Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Sunday, Aug. 29 expressed belief the procurement of overpriced personal protective equipment (PPE) over P8-billion from an obscure company by the camp of former budget undersecretary Christopher Lao was premeditated. “Mukhang plinano talaga itong...
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri maintained on Satuday, August 28, that the private sector should be allowed by the national government to procure vaccines on their own. Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel 'Migz' Zubiri (Alexis Nueva España/Senate PRIB) "I believe the private sector can...
Senator Panfilo Lacson stressed on Saturday, August 28, the need to dig deeper in the role of the Department of Budget and Management's Procurement Service (PS-DBM) in what he believes was "large-scale corruption" involving parties amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Senator Panfilo Lacson (Czar...
Multiple studies have found that during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, women have been disproportionately affected by job loss, burnout, and were at greater risk of domestic violence. (AFP / MANILA BULLETIN) The pandemic has proven to be a major challenge for gender equality across...
Like law enforcement agencies tasked to carry out the government's war on drugs, health care workers should also equipped and taken care of as they battle the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Senator Nancy Binay said. (Jansen Romero/MANILA BULLETIN File Photo) Binay made the...
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua on Thursday, August 26, expressed optimism that the Philippines' economy will recover to a pre-pandemic level late next year or in early 2023. NEDA Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua (Malacañang Photo) During the first hearing of the House Committee...
The House of Representatives' Committee on Appropriations began on Thursday, August 26, its deliberation on the P5.024-trillion proposed national budget for 2022. House of Representatives The committee's budget hearings kicked off with a briefing from the Development Budget Coordination Committee...
Despite the national government mandating its use in all establishments in the Philippines and by local government units since last year, the StaySafe application made "almost no impact" on the country's contact tracing efforts. A mall goer scans a QR code before entry into the establishment. The...
Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III and former Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (DBM-PS) head Christopher Lloyd Lao on Wednesday, August 25, maintained that the transfer of some P42 billion of pandemic response funds flagged by state auditors was above...
Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Wednesday, August 25, pushed for "free mass testing" for COVID-19 using the billions of funds still not unutilized by agencies. Senate President Vicente Sotto III bangs the gavel signifying the start of the plenary session on November 24, 2020.(Henzberg...
Concerned that his agency will again be called out by the Commission on Audit (COA), Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Wednesday, August 25, insisted the need for a law that would authorize the grant of special risk allowances (SRA) to health care workers who are not catering to COVID-19...
The Philippines could have P4.7 billion worth of additional COVID-19 vaccines in its supply had the Department of Health (DOH) spent the amount it borrowed from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). COVID-19 vaccines (Keith Bacongco/MANILA BULLETIN File Photo) At the resumption of...