AUGUST 6-9, 2022 Volume 32 - No. 62 • 2 Sections – 18 Pages
US government declares ‘state of Jo Koy presented with emergency’ amid monkeypox outbreak Daly City ‘key to the city’ DATELINE
USA
FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
COMEDIAN Jo Koy was presented with a Key to the City of Daly City in the city council chambers in simple ceremonies on Friday morning, July 22. Accompanied by an entourage that included his sister Gemma, son Joseph Herbert Jr., Easter Sunday scripwriter Ken Cheng and friends and supporters, Jo Koy, who is Joseph Glenn Herbert Sr. in real life, received the commemorative plaque from Daly City councilmembers Juslyn Manalo and Pamela DiGiovanni. Daly City Mayor Rod Daus-Magbual, Vice Mayor Raymond Buenaventura and Councilmember Glenn Sylvester could not make the ceremony due to previous commitments. Koy also received a special citation from the County of San Mateo, represented by San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa, declaring July 22 as Jo Koy Day in the county. “It is with great honor to present this key to the city on behalf of the Mayor, the city council to you, Jo Koy. And with the significance of the key, it is from your sheer talent to make people laugh and as Joey Guila
by KLARIZE
MEDENILLA AJPress
AFTER Los Angeles County and the state of California announced their own declarations of emergency over the monkeypox outbreak, the Biden administration on Thursday, Aug. 4 declared the
outbreak a national public health emergency. The declaration allows the United States Health and Human Services (HHS) to set aside emergency funds and federal resources (like specific personnel) to address the outbreak. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a media
US Secretary of State Blinken arrives in PH for official visit by DANIZA
FERNANDEZ Inquirer.net
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Now is not the time to drop our guard on COVID, experts say HEALTH experts say that even as more people are vaccinated and boosted, the corona virus is here to stay. And they warn that future variants will likely keep medical practitioners and researchers on their toes as they work to keep both infections and the severity of infections down. Their message to the public is, don’t let your guard down. “COVID is going to be with us for the foreseeable future,” said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “We’re struggling to figure out how we can keep this virus down and minimize its damage, and still at the same time enjoy a reasonably normal life.” Schaffner was among a panel of speakers for a July 29 media briefing organized by Ethnic Media Services on the latest Covid variant, and the mounting questions around the pandemic and vaccine efficacy. COVID 19 cases, deaths, and hospitalizations are once again on the rise in the US. More PAGE A4
briefing that the Biden administration is “prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take the process seriously and to take responsibility to help us tackle this.” PAGE A2
STATE VISIT. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in the Philippines on Friday, August 5, for an official visit.
Photo courtesy of DFA
MANILA — United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the Philippines on Friday night, August 5, his first official visit to the country since assuming office last year. Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Chief of Protocol Fred Santos and Office of American Affairs Assistant Secretary JV Chan-Gonzaga welcomed Blinken at the Villamor Airbase. Blinken is scheduled to meet with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo on Saturday, August 6. The officials are anticipated to discuss the further strengthening of the U.S.-Philippines relations. The DFA earlier said that among the issues that will be tackled by Blinken and Marcos Jr. are cooperation in the economic sphere, addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, and the climate crisis. Before going to the Philippines, Blinken first visited Cambodia. He is expected to proceed to South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda after Manila. n
Palace: US-China tensions not tackled at Cabinet meeting; situation being monitored by NEIL
ARWIN MERCADO Inquirer.net
MANILA – The U.S.-China tensions were not tackled at the Cabinet meeting led by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Friday, August 5, Malacañang said. Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the government is being “careful” about matters concerning international relations. “Hindi po siya kasama sa agenda kanina (It was not included in this morning’s agenda),” Cruz-Angeles said in a press briefing when asked if the Cabinet discussed the tension between U.S. and China at the meeting Friday morning.
“Ukol sa international relations, parati tayong nagi-ingat. Suffice it to say na mini-monitor ng matindi ang sitwasyon. Wala tayong reaksyon o statement ukol dun,” she added. (When it comes to international relations, we are being careful. Suffice it to say. We are monitoring the situation. We do not have a reaction or statement regarding that.) Asked if Marcos has given orders concerning Filipinos in Taiwan should tensions escalate, Cruz-Angeles said: “Sa ngayon, mino-monitor natin ang WAKE VISIT. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visits the wake of former President Fidel V. Ramos sitwasyon. Magre-react na lang po tayo on Thursday, August 4 at the Heritage Park in Taguig City. Also in the photo is Ramos’ widow,
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former first lady Amelita “Ming” Martinez-Ramos.
PNA photo by Robinson Niñal Jr
Duterte leaves Marcos with P12.79-T debt pile Bongbong Marcos pays last respects to FVR by RAMON
ROYANDOYAN Philstar.com
MANILA — Former President Rodrigo Duterte left office with a P12.79 trillion debt pile, putting his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in a very delicate fiscal position that could handicap the nascent administration’s spending on its programs and planned reforms. What’s new Data from the Bureau of the Treasury released Friday, August 5 showed the state’s debt stock rose 2.4% month-on-month in June, the final month of the Duterte administration. Since the Former President Rodrigo Duterte and his successor Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Philstar.com file photos beginning of the year, debts have
accumulated by 9.1% or P1.06 trillion. Recall that the late President Benigno Aquino III left office in June 2016 with a debt stock of P5.9 trillion, P1.4 trillion bigger than the P4.6 trillion pile that he inherited from his predecessor. That said, the latest Treasury data means Duterte added P6.8 trillion to the government's debt load during his 6-year term. Why this matters It is normal for any emerging economies that are running on budget deficits to borrow money from creditors at home and abroad in order to supercharge PAGE A2
by NESTOR
CORRALES Inquirer.net
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday, August 4 visited the wake of his distant uncle, former President Fidel V. Ramos, at the Heritage Park in Taguig. Speaking to reporters after he paid his last respects to the former president, Marcos Jr. said he told former first lady Amelita Ramos that her husband was “a symbol of stability after all the tumultuous events of 1986.”
Ramos is considered a hero of the 1986 People Power Revolution that toppled the twodecade rule of the President’s father, deposed strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos. The President arrived past 10:30 a.m. and was accompanied by Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez and Special Assistant to the President, Secretary Antonio Lagdameo Jr. Ahead of his visit, Marcos Jr. sent a funeral wreath on Wednesday night, August 3. Ramos died at the Makati PAGE A2