NATIONAL NEWS

Ibinunyag ng Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) na sangkot din umano sa pagpatay sa isang Filipino-Chinese Businessman si Joel Sanvicente, ama ng nag-viral na SUV driver na nanagasa ng isang security guard sa Mandaluyong City, kamakailan.

Ayon kay VACC President Arsenio “Boy” Evangelista, naakusahan si Sanvicente na pumatay sa isang lalaki sa harap ng ATM booth sa Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City noong Hunyo a-11 1995.

Si Joel Sanvicente aniya na kinasuhan sa pagpatay kay Wong at ama ng viral SUV driver na si Jose Antonio Sanvicente, ay iisang tao.

Batay sa record ng Korte Suprema, binaril umano ni Sanvicente si Wong matapos siyang tangkaing pagnawakan ng malaking pera na kaka-withdraw lamang niya mula sa ATM.

Ipinakita rin sa record ng Korte Suprema na ang isinuko ni Joel Sanvicente na Cal. 45 sa pamamagitan ng kanyang abogado, ay tumugma sa mga slug at shell na natagpuan sa lugar ng krimen.

Noong Agosto 29, 1996, naghain ng ‘motion to dismiss’ ang kampo ng akusado dahil sa kawalan ng positibong pagkakakilanlan sa pumatay kay Wong.

At noong Oktubre 7, 1996, naglabas ng kautusan ang trial court na nagbabasura sa kaso ni Sanvicente dahil sa kakulangan ng ebidensya.

Hindi na naman sumipot sa preliminary hearing kahapon si Jose Antonio Sanvicente, driver ng SUV na sumagasa sa isang security guard sa Mandaluyong nitong Hunyo.

Para sana ito sa pagdinig kaugnay sa kasong Frustrated Murder na isinampa laban sa kaniya.

Tanging abogado ni Sanvicente na si Danny Macalino ang pumunta sa pagdinig na naganap sa Mandaluyong City Hall of Justice.

Dismayado naman ang kampo ng Security guard na si Christian Joseph Floralde na sa kabila ng hirap sa paglalakad ay nanumpa pa rin sa kaniyang affidavit.

Paliwanag naman ng abogado ni Sanvicente na hihintayin muna nila ang kopya ng reklamo bago magbigay ng counter-affidavit.

Sa Hunyo 23 magaganap ang susunod na hearing sa kaso.

Ibiniro ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte ang pagtutuloy sa ‘Duterte Tandem’ kasama ang kaniyang anak na si Vice President elect Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Ayon sa Pangulo, maituturing na coincidence at unang kaganapan sa kasaysayan ng bansa na nasa pinakamataas na pwesto ang mag-ama.

Bukas, nakatakdang manumpa bilang ika-15 pangalawang Pangulo ng Pilipinas si Duterte-Carpio na magaganap sa davao city.

Gaganapin naman ang inagurasyon ni President-elect Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. sa Hunyo a-30 sa National Museum sa Maynila.

Nakadepende na ang desisyon sa mga pribadong kumpanya kung muling magpapatupad ng Work From Home (WFH) arrangement sa kanilang mga manggagawa.

Ipinabatid ni Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Sec. Joey Concepcion na sa kanilang kumpanya tuwing Biyernes lamang ang work  from home set up ngunit mula Lunes hanggang Huwebes ay kailangan pumasok ng pisikal sa opisina.

Ani Concepcion, dahil sa patuloy na pagtaas ng presyo ng produktong petrolyo, kapansin pansin ang pagbaba ng mobility o pagbiyahe ng mga tao kaya ang iba ay mas pinipili na lamang ang work from home set up.

Samantala, aminado si Concepcion na kapag nagpatuloy ang walang tigil na oil price hike at iba pang pagtaas ng bilihin ay maaapektuhan ang ekonomiya ng bansa.

WITH no less than the Department of Health warning of a possible increase in severe and critical Covid19 cases by August due to the waning immunity of the primary vaccine series, incoming President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. on Friday called on the public to avail of the free booster shots being offered by the government.

Marcos highlighted the urgency of taking booster doses noting that the waning immunity stems from the effect of the highly transmissible Omicron variant on the primary vaccine series.

“With the Covid pandemic still ongoing, different variants may still emerge. And as we have seen, some variants are not as resistant to the first and second doses as others. Hence, there is a need to enhance our immunity by getting booster shots. Kailangan ng dagdag na proteksyon,” he said.

A study on more than one million people in Qatar showed that people who were infected with an earlier version of the coronavirus and received three doses of an mRNA vaccine appear to be best protected against symptomatic infection by the Omicron variant.

This, as Marcos stressed the need for continued compliance with the minimum public health standards to prevent another surge of cases that could impede the country’s economic recovery.

“We have already made economic headways and we should not allow them to be brought to naught. This is why I am urging everyone to take part in preventing another surge that could block our way to economic recovery,” he said.

“We have to wear face masks and comply with other health standards to ensure our safety and that of our loved ones,” Marcos added.

