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MANILA, Philippines --- The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Friday requested the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to raise to P500 the hazard pay for policemen who will act as frontliners during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis. "The PNP is coordinating with the Department of Budget and Management for availability of additional funds to complete the amount of 500 pesos as its maximum pay for frontliners," PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said in a statement. Banac explained that the current hazard pay rate is based on available funds of the PNP, but this needs augmentation from the DBM to be able to raise the daily rate to P500. According toPNP Direct...

Keep on reading: PNP asks DBM to augment frontliner cops’ hazard pay to P500

In the span of just a few days, autocrats around the world, using the cover of the Covid-19 outbreak, have reached for shockingly devious powers to take on extraordinary new powers. We are not talking about logical containment steps, such as the ordering of social distancing, lockdowns or contact tracing.

MANILA, Philippines --- Luzon dwellers would likely feel hot and humid weather tomorrow, April 4, with a low chance of rain even as Visayas and Mindanao might experience rain showers, the state weather bureau said Friday. In its forecast, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) noted that Metro Manila will have temperatures ranging from 25 to 34 degrees Celsius while Tuguegarao would sizzle at 25 to 37 degrees Celsius. The warm climate would also prevail over Laoag, which may expect temperatures ranging from 24 to 32 degrees Celsius; Baguio, 16 to 26 degrees Celsius; Tagaytay City, 21 to 32 degrees Celsius; Legazpi, 26 to 32 deg...

Keep on reading: Saturday will be hot and humid in Luzon – Pagasa

It sounds like a trick question, but is it possible to have one of the most famous horse races in the world without humans or the actual horses?

  MANILA, Philippines --- Commissioner Rowena Guanzon of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has tested negative for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). "I am NEGATIVE . Praise God for His greatness and mercy. #Masks4All," Guanzon announced on Twitter on Friday night. https://twitter.com/commrguanzon/status/1246013348270895104?s=21 The Comelec commissioner was earlier classified as a person under investigation (PUI) after being in contact with an official who was COVID-19 positive and had exhibited symptoms of the disease. As of April 3, there are 3,018 COVID-19 cases in the country, with the death toll reaching 136. Meanwhile, the total tally of recovered persons i...

Keep on reading: ‘Praise God!’ Comelec’s Guanzon tests negative for COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines --- Medical experts from countries in Southeast Asia and China have exchanged views on sustaining and further enhancing regional collective responses to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), experts from the health ministries of China and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met in a video conference on Tuesday, March 31. "Different approaches and cooperative efforts in managing COVID-19 were discussed among the ASEAN Member States and China," the DFA said in a statement Thursday. During the videoconference, health experts shared information on scaled-up and in...

Keep on reading: ASEAN-China medical experts tackle COVID-19 in video conference

  MANILA, Philippines --- The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has so far claimed the lives of 21 Filipinos abroad, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. According to figures released by the DFA on Friday, the total number of overseas Filipinos who tested positive for COVID-19 increased to 466 with 18 new cases. Of the 466 cases, 316 are currently undergoing treatment, while 129 patients have so far recovered. Seven new deaths have been recorded in America, Europe, and the Middle East regions, making the number of Filipinos who succumbed to the disease at 21, data from the DFA showed. The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Globally, the ...

Keep on reading: Filipinos abroad who lost to COVID-19 now at 21 – DFA

Chelsea have partnered with domestic abuse charity Refuge to raise awareness and funds in support of women and children who suffer from the issue during the coronavirus lockdown. Experts have warned that the virus outbreak will lead to a "domestic abuse pandemic". Self-isolation has the potential to aggravate pre-existing abusive behaviours by perpetrators and can make it more challenging for women to report and seek support. Players from Chelsea's men's and women's teams have taken part in a digital campaign, with the Premier League club promising to match all donations received in the next six-week period. "Domestic violence is such a serious issue in society and we mus...

Keep on reading: Chelsea partner with domestic abuse charity

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) saw the world shut down, driving the world into quarantine, which experts said was the most effective way to stop transmission of the virus that causes the disease.   But quarantine seemed to have reached a precipice where measures to separate people and restrict their movement have both kept people safe from the virus but brought women closer to their abusers at home.   As COVID-19 surged, so did cases of domestic violence worldwide.   Anti-abuse advocates and activists had feared the effect of quarantines and lockdowns on those who live with domestic violence. Locked down inside homes, women would...

Keep on reading: Lunas Collective: Keeping the distance that COVID-19 social distancing removes between abuser, abused

  MANILA, Philippines --- The Philippine National Police (PNP) should use data of the "rapid pass system," which speeds up vehicle inspections for frontliners and other authorized personnel during the enhanced community quarantine covering Luzon, for future "law enforcement activities," Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Friday. "Can we share this data with PNP for their later use? They will be manning checkpoints one way or another in Metro Manila. Maybe they have those databases then they can use them for any law enforcement activities that they would like to do and they would do in the future," Lorenzana said in a rapid pass system launching through a virtual press con...

