Resilience (DDR) to handle the government’s response duringcalamities.Albay Rep. Joey Salceda and Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez both said therecent eruption of Taal Volcano showed the need to immediately establish theoffice.Salceda, chairman of the House ways and means committee, said the proposedmeasure would enable the national government to better address calamities inthe future. As one of its main proponents, he believed the effects of thelatest calamity could have been mitigated or even avoided if the measure waspassed earlier on.“It could have been better (if there’s DDR already). As you can see now,affected communities are evacuating but don’t really know where they shouldgo,” he said. “Let’s pass the DDR and put Phivolcs (Philippine Institute ofVolcanology and Seismology) and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical andAstronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) under the DDR.”Gomez, for her part, said the DDR would address fragmentation ingovernment’s response, citing the lack of evacuation capacity and the lowquality of temporary accommodations.“We have to recognize that our current system carries with it structuralsilos that create natural limitations to the disaster risk reduction,response, relief, recovery and rehabilitation processes,” she said in aprivilege speech earlier this week.DUTERTE EXTENDS TRAVEL BAN TO VISITORS FROM MAINLAND CHINA, HONG KONG, MACAUAMID NCOV SCAREMANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte extended his earlier travel ban on theHubei Province in China to include the mainland and special administrativeregions Hong Kong and Macau, Sen. Bong Go confirmed Sunday.Following the Department of Health's confirmation of a woman carrying thenovel coronavirus in Manila (2019 nCoV), Duterte issued the initial ban onthe Hubei Province alone, where Wuhan, the virus' epicenter, is located.This came after Senate lawmakers urged the government to issue a temporaryban on Chinese visitors.The patient who tested positive for the virus, a 38-year-old woman whoarrived in the Philippines on January 21 from Wuhan, flew to the country viaHong Kong."Sa ngayon ay mag-i-implement na ng temporary travel ban on travelers comingfrom any part of China and its special administrative regions on top of theexisting temporary travel ban imposed on those coming from Hubei provinceand other affected areas," Go said in an interview with "Dobol B sa NewsTV."The senator also clarified that even foreign travelers who had travelhistory in China 14 days before their arrival in the Philippines would bebarred from entering the country. The ban, he said, would cover "any personexcept Filipino citizens and holders of permanent resident visa issued bythe Philippine government directly coming from China and its specialadministrative regions."The Department of Foreign affairs temporarily suspended visa issuances totravelers from Hubei, but Duterte and the Department of Health both saidthey don't feel that a full-on travel ban was necessary, pointing out thatit could damage diplomatic relations with China.Users on social media did not take this well as "Oust Duterte" went trendingon Twitter in the hours following these statements.CHINA VIRUS DEATH TOLL SURGES PAST 300BEIJING - The death toll from China's coronavirus epidemic soared to 304 onSunday, as an increasing number of countries imposed extraordinary Chinesetravel bans to combat the spread of the disease.With Britain, Russia and Sweden among the countries confirming their firstinfections, the virus has now spread to more than two dozen nations, sendinggovernments scurrying to limit their exposure.The United States and Australia are leading a growing list of countries thatare putting temporary but sweeping travel restrictions on Chinese nationalsor those who have traveled to China within the last two weeks."Foreign nationals, other than immediate family of US citizens and permanentresidents... will be denied entry into the United States Health SecretaryAlex Azar had announced.Australia said it was barring entry to non-citizens arriving from China,while Australian citizens who had traveled there would be required to gointo "self-isolation" for two weeks.Vietnam suspended all flights from mainland China effective Saturday, whileRussia announced