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'All systems go' for integrity, anti-corruption offices in judiciary — SC
MANILA (Mabuhay) — The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday said it is "all systems go" for two offices that will act on complaints against and investigate erring justices, judges, and court officials and employees. The SC Public Information (SC PIO) said the court has approved the proposed amendments for the implementation of the Judicial Integrity Board (JIB) and the Corruption Prevention and Investigation Office (CPIO). These offices were created in 2018 but were "put on the back burner" to give way to a review of the JIB's functions and prevent duplicity with those of the Office of the Court Administration (OCA) and other offices, the SC PIO said. The JIB will act on complaints against erring justices, judges, officers and employees of the judici-
ary. The CPIO, on the other hand, will investigate erring justices of the tertiary courts, judges and personnel of the lower courts, including the Shari’a Courts; and the officials and employees of the Office of the Jurisconsult, Court Administrator, Deputy Court Administrator, Assistant Court Administrators and their personnel. The resolution approving the amendments will be published in a newspaper of general circulation on August 1, the SC PIO said. Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta had committed to "weed out misfits from the judiciary" as part of his 10-point program as top magistrate. Early into his appointment last year, Peralta said he would implement the JIB, whose functions would be "harmonized" with that of the OCA. (MNS)
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New record-high: Over 4,000 more COVID-19 cases recorded as gov't extends quarantine M A NIL A (Mabu hay) — The Department of Health on Friday reported 4,063 additional COVID-19 cases in the Philippines, the highest number of cases reported in a single day since the start of the pandemic. This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases to 93,354. It means the country has exceeded the University of the Philippines OCTA Research Group’s updated estimate of 90,000 for the end of July. The announcement came several hours after the government announced the extension of the relatively relaxed genera l com mu n it y quarantine (GCQ) in Metro Manila despite the continued rise in cases. It was also a day after the DOH announced more than 38,000 add i t i on a l r e c o v e r e d patients due to “data reconciliation,” which brought down drastically the country’s number of active cases. “Of the 4,063 additional cases reported
today, 3,813 (94 percent) occurred in July,” the DOH said. The top regions with cases in July were: NCR: 2,153 cases (56 percent) Region 7: 558 cases (15 percent) Region 4A: 492 cases (13 percent) For Friday, the DOH reported 165 additional recoveries or a total of 65,178 recovered patients. There are also 40 additional coronavirus-related deaths or a total of 2,023 fatalities. Of the 40 deaths, majority or 27 happened in July, 2 in June, 2 in May, 7 in April, and 2 in March. The deaths were from NCR (13), Region 7 (12), Region 3 (7), Region 4A (2), Region 6 (2), Region 11 (2), and one each from Region 4B and Region 9. The data is based on the tests done by 74 out of 91 operational labs. T he DOH a lso removed 83 duplicate cases from the previ-
ous tally. It includes 42 recovered cases. “Moreover, we have updated t he hea lt h status of nine (9) cases previously reported as recovered but after final validation were deaths (8) and active (1) cases,” the DOH said. Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported an increase of 1.26 percent in the total number of Filipinos who have recovered from COVID-19 with 69 new recoveries in the Middle East, compared to yesterday’s figures. However, confirmed COV ID-19 cases also increased with 65 new cases in the Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and Middle East. Similar to yesterday’s report, the DFA confirms no new fatalities today. "As the DFA, along with its Foreign Service Posts, joins our Muslim brothers and sisters in observing Eid’l Adha, we offer prayers of healing, peace, hope and unity in these challenging times," it said in a statement. (MNS)
