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Leisure trips out of NCR eased Palace also bares hiked venue capacities for some businesses, events
ACTIVITIES ALLOWED IN 'GCQ WITH RESTRICTIONS' AREAS FROM JUNE 1 TO 15 Non-contact outdoor sports Venues for meetings and conferences (up to 30% capacity) • Personal care services (salons, parlors, beauty clinics, up to Up to 40% capacity allowed but only services where mask is kept on at all times • Outdoor tourist attractions (up to 30% capacity) • Staycation venues (hotels with Certificates of Authority to Operate for Staycations allowed 100% capacity, other governmentaccredited hotels allowed 30% capacity, no age restrictions) • Indoor dining in restaurants (up to 30% capacity) • Outdoor dining in restaurants (up to 50% capacity) • Religious activities, weddings, baptisms, wakes (Up to 30% allowed, but local governments can decide to expand to 50%) • Interzonal travel or travel between areas under different quarantine classifications (Allowed but subject to restrictions of destination, point-to-point travel allowed without age restrictions, but guests must be tested for COVID-19 before travel)
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By Vito Barcelo, Willie Casas and Rey E. Requejo
WALK FOR COVID.
L
EISURE travel from Metro Manila and its surrounding provinces to areas under a general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ will now be allowed, provided travelers test negative for COVID-19 and comply with local government guidelines, the Palace said Tuesday.
Priests under the archdiocese of Manila conduct a day of fasting, penitentiary service, and a penitent walk from Quiapo Church to Sta. Cruz Church led by Apostolic Administrator of Manila Bishop Broderick Pabillo and Bishop Emeritus of Novaliches Teodoro Bacani Jr. to ask for divine aid to stop the spread of COVID-19 on Tuesday. Danny Pata
Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Harry Roque clarified that while President Rodrigo Duterte had announced in his weekly televised address that NCR Plus areas would be under GCQ for the whole of June, it would actually only be Next page
NOTE: Establishments with 'Safety Seal' can add additional 10% to their capacity
Solons cross party lines, pass Bayanihan 3 on third reading By Maricel V. Cruz VOTING 238-0-1, the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on third and final reading the Bayanihan to Arise as One bill or the Bayanihan 3, which contains a P401-billion stimulus package to provide more aid to Filipinos during the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said:
"I am filled with gratitude for the passage of the proposed Bayanihan to Arise As One Act, or Bayanihan 3, in the House of Representatives after my colleagues set aside politics and crossed party lines to unite for a common goal of providing much-needed help to our fellow Filipinos facing hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic." Next page
VOL. XXXV • NO. 107 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Online drug stores illegal without actual outlet By Willie Casas
‘STILL FRIENDS.’ President Rodrigo Duterte (left) addresses the public in his
weekly televised briefing on Monday, while Senator Manny Pacquiao interpellates a bill on the Senate floor on Tuesday. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte and Pacquiao would remain friends, despite disagreements inside the ruling party PDP-Laban. Presidential and Senate photos
THE online selling of medicines, supplies and food supplements needs a physical store to be allowed, health and trade officials said Tuesday. “Unless you have a license to operate a physical drugstore, you cannot sell online, whether food supplement or essential drugs,” Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said in a Department of Health forum. “For example, I want to sell my supplies online. I do not have the license to operate. I am violating FDA laws so I cannot do that,” Castelo explained. For her part, Dr. Melissa Guerrero of the DOH Health Technology Assessment Unit said that drugstores must have trained pharmacists to secure a license to operate from the Food and Drug Admin-
istration (FDA). This was to avoid possible dangers involved in buying health products from online stores that do not have pharmacists who can properly advise and dispense drugs to consumers, said Guerrero. Guerrero said the FDA had “criminal sanctions” for those who sell health products online without a facility that meets standards and trained medical professionals. The DTI has received over 4,000 consumer complaints involving online transactions, including the sale of drugs, as of May 28, Castelo said. “Thankfully, online platforms cooperate with the DTI when we make these requests,” Castelo said. “We also issue advisories reminding consumers not to buy medicine online, Next page
COVID-19 PH AT A GLANCE
(AS OF 4 PM JUNE 1)
1,235,467 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES
5,177 53,203 NEW
ACTIVE
21,012
46
1,161,252
6,230
DEATHS
RECOVERIES
NEW
NEW
Gatchalian, Binay call out DOE over brownouts Roque says Duterte's VP run iffy By Macon Ramos-Araneta, Joel E. Zurbano and Alena Mae S. Flores
SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday demanded an explanation from the Department of Energy (DOE) on why it projects outages when it assured the Senate energy committee that there would be no brownouts during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination program.
“The committee was assured by the DOE that no brownouts will happen given that the country is in a delicate stage of its vaccine rollout,” Gatchalian said. “They should explain why their projections are off! They are the sole agency tasked to assure the public of constant flow of electricity to homes,” he added. Former Vice President Jejomar Binay also said he hopes the government has prepared for the power outages to prevent
spoilage of COVID-19 vaccines, which must be in cold storage. Binay said the rotating brownouts are not only inconvenient for families who are forced by the lockdown to stay at home but also to the small businesses and the working class. "Many employees work from home and their productivity will be affected. It will also have an impact on small businesses who are already struggling to survive," he said. Next page
By Vito Barcelo and Macon Ramos-Araneta PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will think about whether he would run for vice president in the May 2022 national elections, Malacanang said Tuesday. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque issued this statement after the
ruling PDP-Laban, chaired by Duterte, adopted a resolution urging him to run for vice president in 2022. “He will think about it, given that his party nominated him for it.” Roque said. “He said he has already served the country, but the President said he would think [about] what would be the best for the country.” Roque added.
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Greek alphabet letters for variants House leaders hail subsidized electricity rate COVID-19 variants are to be known by letters of the Greek alphabet to avoid stigmatizing nations where they were first detected, the World Health Organization has announced. The new system applies to variants of concern -- the most troubling of which four are in circulation -- and the second-level variants of interest being tracked.
"They will not replace existing scientific names, but are aimed to help in public discussion," said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's COVID-19 technical lead. Under the new system, the variants of concern take on the following names: the hitherto so-called British variant B.1.1.7 becomes Alpha; the Next page
LAWMAKERS PASS ECONOMIC 'CHACHA'
CHINA: BIRD FLU NOW IN HUMANS
NEWS / A2
NEWS / A4
By Maricel V. Cruz and Othel V. Campos HOUSE Majority Leader Martin Romualdez on Tuesday lauded President Rodrigo Duterte's signing into a law extending the electricity lifeline rates for the benefit of 5.5 million low-income consumers in the next 30 years. “We really need this law to ensure a subsidized rate in electricity bills for poor households, especially now that our kababayans are still reeling from the economic devastation caused by the Next page
KEEPING LIGHTS ON. A Meralco lineman reads meters high on a pole in a Quezon City area in this file photo. The Department of Energy had assured the Senate this week that no brownouts will happen despite high summer demand and the need to refrigerate COVID-19 vaccines but announced rotational power outages until June 7.