to publish anything critical of government

by Janvic Mateo Philstar.com

MANILA — Several months into the second Marcos administration, about one in every two adult Filipinos still thinks that it is dangerous to publish or broadcast anything critical of the government, a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) at the end of 2022 showed.

Results of the Dec. 10 to 14, 2022 survey released a week after World Press Freedom Day on May 3 showed that 47 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, “It is dangerous to print or broadcast anything critical of the administration, even if it is the truth.”

This figure is comprised of 19 percent who said they “strongly agree” with the statement and 28 percent who said they “somewhat agree.”

Some 26 percent of respondents disagreed (14 percent “somewhat disagree,” 12 percent “strongly disagree”), while 27 percent were undecided. Those who believe it is dangerous to publish information critical of the administration barely moved from the 46 percent obtained in a similar survey December 2021 (13 percent strongly agree, 34 percent somewhat agree), when the government was still headed by former president Rodrigo Duterte. SWS data showed that it went as high as 65 percent in November 2020, before dropping to 42 percent in May

2021 and 45 percent in June and September 2021.

Meanwhile, the number of those who think that it is not dangerous to publish information critical of the government increased from 19 percent in September 2021 (12 percent somewhat disagree, six percent strongly disagree) to 22 percent in December 2021 (16 percent somewhat disagree, five percent strongly disagree). n

“The most important thing about this bill is we will equitably distribute our doctors to areas that do not have them,” he said, noting the reality about the “insufficiency of medical professionals in the country despite the UHC’s Mandatory Medical Service Bill.

“For Universal Health Care to be successful, we need to have doctors in far-flung places, in our barrios and rural communities, so we can equitably provide our services,” Golez said. Golez is a former barrio doctor who served the public for more than 20 years.

Sources from the Department of Health and the House of

During the Wednesday, May 10 Kapihan sa Manila Bay press briefing, Gordon said authorities should be on the lookout for diseases, both old and new, that could trigger a pandemic.

“Moving forward, you really have to practice and practice your intelligence gathering for whatever diseases there are that can be of pandemic proportions,” Gordon said.

“That should be dealt with, this early,” he added.

He pushed for the establishment of a center for disease control.

“A bill has been filed before the Congress. What it will do is it will set us up for protection for new diseases,” Gordon said.

He said the government should learn from past mistakes and be

SD#0237

Request for Proposals (RFP)

On-Call Legal Services - Employment Law

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) is seeking proposals from qualified attorneys to provide outside legal services on an as-needed basis for matters related to employment law and regulations. A copy of the Request for Proposals (RFP) and related informational documents can be accessed from the SANDAG website at www.sandag.org/contracts or by contacting: Gabriella LeRoy, SANDAG, 401 B Street, Suite 800, San Diego, CA 92101, gabriella.leroy@sandag.org All other details are available on Bidnetdirect.com\sandag

RFP Title: As-Needed Construction Management Services - Federal Contract Numbers: H2326236, H2326237 & H2326238

The solicitation may be obtained from the City’s website at: https://www. sandiego.gov/cip/bidopps

It is the policy of the City of San Diego to encourage equal opportunity in its Construction and Consultant contracts. Bids or proposals from local firms, small, minority-owned, disabled, veteran-owned, and women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged. Consultants are encouraged to subcontract with and/or participate in joint ventures with these firms. The City is committed to equal opportunity and will not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, gender expression, gender identity, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, or disability; and will not do business with any firm that discriminates on any basis. Proposals shall be received no later than the date and time noted in the solicitation which can be found at the following site:

City of San Diego’s Electronic Proposal Site – PlanetBids at: https://www.planetbids. com/portal/portal. cfm?companyID=17950.

Claudia Abarca, Director Purchasing & Contracting Department Thursday, May 11, 2023 5/12/23

CNS-3698575#

Not yet over

THE World Health Organization has announced that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency, but stressed that the pandemic is not yet over. This announcement could prove to be as confusing as the WHO’s declaration of COVID as a public health emergency of international concern or PHEIC on Jan. 20, 2020.

The PHEIC is supposed to be the highest alert level that the WHO can declare, but the term and the acronym were gobbledygook for many governments, which waited for a clear pronouncement about a pandemic. This came only on March 11, over a month after the Philippines recorded its first two COVID-19 patients. These were tourists from the Chinese city of Wuhan, Ground Zero of the disease, with the man becoming the first COVID-19 fatality outside China and the first in the Philippines. Days later, the Duterte administration placed Metro Manila, and then the entire Luzon, under strict lockdown. No one wants to return to those lockdowns, meant to prevent the spread of the lethal virus at a time when there was still no vaccine in sight, but which put the economy on the path to its worst recession since World War II. Today there is a debate even over continued masking in public places. While the Inter-Agency Task Force has said there is no need to restore

Babe’s Eye View

BaBe Romualdez

THE last time a sitting Philippine president visited Washington, D.C. was more than a decade ago. Being fortunate to be in the front seat as the Philippine Ambassador to the United States, we were all extremely pleased that the visit of President Marcos Jr. was highly successful on behalf of the country and our national interest. Neither the president nor anyone of us are expecting accolades for the visit’s success; everyone who participated in this event simply believed in just how important the relationship is between the Philippines and the United States.

The four-day official visit was highlighted by the bilateral meeting between President Marcos Jr. and President Joe Biden at the Oval Office, which turned out to be fruitful and cordial. It was only natural that both leaders recognized the importance of such a meeting in revitalizing the alliance between our two nations, and the need

Virtual Reality

IT is now clear as a hot summer day the United States won’t pay direct compensation for the use by the U.S. armed forces of what is now nine Philippine military bases located from north to central to south of the 7,600-island archipelago.

The reason maybe is that some generals or naughty politicians could fritter away such sums ($500 million a year when President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos was in power), if they join the wrong side of history.

Instead, the U.S. government will invest money, by itself or jointly with large American companies or institutions, in people, in their wellbeing, education, livelihood, infrastructure, in their communities. The result is a better life for many Filipinos.

The May 1-4, 2023 official visit of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr., 65, and the deals he wangled from the administration of President Joseph Biden, 80, certify him as an American boy. But it does not mean BBM mask mandates, it still bears noting that confirmed COVID cases and positivity rates have been steadily rising in the past weeks amid the detection of highly transmissible strains of the Omicron variant.

While Omicron has produced mostly mild symptoms especially among the vaccinated and boosted, it can still lead to infections that are serious enough to require hospitalization. It can still lead to death. Health experts have warned of waning immunity from vaccines and previous infection.

From May 1 to 7, daily COVID cases nationwide surged to an average of 1,352 – 112 percent higher than the 637 daily cases recorded from April 24 to 30, according to the Department of Health. In the first week of May, the DOH recorded 9,465 cases – the highest since November last year. As of May 7, the country had 410 severe and critical cases, with 346 occupying beds in intensive care units. Another 3,766 were in regular hospital beds. Nine COVID deaths were recorded in the first week of May, along with 50 additional and severe critical cases.

Health officials previously said masking and other minimum health protocols such as hand and respiratory hygiene are minor sacrifices in avoiding a disease that can still cause hospitalization and its attendant expenses, debilitation through long COVID and even death.

The WHO has said the pandemic is not over. The past three years have shown that it’s better to be safe than sorry. (Philstar.com)