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China steps up naval drills
In wake of WPS exercises, Duterte crafting ‘3Cs foreign policy’—Roque By Joyce Pañares and Macon Ramos-Araneta
C
HINA'S Shandong aircraft carrier has conducted exercises in the South China Sea – military drills which the People's Liberation Army (PLA) said will be regularly held in the disputed regional waters.
“We hope the outside world can view (the exercise) objectively and rationally. The PLA Navy will continue to organize similar exercises according to the plan regularly in the future,” PLA Navy spokesman Sr. Capt. Gao Xiucheng said in a statement published by state-owned media Global Times. This is the first known voyage this
year of the Shandong aircraft carrier group. China's other aircraft carrier, Liaoning, left the South China Sea last month after being deployed in the waters along with a strike group that included a guided missile destroyer, a frigate and a replenishment ship. Gao said the military drill will contribute to boosting the PLA Navy's
capability to safeguard China's sovereignty as well as regional peace and stability. Meanwhile, Malacañang told critics of President Rodrigo Duterte to let him pursue a “careful, calibrated and calculated foreign policy to its ultimate success” as hundreds of Chinese militia vessels have swarmed the West Philippine Sea since March. Next page
PLA Navymen pour out of the Shandong aircraft carrier in this file photo. China says it will hold military exercises regularly in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, coming at the heels of a Philippine Coast Guard's staging of naval drills in Philippine-claimed islands and shoals in the West Philippine Sea.
VOL. XXXV • NO. 77 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
OCTA pushes intensified swab test as cases drop By Willie Casas and Rio N. Araja METRO Manila should double its COVID-19 testing capacity to 60,000 a day to handle any sudden upsurge in cases, a researcher tracking the pandemic said Sunday. Guido David of the OCTA Research Team said that while cases are declining now to an average of more than 3,000 a day in Metro Manila, testing capacity should be doubled in case new infections shoot up again. "If we prepare for future surges our testing capacity should be at least dou-
COVID-19 PH AT A GLANCE
(AS OF 4 PM MAY 2)
1,054,983 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES
8,346 71,472 NEW
ACTIVE
17,431
77
DEATHS
NEW
966,080 9,072 NEW RECOVERIES
bled," David told GMA News Online. Guido said the average number of new COVID-19 cases nationwide went down by 11 percent during the last seven days, but this should not be seen as the effect of the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) that is now in place. The Philippines logged 8,346 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases to 1,054,983, as seven laboratories failed to submit their data on time, the Department of Health (DOH) reported. Seventy-seven new fatalities brought the COVID-19 death toll to 17,431, which is 1.65 percent of the total cases.
The DOH also reported 9,072 new recoveries, bringing the number of people who have recovered from the disease to 966,080, which is 91.6 percent of the total. Active cases stood at 71,472, which is 6.8 percent of the total. Of the active cases, 94.7 percent were mild, 1.9 percent were asymptomatic; 1.1 percent were critical; 1.4 percent were severe; and 0.9 percent were moderate. The DOH also reported that, nationwide, 64 percent of the ICU beds, 45 percent of the isolation beds, 51 percent of the ward beds, and 43 percent of the ventilators were in use.
Sputnik V 15K doses allotted to 5 Metro cities, DOH says By Willie Casas and Othel V. Campos THE initial 15,000 trial-order doses of Russia-made Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 will be distributed to five local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila, the Department of Health
(DOH) said Sunday. In an interview on radio dzBB, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the five cities--Makati, Taguig, Muntinlupa, Manila and Parañaque--were chosen because they have the cold storage facilities needed for the vaccine. Simulations for the handling of the Next page
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Wage subsidy for SMEs backed By Macon Ramos-Araneta THE proposed P24-billion wage subsidy program will enable small and medium private enterprises to retain their employees and prevent further job losses, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said Sunday. To fund the program, Drilon urged the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to immediately recommend to the President the realignment of unused special purpose funds (SPFs) and unobligated or unreleased balances of budget items in the 2021 national budget, including the P19 billion earmarked for anti-
ASTRONAUTS SPLASH DOWN OFF FLORIDA
WORLD / B2
insurgency efforts. Drilon, a former Labor secretary, said 4.4 million Filipinos went jobless in 2020, resulting in an 10 percent unemployment rate. Drilon said his study of the 2021 General Appropriations Act shows that there are P556.49 billion worth of items in the budget that can be realigned to fund the much-needed assistance to private sector workers and poor Filipinos. “I urge the DBM to immediately recommend to the President the realignment of these huge allocations in the budget," said Drilon. Next page
Oil price upswing seen at P0.40/liter By Alena Mae S. Flores OIL prices are forecast to continue its upward trend this week by as much as P0.40 per liter to reflect the movement of prices in the world market, buoyed by increased demand in the US and China. Unioil Philippines said diesel prices will likely go up by P0.30 to P0.40 per liter but gasoline prices will not move. “Expect fuel prices to have mixed movement next week (May 4 to 10). Diesel will increase by P0.30 to P0.40 per liter. Gasoline will have no price change,” the company said. On April 27, oil companies increased the price of gasoline by P0.45 per liter, Next page
MORE PANTRY SCENES. On top of grocery items, family planning products such as condoms and pills (lower panel) can be doled out to recipients of community pantries, according to the Population Commission. Meanwhile, pantry organizers in a barangay in Dasmariñas, Cavitere have devised a clevery way by requiring recipients to dip their thumbs on ink pad to prevent repeaters. JR Josue
Condoms, pills in pantries urged THE Commission on Population and tribution activities. Development has urged proponents “POPCOM is very much supportof community pantries to include ive of community pantries as a form contraceptives such as condoms and of collective action in alleviating the Next page pills as necessary goods in their dis-
DDS vs. Yellows in troll farms war DILAWAN or DDS? Senator Panfilo Lacson has just had enough of the polarization of Filipinos when it comes to important national issues, which he said was
made worse by the operation of troll farms from both sides. "We are a deeply divided nation. The DDS and the Yellows bicker over just about anything," Lacson said. Next page