Day: October 3, 2021

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Philippines Reports 14,786 New COVID-19 Cases, Total Surges To 2,580,173

MANILA – The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH), reported 14,786 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, pushing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 2,580,173.

 

The DOH also reported that 164 more people died from COVID-19 complications, bringing the country’s death toll to 38,656.

 

The Philippines, with a population of 110 million, has tested nearly 20 million people since the outbreak in Jan, 2020.

 

Health Undersecretary, Maria Rosario Vergeire, said, the DOH is still assessing if the lower number of daily COVID-19 cases recorded in recent days is “artificial or real.”

 

“We need to analyse further and study (the trend) carefully, before we can say that the situation is really improving,” she told a televised press conference, stressing the need “to be cautious because hospitals are still full.”

 

Meanwhile, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary, Karl Kendrick Chua, expressed optimism that the Philippine economy can recover and reach its growth targets of four to five percent for 2021, and seven to nine percent in 2022.

 

However, Chua stressed the need to accelerate the vaccination rollout, manage the risks better, and implement economic recovery programme, to attain the targets.

 

Chua added that, while prospects for the country’s economic recovery remain promising, “its sustainability depends on our actions in dealing with the virus.”

 

“We believe that our strategy to have granular lockdowns is right and working,” Chua added, saying Metro Manila have recorded fewer cases.

 

The Philippines administered over 45.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and more than 21.4 million people have been fully vaccinated. The government aims to vaccinate up to 70 million people this year.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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Drug, Weapons Traffickers Arrested In Kabul

KABUL – Three suspected drug and weapons traffickers have been arrested in Kabul, Afghanistan, the country’s Ministry of Interior confirmed yesterday.

 

The ministry said in a statement that, “Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, stationed in Police District 3 of Kabul” have arrested the three suspected drug and weapons traffickers.

 

Further investigation is underway.

 

Last week, three groups of armed thieves were arrested, during a series of counter-crime operations in Qala-e-Haydar Khan and Arghandi areas of Paghman district, on the western outskirts of Kabul, according to the ministry.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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Three, Including Journalist, Killed In E. Afghanistan’s Shooting

KABUL– Three people, including a journalist, have been killed, in a shooting in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar, authorities confirmed today.

 

“Journalist and author, Sayyed Marof Saadat, along with his relatives were travelling in a sedan, along a road in Police District 5 of Jalalabad city when gunmen in a rickshaw opened fire on them,” a security source said.

 

Saadat’s son and the driver of the vehicle were wounded in the shooting, the source said.

 

An independent Afghan media group, Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC), condemned the murders.

 

No group has claimed responsibility for the shooting so far. Taliban authorities were investigating the case, according to the source.

 

Since the Taliban takeover in mid-Aug, at least 10 people have been killed and many others wounded, as Jalalabad, about 120 km in the east of Afghanistan’s Kabul, was hit by a series of bomb attacks, reportedly claimed by militants affiliated to a Daesh group, opposing the Taliban government.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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Japan’s Ruling Party’s New Leader To Take Office As Prime Minister, Launch New Gov’t

TOKYO– The newly elected leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Fumio Kishida, will take office as Japanese prime minister tomorrow and launch his new government, aiming to promote economic recovery, while keeping COVID-19 infections under control.

 

With the LDP-led ruling coalition controlling both chambers, the 64-year-old Kishida is almost guaranteed to be elected prime minister, at an extraordinary parliamentary session tomorrow.

 

The new leader plans to dissolve the House of Representatives on Oct 14, and consequently, a general election is likely to be held on Nov 7, local media reported.

 

Kishida promised to increase middle-class incomes and reduce wealth disparity under his “new form of capitalism,” which is viewed as a break from the “neoliberal policies” that the Japanese government has pursued over the past two decades.

 

In addition, he said that an economic package worth “tens of trillions of yen” is in preparation, to help people and businesses suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

His predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, who took office last year, announced not to seek re-election last month, amid the public dissatisfaction with his COVID-19 response.

 

As Japan’s COVID-19 infections declined recently, and nearly 60 percent of Japan’s population received a second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, Kishida will need to handle tasks of gradually lifting restrictions on social and business activities, and opening the border to foreign travellers.

