Marcos, Anwar agree to bring South China Sea...

The Philippines and Malaysia are claimants to parts of South China Sea, which China is claiming to be nearly entirely its own.

Anwar said he and Marcos also discussed security ties, which the Malaysian leader said remained strong, growing and needed further enhancement.

The Malaysian leader also mentioned the plight of Filipinos facing legal woes in his country, saying he had asked Philippine officials during his meeting with Marcos to collaborate with Malaysia for repatri- ation of the Filipinos.

“I have asked the Philippines’ assistance and cooperation to expedite the commutation of nationals so that they can be repatriated to the Philippines in a timely manner,” said Anwar.

“And I am pleased that — their willingness to facilitate this arrangement in a mutually agreed fashion,” he said.

On economic cooperation, Anwar said he reiterated Malaysia’s commitment to continue supporting and enhancing the Brunei Darussalam- Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) including host- ing the Brunei- Indonesia- Malaysia- Philippines Facilitation Center.

He added that the new administration in Malaysia will be “more than happy” to further enhance collaboration and people-to-people interaction.

“Our bilateral cooperation is multi-sectoral covering trade and investment, education, health, agriculture, health, tourism and culture,” Anwar said, adding that the first generation of Malaysian professionals benefitted immensely from work at Los Baños in Laguna and some known centers of learning in the Philippines. n

California updates several public...

treatments when positive, and masking to slow the spread. With these critical actions, and a lot of patience and persistence, we have now reached a point where we can update some of the COVID-19 guidance to continue to balance prevention and adapting to living with COVID-19.”

CDPH is making the following changes to existing COVID-19 guidance.

Masking in high-risk and health care settings

Beginning April 3, masks will no longer be required in indoor high-risk and health care settings. This includes health care, longterm care, and correctional facilities as well as homeless, emergency, and warming and cooling centers. This change takes effect on Monday, April 3 to allow local health departments and individual health care facilities to develop and implement plans customized to their needs and local conditions to continue to protect Californians through the end of the winter virus season. CDPH’s recommendations for the use of face masks for individuals remain unchanged.

Vaccine requirements for

Health Care Workers

Beginning April 3, with federal rules continuing to ensure that most health care workers remain vaccinated for COVID-19, the state will no longer require vaccination for health care workers including those in adult care, direct care, correctional facilities, and detention centers. This change takes effect on Monday, April 3 to allow local health departments and facilities to develop and implement plans customized to their needs and local conditions to continue to protect Californians through the end of the winter virus season.

Reduced isolation time after positive COVID-19 test

Beginning March 13, a COVID-19 positive person may end isolation after five days if they feel well, have improving symptoms, and are fever-free for 24 hours, with less emphasis on testing negative. This change aligns with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations and takes effect on Monday, March 13.

Disease control and prevention order

The state public health officer order formerly known as Beyond the Blueprint is being updated to align with CDPH’s isolation and quarantine recommendations above and includes an updated definition for a confirmed COVID-19 case. The updated order, which will take effect March 13, provides prevention and mitigation strategies for slowing the spread of COVID-19 in homes, workplaces, and communities.

Hospital surge order

On April 3, CDPH will rescind an order that required hospitals statewide to accept transfer patients from facilities with limited ICU capacity as needed. ICU capacity has not been limited during recent COVID-19 surges after the broad use of vaccines and treatments. Vaccine data collection Also being rescinded on April 3 is an order that required providers to ask patients for their email addresses and/or mobile phone numbers when receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. New legislation requires that California healthcare providers who administer vaccines to enter information about patients, including telephone numbers and race and ethnicity. (AJPress)

PH reaffirms ‘continuing’ commitment to..

of crimes and for the dismissal of cases with no reasonable certainty of convictions pending before the courts.

“The Philippines continues its tradition of open, constructive, and active engagement on human rights with the UN and international stakeholders, including civil society,” stressed Remulla.

“There are a lot challenges in our mission to reform our jail and prison system in the Philippines, and our unique situation drives us to find new ways and outside-thebox- solutions to hurdle them,” he added.

Upon the Philippine government’s invitation, the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and his team visited the Philippines last month to initiate an immediate program for capacity building of doctors.

“Come July, after their training, this group would become mentors to cascade down their knowledge in order to have forensic experts in all regions of the country,” the Council said.

Remulla draws line vs ICC

However, Remulla was firm on stating that the Philippines “rejects” the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s drug war investigation into alleged crimes against humanity during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

The ICC earlier cleared the way for its prosecutors to resume the investigation into the drug war killings, a decision currently under appeal with the ICC’s Appeals Chamber.

It was anticipated that the UNHRC will try to convince the Philippine delegation to allow it, but Remulla said: “We draw the line, as any sovereign state must, when an international institution overreaches and departs from the boundaries of its creation.

Upon this context, the Philippine government rejects the ICC’s decision to resume investigations over alleged crimes committed during the anti-illegal drug campaign.”

Remulla has been vocal about not letting the ICC conduct its probe on Philippine soil, viewing the whole process as an insult and act of attempting to “take over” the country’s functioning justice system.

Upholding sovereignty, the complementarity principle in international law, and the ICC’s lack of jurisdiction over the Philippines have been key arguments of the government’s top litigators in stopping the ICC probe.

Remulla did assure the UNHRC that there was no culture of impunity in the Philippines, stressing that its own investigative and human rights mechanisms would be enough to address extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations being alleged and no longer needs the help of external bodies like the ICC.

“National sovereignty and international solidarity, go hand in hand, complement each other and create the fertile ground in which human rights can truly flourish. Let us uphold sovereignty and harness solidarity to promote and protect human rights and dignity for all,” he said.

“We have a working justice system that is a cornerstone of our accountability mechanism. Our prosecutors and courts are ready, able and willing to prosecute anyone if the evidence so warrants,” he added.

Last year, the Philippines held constructive dialogues with multiple human rights committees and participated in an enhanced interactive dialogue with the Council.

“The Philippines had accepted 215 out of 289 recommendations received at the Universal Periodic Review, assuring that extrajudicial killings had never been, and would never be a state policy,” Remulla said. n