LIFE IS HERE, INDEED.
Revelers perform during the ‘Indak-Indak sa Kadayawan’ on Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022, at the San Pedro Street in Davao City. City officials said their target of 50,000 tourists has been met, with hotels fully occupied. Brian Congson Studios
Vol. 36
n
No. 186
August 21, 2022
2 SECTIONS 8 PAGES
20 .00
IN MET R MANILAO
Chaos at DSWD aid payout Dozens hurt as unruly crowds mar distribution of ayuda for students
n By Vince Lopez and Maricel Cruz
D
OZENS of people were injured while several others fainted in several distribution sites of the Department of Social Welfare and Development across the country in a crush of students and parents seeking a cash handout ahead of the reopening of schools Saturday.
At the DSWD headquarters in Quezon City, chaos ensued as crowds gathered outside, with some caught on video forcibly opening the gate and pushing security guards, riot police, and DSWD personnel as they tried to enter the office. In the southern city of Zamboanga, about 5,000 people stood outside a high school where cash was to be given out.
“When they heard the gates were about to open, they rushed forward,” police officer Josen Samsula said. “The driveway slopes downward so what happened was they stumbled and fell on the ground.” Twenty-nine people were treated in hospital for “minor injuries,” said Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo, who had announced the cash payments in recent days. “I am sorry and I ask for your patience. I CONTINUED ON 3A
Acting SRA administrator named, import order signatories replaced n By VINCE LOPEZ PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has replaced all three board members of the Sugar Regulatory Administration who signed the “illegal” order to import 300,000 metric tons of sugar without his approval. Mr. Marcos appointed David John Thaddeus Alba as SRA acting administrator, vice Hermenegildo Serafica who earlier resigned over the controversial Sugar Order No. 4.
The President also appointed Pablo Luis Azcona and Ma. Mitzi Mangwag as board members. Azcona replaced Aurelio Valderrama Jr. – the only one among the four signatories to SO No. 4 who did not resign – as representative of sugar planters while Mangwag replaced Roland Beltran, who resigned due to health reasons, as representative of sugar millers. Alba, prior to his appointment, was the general manager of the planters’ CONTINUED ON 3A
Softdrink firms need 450,000 MT of premium refined sugar n By MARICEL V. CRUZ BEVERAGE giant Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc. on Saturday said the bottling industry needs about 450,000 metric tons of premium refined sugar. Coca-Cola Philippines issued the statement after President Ferdinand Marcos said the government will likely import 150,000 metric tons of sugar to address the shortfall in local supply – or only half of the 300,000 metric tons contained in an unauthorized order signed by former members of the Sugar Regulatory Administration board. “We would like to thank President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., concurrently the
head of the Department of Agriculture and chairman of the Sugar Regulatory Administration, for his immediate action in addressing the current shortage of premium refined sugar in the Philippines. We’d like to emphasize, however, that not all sugar is the same,” the beverage firm said. “Food and beverage manufacturers need premium refined sugar to maintain high-quality products. This type of sugar is not the same sugar that is commonly used in households,” it added. Coca-Cola Philippines said there is a 400,000 metric ton gap on top of a starting gap of 200,000 metric tons of CONTINUED ON 3A
DESPERATE TIMES. At least 12,000 students went to four field offices in Cagayan Valley region Saturday to line up for the cash assistance to be released by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The chaotic scene is replicated in other DSWD offices across the country, including at its Central Office in Quezon City (inset, above) where parents and students who did not make the cut-off were seen in a video grab forcibly pushing the gates open. In Zamboanga City (inset, below) a photo released by the Philippine Quick Response System shows people receiving medical attention after getting hurt in a crush for educational cash aid ahead of the reopening of schools. AFP, DSWD Region 2 Office
NCR stays Alert Level 1 till Aug. 31 THE government retained Metro Manila and several other areas under Alert 1 even as the country recorded an increase in COVID-19 related deaths in the past two months, with unvaccinated people accounting for at least 63 percent of the fatalities, the Department of Health said Saturday. The provinces of Occidental Mindoro and Camarines Sur, and municipalities of Poro, Cebu; Talalora, Western Samar; Pualas, Lanao del Sur; and Binidayan, Lanao del Sur have likewise been de-escalated to Alert Level 1, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) said. “Based on IATF-EID metrics, these areas were able to de-escalate by maintaining their case classification and total beds utili-
zation rates at low risk, and reaching or nearing the vaccination thresholds for target population and target A2 (senior citizens) priority group,” the DOH said. The country on Saturday logged 3,715 new COVID-19 infections. The DOH also reported 4,753 new recovering, resulting in a decrease in active cases at 36,146. However, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said there was only an average of one death per day last June. “There is an observed increase in the number of deaths over these past months. In June, we were averaging one death per day. Now, we recorded this July, we CONTINUED ON 3A
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