 

Kishida plans to finish the lineup of his cabinet today. In his prospective Cabinet, former education minister, Hirokazu Matsuno, 59, is set to become chief Cabinet secretary, and former environment minister, Shunichi Suzuki, 68, is likely to replace his brother-in-law, Taro Aso, as finance minister, local media reported.

 

Kishida also plans to create a new ministerial post for economic security, with a responsibility to craft a national strategy, designed to end the drain of intellectual property from Japan. It is not known who will take up the post so far.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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More aid vowed for Cagayan workers

Government aid for pandemic-hit workers in Cagayan Province would reach more than P1 billion by the end of 2021, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III expects DOLE to have distributed a total of P1.1 billion in financial assistance from DOLE’s flagship cash-for-work aid program, the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) to workers of the province before yearend.

Beneficiaries are estimated to reach around 198,000 workers, Bello told a crowd including national and local government officials.

The Labor chief was in Isabela, Cagayan to implement TUPAD and lead the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC) meeting of the Cabinet Officers for Regional Development and Security (CORDS).

Bello reported that DOLE has assisted a total of 88,065 workers and disbursed a total of P480 million cash assistance since the start of the pandemic last year.

“We estimated the number to reach more than 198,000 beneficiaries for a sum of more than P1.1 billion in TUPAD funds before the end of the year,” Bello said.

A total of P50 million was also set aside for the implementation of DOLE’s Livelihood Program in the 100 identified influenced barangays in the Cagayan Valley Region, Bello added.

“Our people in the regional and field offices have started orientations among our partner local government units. We target to initiate the distribution of assistance in the last quarter,” he said.

Bello urged the local government units (LGUs) to pool more resources from other agencies to sustain the peace and development drive of the state in underprivileged barangays in the country.

“I’m sure that with the LGUs’ support, we can accomplish more, help more people and lead them to a better, brighter future,” Bello said.

After Isabela, Bello went to Tuguegarao City to deliver the financial and livelihood aid of the government to workers affected by the pandemic that continues to batter the economy.

 

 

Source: Department Of Labor and Employment Republic of Philippines

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Philippines’ Duterte Announces Retirement From Politics

MANILA – Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, announced yesterday, he will not run in the 2022 elections, and will retire from politics.

 

“Today, I announce my retirement from politics,” Duterte, 76, told journalists, at the site of the Commission on Elections in Metro Manila.

 

On his surprise announcement, Duterte said, he is heeding the Filipinos’ “overwhelming sentiment” for him to quit politics.

 

“The universal sentiment of the Filipinos … is that I am not qualified. It would be a violation of the constitution to circumvent the law, the spirit of the constitution,” Duterte said, adding that, he would act “in obedience to the will of the people.”

 

Presidential spokesperson, Harry Roque, said that, Duterte “would spend the remainder of his term guiding the country towards post-COVID-19 recovery.”

 

Moreover, to ensure the legacy of his programmes and projects, and the continuity of his reform initiatives, Roque added, Duterte “would pro-actively campaign for his candidates and make sure that the conduct of the coming 2022 elections would be free, honest, peaceful and credible.”

 

Duterte’s term ends on June 30, 2022.

 

Duterte was at the poll body in Metro Manila yesterday, to accompany his former longtime aide and Senator, Christopher Go, 47, who filed his certificate of candidacy for vice president.

 

Duterte’s PDP-Laban faction had nominated him and Go for vice president and president, respectively. Duterte accepted the ruling party’s nomination but Go declined.

 

Duterte was elected the Philippine president in the May, 2016 elections. The constitution limits Philippine presidents to a single six-year term.

 

Candidates for the 2022 elections could file their certificate of candidacy until Oct 8. Philippine boxing icon and Senator, Manny Pacquiao, on Friday, officially filed his certificate of candidacy for president, becoming the first presidential aspirant to do so.

 

The elections are scheduled to be held on May 9, 2022. According to the Philippine law, the vice president is elected separately from the president. The vice president takes over the presidency, if the president passes away or is incapacitated in office.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK