Journalism Review Archives | Page 63 of 159

Inquirer calls out gaps in COVID response as cases reach 300K

THE PHILIPPINES breached the 300,000 mark in confirmed COVID-19 cases on September 26, a most unwelcome development for a country that has imposed the longest lockdown in the world. The government’s heavily militarized quarantines have done little to stem transmission, as thousands of cases are still recorded daily. The...

Reduced physical distancing: Another flawed policy from the IATF

THE PROPOSAL to gradually reduce physical distancing in public transport served to demonstrate once again the flawed policy-making process that has marred the IATF’s response to the pandemic. In a statement last September 11, Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade announced that the current prescribed distance for physical distancing of one...

House leadership brouhaha sidelines budget woes

ALL EYES WERE on the House of Representatives amid rumors of an ouster bid against Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano (1st Dist., Taguig City) because of complaints over the budget allocations for congressmen’s infrastructure projects. In July 2019, Cayetano and Rep. Lord Allan Velasco (Marinduque) had arrived at a term...

Task Force PhilHealth unable to explain why Duque got off

THE PHILHEALTH scandal that diverted public health funds to private pockets made the pandemic even more difficult to bear for Filipinos already suffering economic deprivation and the continuing spread of the disease. When the anomalies in the medical insurance system broke out in August, the president promptly played up...

SALN access restricted, but largely escapes media criticism

THE LATEST MOVE to curtail the public’s right to know ironically comes from the government’s watchdog against corruption. Ombudsman Samuel Martires restricted public access to Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) filed with his office, per Memorandum Circular No. 1, series of 2020, dated September 10 and...

Duterte’s “solution”: Wait for a vaccine

“WE ARE awaiting for God’s blessing na magkaroon tayo ng vaccine either from sino diyan na bright boy: China, Russia, America. I’m sure na kung meron na sila, they will share it with the rest of the world.” First said on April 1, two weeks after he ordered the...

New PhilHealth Chief another link in the chain of crony appointees

IN THE midst of the worst health crisis to hit the country and a corruption scandal hounding the PhilHealth medical insurance system, President Rodrigo Duterte appointed someone without any background in public health to head the agency. As the public gained more information about the corruption and fraud in...

Re Duque and PhilHealth: How strong a “whiff of corruption” will move Duterte?

THEN CANDIDATE DUTERTE’s 2016 campaign made much of his supposed intolerance of corruption. This self-proclaimed virtue has not quite lost its magic with his supporters. But the more skeptical of Duterte’s boasts are counting the cases when his erring appointees were let off lightly, and allowed to resign without...

With few exceptions, media barely note VP message

AHEAD OF the schedule briefing of the president on that day Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo aired a 20-minute video message on Facebook last August 24. She said she had been in consultation with economists and other experts who were concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 on...

Duterte’s health, again: Few reports show improvement

SPECULATIONS ABOUT the president’s health won’t be quelled so easily, especially when Duterte himself is suddenly and unwontedly fueling them. Following the rumors last week that he had flown to Singapore on a med-evac plane for treatment, media broke the news on their social media accounts on Tuesday night,...