Earlier, the health department has warned of a possible increase in severe and critical Covid19 cases by August due to the waning immunity of the public.

It also warned that while hospitals are not overwhelmed at present, there could be an increase in hospitalization by August as there would be more severe and critical cases because of the waning immunity of the population.

The agency reported that the average number of new cases per day rose to 270 from 182 per day last week.

The OCTA Research group also projected the number of new Covid cases nationwide to hit 450 to 500, with 250 of those coming from the National Capital Region as it noted that the single-day positivity rate in NCR had increased to 4%.

OCTA added that the new COVID-19 infections have accelerated with a reproduction number of 1.59, a slight increase from 1.29 last week.

Reproduction rate refers to the number of people infected by one case. A reproduction number that is below 1 indicates that the transmission of the virus is slowing down.

On Thursday the DOH recorded 425 new COVID-19 infections, the highest daily number of new infections in over two months, since 690 new infections were logged on April 3.

The new cases bring the nationwide caseload to 3,694,529, while the country’s active case count also continues to increase, reaching 3,462 on Thursday from 3,211 on Wednesday.

INCOMING President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. discussed strengthening various areas of cooperation such as economy, trade, food security, defense, pharmaceuticals, education, culture, and energy, among others, as he met with more members of the diplomatic community on Friday.

This, as ambassadors from Poland, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Australia, met with him during separate courtesy calls.

Facing the media after their meeting, Australian ambassador Steven James Robinson said their discussion covered the long-standing relations between Philippines and Australia, which he said has gotten stronger, broader and deeper since its start during the 1800’s.

Robinsons added that they discussed the area of defense, particularly the cooperation between the Australian defense force and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the training that they conduct with the AFP and Australia’s strong support for the Philippine military.

Australia’s development assistance to the Philippines was also another issue taken up, especially its $80-million a year investment in the Philippines to provide assistance particularly for BARMM.

He added they also discussed the growing people to people links between their two countries and how to build on these linkages to promote strategic partnership between the two nations, as well as the developments in the West Philippine Sea.

“I reiterated our commitment to the Philippines in supporting the outcome of the arbitral award, and supporting the Philippines, as it goes forward dealing with difficult regional issues,” the envoy said.

“I think President-elect Marcos is going to take either a measured or balanced approach, in terms of how he approaches all of these issues to seek the best outcome,” he said.

For his part, Jaroslaw Szczepankiewicz, Chargé d’ Affaires of Poland, said they discussed possible expansion of cooperation, especially on food security and defense, adding that Poland is producing Black Hawks for the Philippine Air Force.

He added that Poland also committed to help in the post-pandemic economic recovery using its expertise being the first digitalized administration in the European Union.

“We also discussed the increase of the people to people contacts in the context of first, overseas Filipino workers coming to Poland, second constant increase in numbers and opportunities for the development of cultural and scientific cooperation, and third in terms of the Polish scholarship to the Filipino students,” he said.

Meanwhile, F.M. Borhan Uddin, Ambassador of Bangladesh, said he and Marcos had a fruitful discussion in boosting cooperation in agriculture.

Uddin said they also discussed extending the cooperation between the Philippines and Bangladesh to pharmaceuticals and trade in the industries of ceramics, glass fiber, and garments.

Bangladesh is enjoying a boom in the pharmaceutical industry, exporting medicines to at least 140 countries around the globe, including the United States and European Union countries.

“So, we are hoping to enhance our cooperation in this sector also, and maybe there will be some investment from Bangladesh here in the Philippines in this sector,” the ambassador said.

To recall, Marcos earlier expressed his intention to boost the local manufacturing of generic medicines.

Peter Francis Tavita Kell, Ambassador of New Zealand for his part disclosed that they discussed beefing up existing areas of cooperation, particularly in strengthening peace, prosperity, and stability in the Asia Pacific region.

“Sinabi ko sa kanya na pinahahalagahan namin ang kasalukuyang ugnayan ng New Zealand at Pilipinas,” he said in the vernacular.

“We also discussed the contribution that the Filipino community makes to New Zealand, we discussed the opportunity for more travel between our two countries, tourism, education,” he continued.

For her part, Folakemi Ibidunni Akinleye, Ambassador of Nigeria, said she and BBM discussed areas of cooperation in agriculture, gas, natural gas, technology, and finance, among others.

“We discussed everything that these two countries can benefit from because the truth of the matter is that the whole world now needs collaboration, we’ve seen what has happened after the pandemic, and the Russia – Ukraine war has changed the dynamics, so we need more collaboration and that’s what we discussed,” she said.

With Nigeria being the No. 12 oil producer in the world and number 3 producer of natural gas, the ambassadress said they could help the Philippines by supplying oil and natural gas.

She added that with the Philippines having unexplored natural gas resources, they could engage in technology transfer to help the country tap its natural gas resources.

Akinleye also invited Marcos for a state visit to Nigeria soon.