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GOVERNMENT AIMS TO CREATE ONE MILLION JOBS WITHIN SIX MONTHS Net cafes, billiard halls, arcades allowed to open in MGCQ areas
Story on A4
By Maricel V. Cruz
VOL. XXXV • NO. 135 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2021 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
RECREATIONAL venues can now reopen in areas under the most loose of four lockdown levels, the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), Malacañang said Tuesday.
President Rodrigo Duterte has “preliminarily approved” the second strictest quarantine level in 21 areas, while Metro Manila and several other areas would be under the second loosest lockdown in the first half of July. Next page
‘Delta‘ prolongs travel ban Amid variant scare, Duterte bars travelers from 7 nations until July 15 By Vito Barcelo and Willie Casas
T
HE government has extended the ban on travelers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates until July 15, due to the threat of the more infectious and deadly Delta COVID-19 variant, Malacanang said Tuesday. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the ban was supposed to expire on June 30, but was extended because of the Delta variant, which is 60 percent more infectious than the Alpha variant and apparently behind the surge in cases in other countries. Roque, who is also the spokesperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Task Force, (IATF) said this is the fourth time that travel restrictions were imposed on the seven countries to prevent the spread of the Delta variant that first emerged in India. He added, however, that Filipinos in countries covered by temporary travel ban will still be allowed to return home, so long as they are covered by the government’s repatriation efforts. The Philippine Genome Center earlier said the 17 cases of the so-called “double mutant” variant were from returning Filipino travelers. No community transmission has been reported so far.
COVID-19 PH AT A GLANCE
GOING NOWHERE. In this video grab provided by the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, overseas Filipino workers push their trolleys back to the waiting area as the government extended its travel ban to several Asian and Middle Eastern countries to July 15 on Monday. NAIA Photo
(AS OF 4 PM JUNE 29)
1,408,058 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES
4,479 50,037 NEW
ACTIVE
24,557
101
1,333,464
6,471
DEATHS
RECOVERIES
NEW
NEW
Pacquiao calls Duterte’s dare, snipes at DOH By Macon Ramos-Araneta The Department of Health (DOH), meanwhile, recommended stricter border control instead of expanding the travel ban to cover all 92 countries where the Delta variant has been detected. “We cannot ban all of the countries affected now by the Delta variant,” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in an interview on CNN Philippines. “We cannot isolate the Philippines from these countries.”
Vergeire said their recommendation is not to add additional countries to the travel ban, but to strengthen border controls. Dr. Tony Leachon, a health reform advocate and former government advisor, earlier urged authorities to also impose a travel ban on Indonesia, which is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, and which has detected the Delta variant.
Meanwhile, Filipino workers in the United Arab Emirates, Oman and the Middle East slammed the government decision to extend until mid-July its ban on Filipinos traveling home from these areas. In a statement, the group said the travel ban is a burden on Filipino workers who are on vacation leave and want to be with their families. They also
SENATOR Manny Pacquiao on Tuesday accepted the challenge of President Rod r igo D u t e r t e Duque says DOH ready to iden- for probe led by Pacquiao (Story on A2) tify corrupt government agencies or, failing that, the former would tell the people not to vote
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EMPTY, FULL. Empty seats abound at the F. Benitez Elementary School in Tondo, as the city
government of Manila canceled the schedules for the first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Adelina Dumduman (seated, right photo), 71, of Brgy. Paliparan receives her first Sinovac jab from health worker Diana Elnes at Robinson’s Place Dasmarinas in Cavite on Tuesday. Norman Cruz, Gil Calinga
Davao City cases surging: 263 daily average; ICU use critical By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Willie Casas
age daily attack rate (ADAR) has surpassed even the most populous cities in Metro Manila and other local governDAVAO City has recorded a daily av- ments in the country, according to an erage of 263 new coronavirus cases for OCTA Research report. The ADAR in the 17 cities in NCR the week of June 21 to 27, and its aver-
at 4.83 per 100,000 is considered moderate-low risk, but Davao City’s ADAR alone has reached the critical level of 14.47 per 100,000, OCTA said. Davao City also recorded the highest CFR at 3.43 percent in June this year
with a population of 1.82 million, according to data from the Department of Health. This is higher than Quezon City’s record at 1.47 percent, with a population of 3.15 million. Next page
THE International Criminal Court (ICC) will struggle to build its case against President Rodrigo Duterte over alleged crimes against humanity in his bloody war on drugs, the Palace said Tuesday. Responding to a report that the ICC
‘Unfinished business’ may spur Rody’s VP run in 2022—Roque By Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta “UNFINISHED business” might lead President Rodrigo Duterte to run for vice president in 2022, the Palace said Tuesday. In a virtual press conference, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the unsolved drug problem and corruption in government are among the reasons that might convince Duterte to heed the call from some sectors for him to seek a national post after his presidency ends in 2022. Duterte’s decision, Roque said, will
depend on if there is a clamor for him to run, and on the presidential candidate he will support in next year’s elections. “One problem that he sees is if he runs for vice president, he might have a strained relationship with the next President, making it hard for him to do his unfinished business,” Roque said in Filipino. Duterte’s ruling party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, adopted a resolution urging him to join the 2022 vice presidential race and choose the party’s standard bearer in the 2022 national elections. Next page
Palace to ICC: Good luck on case buildup Next page
LANDBANK TAKES OVER UCPB NEWS / B4
RESCUE TRAINING. The crew of BRP Gabriela Silang conducts a towing and rescue
operations exercise in the waters off Panay Island on June 29 while the ship was traveling back to Manila to replenish supplies and prepare for the next mission. PCG Photo
TRADERS TO IMPORT 200K TONS OF PORK NEWS / A3