it would halt visa-free tourism for Chinese nationals andstop issuing them work visas.Similar expansive restrictions have been announced by countries includingItaly, Singapore, and China's northern neighbor Mongolia.The United States, Japan, Britain, Germany and other nations had alreadyadvised their citizens not to travel to China.PH RECORDS FIRST DEATH DUE TO NEW CORONAVIRUSMANILA – The Philippines recorded its first fatality due to the 2019 novelcoronavirus, the Department of Health (DOH) said Sunday, involving a manfrom Wuhan, China identified as a companion of the country's first confirmedcase.A 44-year-old Chinese man also tested positive for the new strain of virusthat originated in Wuhan, and died on Saturday, Health Secretary FranciscoDuque III told reporters. The first confirmed case involved the man's38-year-old companion.The two were were admitted for isolation and supportive treatment at the SanLazaro Hospital in Manila.Duque said that after being admitted for pneumonia last Jan. 25, the manexperienced fever, cough and sore throat."Over the course of the patient’s admission, he developed severe pneumonia.In his last few days, the patient was stable and showed signs ofimprovement," he said."However, the condition of the patient deteriorated within the last 24hours, resulting in his demise."Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, of the World Health Organization-Philippineoffice, said "this is the first reported death outside China.""However, we need to take into mind, this is not a locally acquired case.This patient came from the epicenter of this outbreak, Wuhan, China, wherethere have been very large number of deaths," Abeyasinghe said.Authorities are in touch with the Chinese embassy for the cremation of thepatient's remainsCHINESE MAN WHO DIED IN MANILA HOSPITAL NEGATIVE FOR NCOVMANILA — The 29-year-old Chinese man who died of pneumonia at the San LazaroHospital in Manila last Wednesday was not infected with the novelcoronavirus acute respiratory disease or 2019-nCoV ARD.“It’s not nCoV. His samples are negative for the novel coronavirus,”Department of Health (DOH) director for Epidemiology Bureau Ferchito Avelinosaid yesterday.Avelino said swab samples taken from the patient were submitted by the DOHto a laboratory in Melbourne, Australia for confirmatory tests and it turnedout negative for the Wuhan coronavirus.The patient, who came from Wuhan City – epicenter of the 2019-nCoV ARD wasadmitted at the hospital in Manila last Jan. 27 and died two days later.He had exhibited flu-like symptoms, had swollen lymph nodes and cervicallesions. The patient, who was described to be very thin, tested positive ofhuman immunodeficiency virus or HIV..Based on data released by the DOH last Friday, there are still 31 personsunder investigation (PUI) for nCoV.Not airborneHealth Secretary Francisco Duque III reiterated to the public yesterday thatthe coronavirus is not airborne.Citing scientific evidence, Duque said the virus spreads person-to-personvia respiratory droplets that are produced when an infected person sneezesor coughs.“It’s droplet. It’s with the phlegm that you discharge when you cough andsneeze. It does not float, unlike other influenza viruses,” he said.This mode of transfer is the reason why the infection rate of nCoV is smallat a ratio of one infected person infecting from two to four others.AIRLINES CANCEL FLIGHTS BETWEEN PHILIPPINES, CHINA OVER NEW CORONAVIRUSSCAREMANILA (2nd UPDATE) - Several airlines said Saturday it would cancel flightsbetween the Philippines and mainland China and its territories amid theoutbreak of the new coronavirus.Budget carrier Cebu Pacific said it would suspend all flights between thePhilippines and mainland China from Feb. 2 to March 29, 2020.Flights to andfrom Beijing, Shanghai, Ximen, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are included."Passengers affected by flight cancellations have been notified through thecontact details provided upon booking. They may also check the status oftheir flights through the Manage Booking portal in the Cebu Pacificwebsite," the Gokongwei-led airline said in a statement.Cebu Pacific earlier said it was reducing flight frequencies between thePhilippines, Hong Kong and Macau.Passengers of the canceled flights may rebook within 30 days of originaltravel