Tag

// COVID-19
JUL
22
2020

More ‘persons deprived of life’ if pandemic timebombs in prisons not defused

The “PDL” stenciled on the prisoners’ OOTD stands for “Person Deprived of Liberty.” As we are still a government of laws, let us make sure that COVID will not change it to “Person Deprived of Life.”  Our congested jails—where prisoners are no longer packed like sardines, but
JUL
15
2020

On the IATF’s ‘house-to-house’ plan

Health-related announcements are better left to doctors. If the nation is the patient, let those trained to have good bedside manners announce the treatment.  We have to choose and curate the words we use, so nothing will be lost in translation and transmission.  We
JUL
01
2020

Hit by pandemic, NAIA may soon become ‘Need Assistance International Airport’

NAIA’s immediate problem is not its signage, but its bottomline, as travel lockdown may cut its 2020 revenues by as much as P10 billion—barely enough for the country’s gateway to keep payroll and the lights on, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said.  “NAIA is a
JUN
29
2020

On the stranded ship passengers

Sending them home by boat was no Dunkirk-like evacuation, and yet it failed. The huddled, hungry, drenched stranded travellers painstakingly complied with all the health and police requirements, only to be denied boarding because of a new requirement. Their dreams of going home
JUN
19
2020

‘Visa center na, pera padala force pa,’ Recto on unburdening PNP of travel pass job

The police should be “unburdened” of the duty to issue travel passes, “a clerical job which draws them away from their far more important responsibilities,” Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said. “The most important requirement is the medical certificate issued by a
JUN
10
2020

Rush Google-like justice system database for fast verification of arrest warrants—Recto

Government should rush the establishment of “its own Google search-like app for arrest warrants” to spare namesakes of fugitives from being denied security clearances, held at ports or harassed by unscrupulous public officers. This was the call of Senate President Pro Tempore
JUN
08
2020

‘No ride, no work; no back ride, no jeepney ride’ pushing up joblessness – Recto

You want to restart the economy? Then let PUVs restart their engines. There are three important T’s today: tests, trabaho, transportasyon. Screening for coronavirus is no longer a requisite for returning to work. But without a ride, there is no work. And no work, no pay. Allowing
JUN
07
2020

PNP must be a Malasakit Center that is kind to hungry protesters

Policemen, in general, have acted as officers and gentlemen who serve and protect the people during this pandemic. These frontliners deserve the nation’s thanks. It is, however, hard to find gallantry or valor in the acts of the few who arrested hungry drivers demanding work,
JUN
06
2020

Give OFWs red carpet, not sidewalk treatment; help OCWs—Out-of-job Construction Workers—too

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto today welcomed the government’s “gone in five days” policy for returning OFWs transiting through Manila on their way home “as one that is painfully overdue.” But as more airports reopen to receive flights from abroad, Recto said th
JUN
04
2020

Cash aid to health workers who got COVID-19 to be tax-free, released within 90 days

After it was revealed that not one of the hundreds of health workers who had fallen ill or died from COVID-19 had received a centavo of the compensation mandated by the Bayanihan Act, senators have amended the law to expedite the release of the cash aid and make it tax-exempt.