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Health workers top priority DOH says 116,000 in Metro Manila enlist for first jab from Pfizer
By Willie Casas
COVID-19 PH
A
T LEAST 116,000 health workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) have signed up to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday. Dr. Razel Nikka Hao, deputy to the COVID-19 Surveillance and Quick Action Unit, said the number would rise as registration is still ongoing. “At this point, we are in the process of master listing for group A1 or all of the workers in frontline health care services. Since January this year, we have reached out to health care facilities and local governments to determine who will fit in the criteria, who are eligible... We are getting the numbers, which will guide our operational plans,” Hao said during an online briefing. Under the government’s COVID-19 vaccination program, workers in frontline health services are on top of the priority list. The limited COVID-19 vaccine supply, however, will trim this list based on the COVID-19 burden of the area, the local government unit’s capacity to store and distribute vaccines, and the exposure and mortality risk of individuals. Based on government records, the NCR remains the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country with 4,602 new COVID-19 cases recorded in
AT A GLANCE
(AS OF 4 PM FEBRUARY 5)
533,587 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES
ACTIVE
11,058
61
488,274
397
RECOVERIES
NEW
NEW
‘Drop dead’, Roque snipes at detractors By Vito Barcelo
LOCAL ROUNDUP
Duque wants indemnity fund for vax victims By Willie Casas and Vito Barcelo
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NEW
DEATHS
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HEALTH Secretary Francisco Duque III on Friday urged for the swift creation of an indemnification fund law that seeks to compensate individuals who would suffer adverse effects from COVID-19 vaccines. Duque said since these vaccines against a novel disease are relatively new, the government must be equally prepared for any severe side effects it might bring. “Of course, we’re hoping none of this would occur but we must be ready to respond to such a possibility,” he said in Filipino.
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Health worker administers measles rubella-oral polio vaccine (MR-OPV) to children aged 0-59 months in Batangas City. Distribution of the MR-OPV vaccines has already begun as part of the supplemental immunization activity program of the Department of Health.
PALACE spokesman Harry Roque told critics of the administration to “drop dead” as he touted President Rodrigo Duterte’s achievements in building up the country’s infrastructure and for “beating COVID-19.” At the presentation of the first tunnel boring machine for the Metro Manila Subway Friday, Roque said the President would make another mark on Philippine history with the country’s first subway. “As we know the President has many critics and they will not stop until they regain power,” Roque said. “But presidents will come and go. But in the annals of Philippine history, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will be remembered for the renaissance of infrastructure, for beating COVID-19, and of course for all the social legislation that he so shepherded, including Universal Health Care and Free Tuition in State Colleges and Universities,” he said. “Let today’s event be recorded in Next page
Rody targets 2.8-m new jobs as labor force balloons amid pandemic By Macon Ramos-Araneta THE Duterte administration aims to create 2.4 to 2.8 million jobs this year as part of an employment recovery strategy from the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s
labor market. The heads and representatives of the various offices of the government signed the Joint Memorandum Circular constituting the National Employment Recovery Strategy Task Force in a virtual ceremony Friday.
The departments of Labor and Employment, Trade and Industry, Transportation, Tourism, Budget and Management, Education, Interior and Local Government, Social Welfare and Development, Science and Technology as well as the Technical Education and
Skills Development Authority signed a joint memorandum circular Friday creating the National Employment Recovery Strategy Task Force. NERS is a medium-term plan geared towards creating employment opportunities Next page
NICA to Reds in gov’t: We know who you are By Joyce Pangco Pañares and Rey Requejo
ment workers, including those belonging to the COURAGE labor group, of being members or supporters of the THE National Intelligence Coordinat- Communist Party of the Philippines. In a radio interview, NICA direcing Agency has accused some govern-
tor-general Alex Monteagudo said government agencies have been infiltrated by the CPP. “We know who they are, that they are even party members, supporters of the CPP. But we also want them to know that we know,” Monteagudo said. “They know that we know, that the security forces know who they are and we are watching them,” he added. Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite, a former national president of the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Next page
PRESSING ISSUES. Militant groups hold placards during a protest rally to press for the resolution of various issues that the country faces amid the pandemic such as mass testing for COVID-19, wage hike, ‘red-tagging’ and the opposition to the anti-terror law on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. Norman Cruz
Marcos rejects pork imports By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATOR Imee Marcos warned that importation might kill the local pork industry faster than African Swine Fever as she asked the Department of Agriculture to start its probe of the hoarding of pork products. Marcos, who chairs the Senate committee on economic affairs, said the hoarding might be causing an artificial hike in market prices amid the spread of ASF, particularly in Luzon. She called on the government to pre-
vent pork importers from taking over local market supply and pushing Filipino producers out of business. Marcos’s Senate Resolution 619 calling the government’s consumer price arbiters to an inquiry will be taken up in a joint hearing of the committees on agriculture, food and agrarian reform and trade, commerce and entrepreneurship on Monday. She said importation amid the COVID-19 pandemic meant more local jobs would be lost and would be Next page
CHANGE OF COMMAND. President Rodrigo Duterte salutes incoming Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Lieutenant Gen. Cirilito Sobejana during the AFP Change of Command and Retirement Ceremony at Camp Emilio Aguinaldo in Quezon City on February 4, 2021. Sobejana succeeds Gen. Gilbert Gapay who has reached retirement age. Robinson Niñal
Napoles convicted anew; Ligot wealth ill-gotten By Maricel V. Cruz BUSINESSWOMAN Janet Lim Napoles, former Cagayan de Oro Rep. Constantino Jaraula and three others were convicted of multiple counts of graft and malversation by the Sandiganbayan in connection with the P10billion pork barrel scam. The anti-graft court, in a 103-page decision, ruled that Napoles, Jaraula and three others committed three counts of graft and three counts malversation charges for pocketing at least P19.2 million of the lawmaker’s Priority Development Assistance Fund allo-
Napoles
Ligot
cation or pork barrel. ment (CARED) Foundation to siphon It said the accused used the state-run off government funds. Technology Resource Center (TRC) Napoles, Jaraula as well as TRC ofand the Napoles-owned Countrywide ficials Rosalinda Lacsamana, Belinda Next page Agri and Rural Economic Develop-