date, opt for full refund or place it in a travel fund for futureuse."We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank our passengers for theirunderstanding," the airline said.The Philippine Airlines (PAL), meanwhile, said it would halve flights fromChina and its several territories starting Feb. 1."There is a need to maintain a number of our flights on the variousManila-China routes, so that we can serve the urgent travel needs of ourpassengers, including many Chinese nationals returning to the mainlandfollowing their Lunar New Year holidays, and Filipinos who are returninghome from their stays in China," the airline said in a statement on Friday.AFRICAN SWINE FEVER REACHES MINDANAO; 1,000 PIGS IN DAVAO OCCIDENTAL TOWNTEST POSITIVERegional agriculture official claims report still under validationMANILA (UPDATE) - Samples drawn from around 1,000 dead pigs in Don Marcelinotown, Davao Occidental tested positive for African swine fever (ASF), thefirst confirmed cases of the hog disease in Mindanao, a local governmentofficial confirmed Saturday.The Department of Agriculture Region IX and Provincial Veterinarian Officecarried out the sampling.The pigs came from barangays Lindasan, North Lamidan, South Lamidan, Calian,Mabuhay, Lawa, Nueva Villa, and Baluntayan in the town, Don Marcelino MayorMichael Maruya said.Mindanao Development Authority Secretary and former Agriculture chief MannyPiñol also confirmed the development.The local government of Don Marcelino has ordered the activation of aRegional Animal Disease Task Force to focus on ASF cases in the province.Transporting hogs in and out of the municipality, as well as selling pigmeat will be prohibited, Maruya said as the local government imposed atemporary lockdown in the municipality.Authorities will also establish animal quarantine checkpoints in entrypoints around the municipality.Hours after reports of the confirmation came out, the Department ofAgriculture's Regional Executive Director Richard Oñate Jr. said the entryof ASF in Davao Occidental was still under validation."We are still validating and tinaas na po natin ang level ng quarantinemeasures natin (we raised the level of our quarantine measures) incoordination [with] Armed Forces of the Philippines, local government unitand provincial government ng Davao Occidental," he said."And what is important on the ground, we are closely coordinating to addressthe situation," he said.TREMOR AT TAAL INDICATES MAGMA MOVEMENTMANILA — State volcanologists monitoring the Taal Volcano unrest recorded ashort-duration harmonic tremor in the past 24 hours, which they saidindicates the movement of magma inside the volcano.The tremor lasted for three minutes, the Philippine Institute of Volcanologyand Seismology said in its 8 a.m. bulletin released Saturday.Phivolcs previously recorded a harmonic tremor on Thursday which lasted for97 seconds.The Taal Volcano has been emitting wispy to weak emission of white to dirtywhite steam-laden plumes up to 50 meters high, drifting southwest.Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission is measured at an average 65 tons per day.Apart from the harmonic tremor and sulfur dioxide emission, the Taal VolcanoNetwork recorded a total of 182 volcanic earthquakes and one low-frequencyevent."These earthquakes signify magmatic activity beneath the Taal edifice thatcould lead to eruptive activity at the Main Crater," Phivolcs said.Alert Level 3 remains in place over Taal Volcano.PART OF SKYWAY STAGE 3 COLLAPSES AMID FIRE IN PANDACAN WAREHOUSEMANILA (3rd UPDATE) - A portion of the Skyway Stage 3 in Pandacan, Manilacollapsed under the heat of a massive fire that struck at a nearbywarehouse, Saturday.A still undetermined length of the overhead roadway gave way as the blazeraged at a packing factory of San Miguel Corp. on Tomas Claudio Street,Pandacan, Manila.The affected portion is on a part of the Skyway still under construction."It's a portion of Skyway Stage 3 parapet that was damaged. Stage 3 is stillunder construction and therefore, not operational. We are still assessingthe extent of damage," said Skyway Corporate Communications head MarleneOchoa in a statement.The fire broke out at 10:36 a.m., with Task Force Bravo, the fifth highestfire alarm, raised at 11:05 a.m.Firefighters declared that the fire had been