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MINDANAO TIMES
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2021
PH gets vaccines from COVAX in Q1; rollout preps underway
MANILA – The Philippines on Wednesday received confirmation of participation in the Covid-19 vaccine financing instrument, COVAX Facility - Advance Market Commitment (AMC). The COVAX Facility is Facility, the country is set to a global procurement mecha- receive vaccines in the first nism which invests in a broad quarter of this year,” a joint portfolio of promising vaccine statement said. candidates to support their As part of the prepararesearch, development, and tions for the Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing. deployment, Health Secretary “With the country’s par- Francisco Duque III and Vacticipation in the COVAX cine Czar Secretary Carlito
Galvez Jr. visited three cold storage facilities that can potentially be used in the first wave of Covid-19 vaccine roll-out. The inspection was carried out to ensure that the cold chain facilities will meet the storage requirement of vaccines prior to its distribution to identified vaccination sites. The cold chain facilities visited were the First Pioneer
Distribution Center of UNILAB located in Biñan City, Laguna, the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City, and the Zuellig Pharma Corporation in Parañaque City. According to UNILAB, their cold storage facility has a temperature range of +2 to +8 °C and can store a maximum of 5 million doses of vaccines.
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AFP CHIEF:
DND-UP accord violates Constitution MANILA – The Department of National Defense-University of the Philippines (DNDUP) accord was a violation of the equal protection clause under the 1987 Constitution, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief-of-staff Gen. Gilbert Gapay said Wednesday. In a statement, Gapay said it was only UP that enjoyed privileges under the recently terminated agreement. "There is no substantial distinction between UP and other schools, state colleges, and universities. To give to
UP such entitlement places it an unfairly advantaged status over the academic institutions and defies that Constitutional guarantee of equality of rights and protection under our laws," Gapay said. Gapay expressed support to DND's move to terminate the 1989 accord, saying it was "unfair to the Filipino people and runs contrary to the public interest". "Thus, the termination of the said accord does not violate the Constitution or any substantive laws of the land.
On the contrary, the termination rectifies what we believe was in fact infringement of our Constitution," he said. "It’s high time that we put an end to a deal which has been taken advantage of by the CPP- NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) in perpetuating their deceptive recruitment," he added, saying that the school is one of the rich sources of NPA recruits. Several critics of the accord's termination said the move was an infringement
of academic freedom, but Gapay clarified that the military would not interfere in the state university's "liberty to choose who may teach, what can be taught, the manner with which it will be taught or who may study in UP". "That academic freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution, it does not require enabling laws or any other agreements — certainly not from the voided agreement," Gapay said. The AFP records show
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Sinas OKs relief of 4 cops in Dacera case
MANILA – Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Debold Sinas on Wednesday approved the recommendation of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) for the relief of four Makati City policemen, including the chief of police, due to the possible liability on the investigation of the death of flight attendant Christine Dacera. The DIDM has recommended for relief Makati police chief Col. Harold Depositar, two investigators of the case, and a medico-legal officer and SOCO personnel from the Southern Police District, pending the investigation on their possible lapses and negligence. Sinas earlier directed the DIDM to conduct a separate inquiry and recommend their findings on any liabilities of Makati police officers involved in the ongoing investigation of the Dacera case.
He, however, said National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr. will decide if the recommendation will be implemented immediately. “All of them will be momentarily relieved from their posts due to ongoing internal investigation ongoing,” Sinas told reporters at the sidelines of opening of Civil Security Group (CSG) Satellite Office (SATO) at 2nd Floor, North Park Bldg., SM MOA Complex, Pasay City. Meanwhile, Danao said he will implement the relief depending on the result of the preliminary investigation of the Dacera case. “Titignan ko muna pero be as it may kung ano man nakikita natin lapses (I will see it first but be as it may whatever lapses we may find) after the result of the preliminary investigation then we
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