Keep on reading: PNP may use ‘rapid pass data’ to regulate easy entry in checkpoints — Lorenzana

TACLOBAN CITY ---- A 5-month-old boy identified as a patient under investigation (PUI) for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) died on Thursday, April 2, at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) in this city. Based on the death certificate issued by the EVRMC, the infant, whose family returned to Anahawan town in southern Leyte from Manila on March 16, died due to pediatric community-acquired pneumonia. Swab samples taken from the boy yielded negative results for COVID-19. John Paul Roca, information officer of the Department of Health in Eastern Visayas (DOH-8), said the infant was admitted at the EVRMC ward at 1:50 a.m. on April 2 but later died at 11:45 p.m. on the s...

Keep on reading: Tacloban infant being probed for COVID-19 dies, but tests negative for the disease

OPEC will meet on Monday with Russia and other oil producers in the hope of agreeing supply cuts and ending a brutal price war.

Former Leicester City, Tottenham and Barcelona striker Gary Lineker talks to Richard Quest about the Premier League pay cut debate in the UK.

LUCENA CITY ---- The management of a private hospital in Candelaria town in Quezon province strongly condemned the harassment and discrimination against health workers after its ambulance driver was shot and wounded on Tuesday night. "Our frontliners are one of the few obstacles to the spread and fatalities of COVID-19. It is not enough to thank them. We need to protect them," the Peter Paul Medical Center of Candelaria Inc. (PPMCCI) said in a statement posted on its Facebook Thursday. Candelaria police reported that Sofronio Ramilo, 52, parked the hospital ambulance that he was driving inside the Maliwanag Subdivision in Barangay Malabanban Norte at 9:10 p.m. A subdivision resi...

Keep on reading: Quezon hospital slams harassment of health workers after shooting of ambulance driver

A group of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) on Friday (April 3) assured clients of COVID-19 coverage with nearly 24-hour assistance available for client concerns.   Carlos D. Da Silva, executive director of Association of Health Maintenance Organizations of the Philippines Inc. (AHMOPI), in a statement, said patients in hospitals "are treated from the onset of symptoms of severe colds and cough, sore throat, fever, chills, malaise, diarrhea" and others "until they are well and discharged."   At least 7 million Filipinos are currently covered by HMO policies, Da Silva said.   He said "a good number of select employees", including those manning 24-ho...

Keep on reading: Health maintenance firms assure COVID-19 coverage for 7M PH clients

MANILA, Philippines --- Former Solicitor General Florin "Pilo" Hilbay on Friday joined calls of netizens for Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) deputy administrator Margaux "Mocha" Uson to be arrested for violating the "Bayanihan to Heal as One Act." In his Tweet, Hilbay was making a point against a provision in the newly enacted law criminalizing the act of sowing disinformation in the time of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, by prodding the government to make an example of Uson's recent online gaffe, perceived as many netizens as another act of peddling fake news in her widely popular blog. "The Bayanihan Act dangerously criminalizes fake news. O sige nga......

Keep on reading: Hilbay joins calls for Mocha’s arrest after posting ‘fake news’ in her blog

A new video game tournament is offering NBA stars a chance for a competitive outlet, as players who would normally be preparing for the postseason are instead practicing social distancing.

"Deadpool" movie star Ryan Reynolds stressed to his younger fans the importance of taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously during his interview at "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." Reynolds chatted with the TV host via videocall about the actor and his wife Blake Lively's efforts to help people who are affected by the crisis, a portion of which has been uploaded on the show's YouTube channel yesterday, April 2. The actor, known for his keen sense of humor, joked with Colbert about how he plans to keep himself alive during the quarantine, in case things turn for the worse, and bared what he and his family have been doing to pass the time at home like homeschooling and gardening. ...

Keep on reading: Ryan Reynolds decries young people not taking COVID-19 more seriously

A man who worked for the UK's National Health Service (NHS) for 20 years was "neglected" by his employer after he contracted Covid-19 and died, alleges his daughter Tamira Harvey.

  BACOLOD CIY ---- The city government of Sagay, Negros Occidental has found a way to convince residents to stay home during the province-wide enhanced community quarantine in the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. A funeral vehicle has been roving around the city. On top is a white coffin while on the side is a message that reads: "Mag Tinir Sa Balay, O Sulod Ka Sa Lungon (Stay at home, or you end up inside the coffin." To remind the curfew violators of the dangers of COVID-19, they are penalized with attending an overnight vigil before an empty white coffin inside the Sagay City Gym, said Sagay police chief, Major Antonio Benitez. He said 30 viola...

Keep on reading: Quarantine violators in Negros Occidental town penalized by attending ‘wake’ of empty coffin