Arroyo Slams Duterte Critics on CoViD-19 Response

Manila - Former President and Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came to the defense of President Rodrigo Duterte amid the flak the government is getting for its COVID-19 response.

In a now-deleted Facebook post on Tuesday, Arroyo told Duterte’s critics, whom she called “Monday morning quarterbacks,” that it is “easy” for them to criticize when they are not in charge.

“Monday morning quarterbacks” are people who criticize something after the event has passed.

“It is easy for them to be a Monday morning quarterback because they are not the ones in charge,” she said.

Arroyo, who served as Speaker of the Hous of Representatives from July 2018 to June 2019, is known to be a supporter of Duterte.

She has previously said she has the highest respect for government officials, especially those at the forefront of the COVID-19 response.

Arroyo was president of the country during the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, bird flu in 2006, and swine flu in 2009.

“I was head of our government in the SARS, avian flu, and swine flu. From that perspective, I must say that I have nothing but the highest respect for all of those in our government now battling in the arena, from President [Rodrigo] Duterte to Sec. [Carlito] Galvez, to Sec. [Francisco] Duque and to each and every frontliner in the trenches and checkpoints, many of whom have given their lives in this fight,” Arroyo said during a House hearing.

“I have been in the arena, so I think I have earned the right to say that an ounce of their effort is worth more than the ton of criticism they receive day in and day out,” she added. 

via INQUIRER.Net

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PhilHealth Approved The Purchase Of Overpriced Equipment And Software - Head

Quezon City - Philippine Health Insurance Corp (PhilHealth) president Ricardo Morales and other high-ranking officials approved the purchase of overpriced equipment and software amounting to millions of pesos, a board member of the state-run insurance firm said Tuesday.

The PhilHealth's initial information and technology (IT) budget for 2020 was pegged at P2.1 billion, but the proposal was thumbed down after a review of the costs showed that multiple items were either overpriced or were redundant, said Alejandro Cabading, a certified public accountant who was part of the agency's board of directors.

"There were numbers in the IT budget and financial reports that do not add up," Cabading said during a Senate investigation.

Cabading said the budget proposal was questionable because several items were priced up to quadruple the amount approved by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

Among the allegedly dubious items in the PhilHealth's IT budget are as follows:

- P21 million for Adobe Master Collection software (DICT approved cost: P168,000)

- P40 million for Application servers and licenses (DICT approved cost: P25 million)

- P5 million for Structured cabling (DICT approved cost: P500,000)

- P42 million for Identity Management software (DICT approved cost: P20 million)

- P21 million for office productivity software (DICT approved cost: P5 million)

- P25 million for application servers and virtualization licenses (DICT approved cost: P14.8 million)

The "anomalous" proposal also had questionable items like two sets of laptops with one amounting to P4.11 million, while another worth P115.32 million.

Another item priced at P98.07 million was only labeled as "three projects," Cabading said.

"I tried to find a solution by raising this with management, but the most frustrating part is it seems that management seems to be tolerating this act," he sasaid

Report Credit @ ABS-CBN News

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PhilHealth Could Collapse If Pandemic Persists - Official

PhilHealth could collapse if pandemic persists

Manila - The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) could collapse by 2022 if the coronavirus pandemic persists, an official warned Tuesday.

“By next year po, wala na po tayong reserve funds. So one year lang po ang ating actuarial life,” Nerissa Santiago, Acting PhilHealth Senior Vice President, and Concurrent Vice President of Data Protection Officer, said during the Senate hearing on alleged widespread corruption within the state health pension fund.

Santiago was responding to queries of Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, who was inquiring about the actuarial life of PhilHealth.

“So you’re saying that the actuarial life of PhilHealth is only one year?” Drilon asked. “Are you saying that  in 2022 there will be no more PhilHealth?”

“Yes sir,” Santiago replied.

Drilon said the disclosure was worrisome.

Santiago explained that the agency expects a net operating loss of P90 billion this year and P147 billion in 2021 if the pandemic persists and no vaccine is discovered.

To keep the agency afloat, she said the government should give more contributions or subsidies to PhilHealth.

“This is very serious. We would like really to hear what steps you are going to undertake assuming that your projections are true,” Drilon said. “This is really a cause of concern for the entire country when you are saying that in 2021 unless additional subsidies are given in the national budget, the PhilHealth system will collapse.”

Before the pandemic, Santiago said the actuarial life of PhilHealth was more than 10 years.

The pandemic, however, had a “double impact” on the agency’s program because of the decreased collections and expected increase in benefit payouts. 

(Via Inquirer)

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READ| DOH CoViD-19 Update - August 3, 2020

LOOK: DOH COVID-19 CASE BULLETIN #142

As of 4PM today, August 03, 2020, the Department of Health reports the total number of COVID-19 cases at 106,330.

A total of 3,226  confirmed  cases are reported  based on the total tests done by 66 out of 94 current operational labs.

DOH likewise announces 275 recoveries.  This brings the total number of recoveries to 65,821. 

Note:

With 3,226 additional cases reported today, 2,543 (79%) cases occurred within the recent 14 days (July 21 to August 3). The top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were NCR (1,267 or 50%), Region 4A (445 or 17%) and Region 7 (353 or 14%). 

Of the 46 deaths, 37 (80%) in July, 6 (13%) in June, 2 (4%) in May and 1 (2%) in March. Deaths were from Region 7 (38 or 83%), NCR (3 or 7%), CAR (2 or 4%), Region 3 (1 or 2%), Region 4A (1 or 2%), and Region 6 (1 or 2%).

There were eighty-one (81) duplicates that were removed from the total case count. Of these, ten (10) recovered cases have been removed.

Moreover, we have updated the outcomes of two (2) cases. One (1) was previously reported as death but updated as recovered and one (1) case was previously reported as recovered but updated as death after final validation; these are already included in the count of new deaths and recoveries.

These numbers undergo constant cleaning and validation.

via DOH

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READ: DOH CoViD-19 Report - August 2, 2020

DOH COVID-19 CASE BULLETIN #141

As of 4PM today, August 02, 2020, the Department of Health reports the total number of COVID-19 cases at 103,185.

A total of 5,032  confirmed  cases are reported  based on the total tests done by 70 out of 94 current operational labs.

DOH likewise announces 301 recoveries.  This brings the total number of recoveries to 65,557. 

Note: 

Of the 20 deaths, 14 (70%) in July, 3 (15%) in June and 3 (15%) in

May . Deaths were from Region 7 (15 or 75%), NCR (4 or 20%), and

Region 4A (1 or 5%)

There were seventy-nine (79) duplicates that were removed from

the total case count. Of these, eight (8) recovered cases have been

removed.

Moreover, One (1) case that was previously reported to have recovered has been validated to have died and already included in the count ofnew deaths.

These numbers undergo constant cleaning and validation.

Via DOH, Edson Guido

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