put out at 4:10 p.m., or nearly6 hours since it started.San Miguel Corp., the firm leading the Skyway project, said it is "ready toprovide assistance to anyone directly affected by the incident.""We also extend our full support and cooperation to authorities as theyinvestigate the cause of the fire," the company said in a statement.BOC SEIZES P.6 MILLION SHABU, VALIUM AT NAIAMANILA — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) seized P660,000 worth of illegal drugshidden in six parcels in a courier firm’s warehouse at the Ninoy AquinoInternational Airport (NAIA) on Thursday, an official said yesterday.Five of the packages contained a total of 71.6 grams of methamphetaminehydrochloride or shabu while one parcel held 97 tablets of anti-anxiety drugValium (generic name diazepam).The drugs were concealed in books, speakers and documents, according toNAIA-BOC district collector Mimel Talusan.Three parcels were bound for Israel. One contained 10.8 grams of shabu witha street value of P73,000, hidden in a book. Another parcel held 14.4 gramsof shabu valued at P97,920, concealed among documents. The third parcel had36.1 grams of shabu with a street value of P245,480 hidden in documents.A fourth parcel, bound for the United States, held 3.3 grams of shabu valuedat P22,440 and men’s underwear.The fifth parcel, also bound for the US, contained 97 Valium tablets valuedat P171,496 and personal documents.The last package, bound for Papua New Guinea, contained seven grams of shabuwith a street value of P47,600 hidden in mini-speakers.Talusan withheld the names of the senders and consignees pendinginvestigation and arrest.MICHELE GUMABAO RETURNS TO PAGEANTRY, JOINS MISS UNIVERSE PHILIPPINES 2020MANILA — Filipino-American volleyball player and beauty queen MicheleGumabao is giving the stage another go, vying to join the upcoming MissUniverse Philippines 2020.“Trading in my sneakers one more time... Submitted my application to be partof the first ever Miss Universe Philippines,” Michele’s Instagram post onThursday read.She was seen donning a dress by Audwin Lee, ready to take her second shot atpageantry.The American-born beauty was first named Bb. Pilipinas Globe 2018 during theBinibinig Pilipinas pageant that year, which saw the country's most recentMiss Universe Catriona Gray going home with the Miss Universe Philippines2018 title.Under Michele’s helm as co-captain of the De La Salle University LadySpikers, the volleyball team seized a three-peat championship in UAAP Season75, where she was also named Most Valuable Player.The multitalented 27-year-old is also a host and television personality,competing in 2014 alongside Daniel Matsunaga, Jane Oineza, Alex Gonzaga andother housemates in "Pinoy Big Brother: All In."NBA SCORES JAN 31FINAL    1    2    3    4    Tteam logo Raptors 35-14    30    30    18    27    105team logo Pistons 17-33    20    27    22    23    92SCORING LEADERSP. Siakam TOR30 PTS, 7 REB, 4 ASTD. Rose DET21 PTS, 0 REB, 3 ASTFINAL    1    2    3    4    Tteam logo Mavericks 29-19    28    32    25    36    121team logo Rockets 30-18    35    30    36    27    128SCORING LEADERSK. Porzingis DAL35 PTS, 12 REB, 0 ASTJ. Harden HOU35 PTS, 16 REB, 6 ASTFINAL    1    2    3    4    Tteam logo Bulls 19-32    23    34    39    22    118team logo Nets 21-26    35    38    30    30    133SCORING LEADERSZ. LaVine CHI22 PTS, 2 REB, 8 ASTK. Irving BKN54 PTS, 5 REB, 5 ASTFINAL    1    2    3    4    Tteam logo Grizzlies 24-25    22    37    27    25    111team logo Pelicans 20-29    31    35    44    29    139SCORING LEADERSJ. Valanciunas MEM18 PTS, 8 REB, 0 ASTZ. Williamson NO24 PTS, 6 REB, 3 ASTFINAL    1    2    3    4    Tteam logo Nuggets 34-15    35    25    40    27    127team logo Bucks 41-7    43    24    24    24    115SCORING LEADERSW. Barton DEN24 PTS, 7 REB, 8 ASTG. Antetokounmpo MIL31 PTS, 16 REB, 9 ASTFINAL    1    2    3    4    Tteam logo Thunder 30-20    25    28    26    32    111team logo Suns 20-28    27    25    29    26    107SCORING LEADERSD. Gallinari OKC27 PTS, 4 REB, 0 ASTK. Oubre Jr. PHO27 PTS, 11 REB, 0 ASTFINAL    1    2    3    4    Tteam logo Trail Blazers 22-27    38    22    43    24    127team logo Lakers 36-11    36    26    34    23    119SCORING LEADERSD. Lillard POR48 PTS, 9 REB, 10 ASTA. Davis LAL37 PTS, 15 REB, 6 AST