Opinion-Editorial NEWS

The COVID-19 pandemic is still with us and in the rest of the world and it is surging in a new wave of infections and deaths in the United States and Europe.

In the wake of the widespread floods in Cagayan and Isabela caused by rains from a series of storms and typhoons¸ a number of projects have been proposed by various sectors, including dredging of the Cagayan River, construction of a temporary embankment, and reforestation of the surrounding forests.

President Duterte has received from Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) Commissioner Greco Belgica a list of lawmakers believed involved in corruption in the implementation of public works projects by private contractors. He said he will send the list to the Ombudsman, saying it is ”the only investigating agency that has jurisdiction over congressmen.”

When William Dar took over as secretary of the Department of Agriculture in August, 2019, he proposed a new strategy for agriculture built around eight programs – modernization of agriculture, industrialization of agriculture, promotion of exports, farm consolidation, roadmap development, infrastructure development, higher budget and investments in agriculture, and legislative support.

When the government’s COVID-19 restrictions began in March, few of us expected that the disease would last the way it has. We had read about plagues like the bubonic plague that killed a third of the world population, mostly in Europe, in 1350. There was the cholera pandemic that originated in Russia spread to Africa, Asia, and America, and killed a million people in 1817.

New  distinctive  Christmas lanterns with 16  white rays   spreading out  from the center are now being installed  on streetlight posts in Manila.  Makati’s business district is now all lighted  up at night  by Ayala Land, an annual tradition.  Caloocan’s Christmas lanterns at the giant posts holding up  the elevated rails  have  lighted the city’s avenues for sometime now.

Of ten COVID-19 candidate vaccines in their final human trials, two reported highly promising initial results of their final Phase 3 human trials early this month.

The immediate need in  Luzon is for continued rescue and relief work for the people who lost  their homes in the wake of typhoon Ulysses, the latest of a series of storms and typhoons that swept in from the Pacific  in a span of three weeks.

Eight months ago, on March 16, the Philippines began its program of lockdown restrictions, with Metro Manila and all of Luzon placed under an Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) which closed down all businesses and offices along with all public transportation.

Of 896 barangays in Manila, 73 were cited by the city government of Manila last week for having zero COVID-19 infections in the last two months. They received P100,000 each in city government funds approved by the city council.

It has now been ten months since the COVID-19 began surging around the world after it was first reported in China. It was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11 when the disease spread to over 100 countries.

Several storms and typhoons have been ravaging our islands in succession since October, following a westerly route with Catanduanes as the first land to be hit, followed by Albay, Camarines Sur and Norte, then Quezon Province. Storms get their power from the sea. As they proceed further inland, they lose strength, so that by the time they reach the western areas of Luzon, they are not as strong as they had been when they first hit Catanduanes island.

At a time when most of the world is groping for hope in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and national economies are at record low levels with few expectations for recovery anytime soon, China held its annual “Single’s Day” shopping spree last Wednesday.

This has been a devastating period for the Philippines as it was battered by a series of storms and powerful typhoons that came one after the other in close succession. Storms “Pepito” and “Quinta” hit in October, followed by super-typhoon “Rolly,” the world’s strongest typhoon this year, then by storms “Siony” and “Tonyo.” Then we had typhoon “Ulysses,” which lashed Quezon and Central Luzon this week.

United States President Donald Trump has refused to concede defeat in the 2020 presidential election to Joseph Biden, prolonging the uncertainty that continues to hang over the election results.

Two principal factors – the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the tremendous interest in President Trump’s reelection bid – caused a major expansion of the American voting system this year.