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(Story on A4)
HOUSE BEATS DEADLINE, SENDS 2021 BUDGET BILL TO SENATE A DAY AHEAD READY FOR SENATE.
HOUSE Speaker Lord Allan Velasco signs the transmittal letter of the P4.506trillion 2021 General Appropriations Bill to the Senate on Tuesday, one day ahead of schedule.
THE House of Representatives was scheduled to transmit on Tuesday its approved version of the P4.506-trillion 2021 General Appropriations Bill to the Senate, one day ahead of the promised date, according to Speaker Lord Allan Velasco. There was no immediate statement from the Senate if the body had received the House version. In a statement, Velasco said the record-high budget for next year was designed to further strengthen government response and stimulate economic
recovery in the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. “Not only did we pass the proposed 2021 national budget in a timely, constitutional and legal manner, we also made sure next year’s spending plan will be more reflective and responsive to the needs of the people amid the worst public health crisis in a generation,” Velasco said. He noted that the allocation for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines was increased by more than threefold to cover more Filipinos.
He said additional allocation was also provided for the facilities enhancement program of the Department of Health to strengthen the country’s health care system. The House-approved version of the budget also has additional funding for the Department of Labor and Employment to aid workers displaced by the pandemic and for the Department of Social Welfare and Development for another round of financial assistance to affected families, Velasco said.
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Du30 orders gov’t ‘cleansing’ Gives DOJ blanket authority to probe corruption in entire bureaucracy
By Vito Barcelo, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rio N. Araja
P
RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate anomalies in the entire government bureaucracy and prosecute erring public servants.
“I hope all government workers, officials are listening. This is a memorandum from me, the President, to Secretary Menardo Guevarra, Department of Justice. The subject is to investigate allegations of corruption in the entire government. All,” Duterte said in a recorded speech aired Tuesday morning. Duterte said the country was still “plagued with corruption” despite efforts to com bat i t , and he vowed to commit the Next page
VOL. XXXIV • NO. 236 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2020 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
POINTING THE WAY. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte presides over a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases prior to his talk to the people at the Matina Enclaves in Davao City on Monday night. Presidential Photo
Ombudsman suspends 44 BI execs over ’pastillas’ scam THE Office of the Ombudsman has issued a suspension order against 44 Bureau of Immigration officials accused of involvement in the so-called "pastillas" scheme. This developed as President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday that resignation does not save corrupt officials from being held accountable. Next page
Duque, et al liable in PhilHealth mess but Rody ignores it By Rio N. Araja and Vito Barcelo A JOINT panel at the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a 65-page committee report to hold Health Secretary Francisco Duque III accountable for supposed widespread Next page
COVID-19 PH AT A GLANCE
(AS OF 4 PM OCT. 27)
373,144 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES
1,524 37,489 NEW
ACTIVE
7,053
14
326,602
353
DEATHS
RECOVERIES
NEW
NEW
STILL A DISASTER. Houses, roads and farms in Barangay Labangan in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro are still deep in flood waters due to Typhoon Quinta, while in Pola, Oriental Mindoro -- where the storm made its fifth landfall -- the pier lies in ruin, houses are overturned, and fishermen try to piece together their broken boats (inset photos). GMA News, ABS-CBN News via Twitter
NCR, 6 other areas still under GCQ up to Nov. 30 FOR the fifth time, President Rodrigo Duterte extended the implementation of the general community quarantine (GCQ) in Metro Manila for another month or until November 30, the lon-
gest-running lockdown in the world. The National Capital Region, the Duterte made the announcement late country’s center of economy, culture Monday night in Davao City, saying the and education, was first put under GCQ move was to protect the people from on June 1 up to June 15 but was extended Next page getting infected.
’Hasten release of pandemic aid’ By Vito Barcelo PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered government agencies and local government units (LGUs) to simplify and speed up the distribution of aid to the people affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
“What I would like to happen is this: Simplify the giving of the money by asking for a proposal, then that proposal should not be studied by days or by months,” Duterte said in his weekly public address. “You just review it and if it says that it’s for food, you give it because it’s for Next page
Infidelity equals ‘violence’—SC By Rey E. Requejo THE Supreme Court has ruled that husband’s infidelity or having extramarital affairs is considered “psychological violence” inflicted Next page against his wife.
State insurer pays P500m to Red Cross By Willie Casas THE Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has already released P500 million, or about half of its P1.1 billion debt to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), as partial payment for the latter's COVID-19 testing Next page