Incoming President of the United States Joseph Biden said last week that among his first actions when he assumes office, he will ask all Americans to wear face masks for at least 100 days – about three months. It is surprising for us in the Philippines that to this day, the wearing of...
The world is closely watching unfolding events in the United States in the next few days leading to the oath-taking of Joseph Biden as the 46th president of the United States. The peaceful and systematic transition of one administration to the next has...
We welcome the visit to the Philippines today of China’s Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi. It comes in the wake of the welcome news that the Philippines will be receiving 25 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine, with the first shipment of 50,000 doses coming next month....
The Philippines fell into recession in 2020, like many other nations in the world, as the COVID-19 pandemic stopped virtually all economic activity. The country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell by 16.5 percent in the second quarter of April-May-June from the previous year, the biggest...
There is a renewed move to amend the Constitution, with Speaker Lord Allan Velasco pushing for his Resolution of Both Houses No. 2 seeking to amend the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution, which replaced the Marcos Constitution that, in turn, had done away with the...
Forty-two countries have started their COVID-19 vaccination programs, the World Health Organization (WHO) disclosed this weekend. The 42 are 36 high-income nations and six-middle-income ones. The United Kingdom (UK) was the first to begin its vaccination program, with the Pfizer vaccine it was able...
The need for anti- COVID-19 vaccines is so great that the national government can not hope to meet it all by itself. President Duterte has thus approved a tripartite agreement among the national government, local government units, and private pharmaceutical firms for the acquisition of the millions...
At the start of the year 2020, the Philippine population stood at 109.4 million, according to the Commission on Population and Development (Popcom). Today, a year later, the national population should be about 110.8 million – an increase of 1.4 million in the normal course of events, Popcom...
It is unfortunate that the new year of 2021 is beginning with a vaccine controversy when our efforts should be concentrated on fighting the COVID-19 which continues to infect and kill people in our country. That case of a COVID-19 vaccine being used by the Presidential Security Guards...
Today, January 6, the United States Congress convenes to count the Electoral College votes sent by each of the 50 American states. The presidential election was held two months ago – last November 3 – and the electors chosen in by the voters of each state met last December 14 in the state...
The emergence in the United Kingdom (UK) of a variant of the COVID-19 virus has raised new fears around the world, but the German firm BioNTech which developed the Pfizer vaccine said it has “scientific confidence” its drug will also work on the variant. The proteins in the variant...
The coronavirus COVID-19 dominated developments around the world in 2020. It looks like it will continue to do so in 2021. Just when mass vaccinations began, first in the United Kingdom (UK), followed by the United States, a new strain of the coronavirus has emerged in the UK and scientists are...
