Opinion-Editorial NEWS

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 of vaccine doses needed by our people.

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 Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez III said in a recent press conference and interview.

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.

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 capitols to cast their votes for the country’s president and vice president.

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 coronavirus COVID-19 dominated developments around the world in 2020. It looks like it will continue to do so in 2021.

The country’s COVID-19 vaccination program seems to have gone on a bad start with the report that some Cabinet officials and members of the Presidential Security Guard (PSG) had themselves vaccinated against the coronavirus, now raging in a pandemic, with some donated vaccine.

We end this year on a note of uncertainty with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic which remains uncontained worldwide one year since it emerged as a new and unidentified illness in Wuhan, China.It remains a major threat to many nations around the world, notably the United States and now the United Kingdom where a new variant of the virus has emerged. But while it remains a threat in our country, it has not claimed as many victims, for which we must be grateful for the early action of the national government to order a lockdown in Metro Manila and Luzon and its continuing restrictions on mass gatherings.In the coming year, the pandemic it will remain a major problem for the country. To keep it under control and ultimately end its threat, the Philippines has now set aside ₱72 billion in the National Budget for 2021 for the purchase, storage, transportation, and distribution of COVID vaccines.The budget for the Department of Health for 2021 is ₱210.2 billion, 19.6 percent higher than the 2020 allocation. A great deal of this will go to the maintenance of hospitals and other healthcare services many of which are now filled with COVID-19 patients.In line with the Constitution, the Department of Education continues to have the largest funding among the government departments in the 2021 national budget, with ₱751.7 billion, followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways, ₱695.7 billion; the Department of Interior and Local Government, ₱249.3 billion; Department of Health, ₱210.3 billion; Department of National Defense, ₱205.8 billion; Department of Social Welfare and Development, ₱176.9 billion; Department of Transportation, ₱87.9 billion; Department of Agriculture, ₱71 billion; the Judiciay, ₱45.3 billion; and Department of Labor and Employment, ₱37.1 billion.But while the country continues to battle the pandemic, it looks forward to recovery from a year of setbacks in so many areas of the national life. In 2021, the national government will thus step up its infrastructure program of Build, Build, Build, which will also create new livelihood opportunities.The 2021 national budget carries the theme “Reset, Rebound, and Recover,” Secretary Wendel Avisado of the Department of Budget and Management said. Government operations will gradually resume in this coming year but with a definite stress on the infrastructure program which will not just build roads and bridges and government buildings, but will also provide jobs for the many who have lost their livelihood in the pandemic.The national effort to end the pandemic will continue in our hospitals, our airports and seaports, in markets and other public places, and in remote communities. both rural and urban, where people tend to ignore government restrictions on their everyday activities.But along with this continuing health program, we will begin an economic program of recovery with programs funded by the 2021 General Appropriations Act which President Duterte into law signed last Monday.

In a year of so many problems brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, one report stands out as a bright beacon of hope to the country – the Philippines is ending 2020 with an all-time record of palay production .

 In response to an appeal from House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has extended its no-disconnection policy for non-payment of bills until January 31 next year.

Finally, it is Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve is a special day to Filipinos. After going to church for midnight mass, families gather for “Noche Buena, ” an annual get-together for members of the family who may not have seen each other for months or even years.

In the incoming year, we hope to see a substantial government effort to increase rice production in the country.

This has been a very difficult time for the nation’s public school students and the Department of Education (DepEd), like everything else in the national life. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the suspension of all normal activity, especially those involving the gathering of people.

Fifty-one days after the November 3  national elections in the United States,  the elected members of the National Electoral College assembled in their respective states last Monday, December 14, and  cast their votes for president and vice president of the United States.

Five years ago, the  nations of the world, including the Philippines, met in Paris, France,    on the world’s climate problem —  rising world temperatures due to carbon emissions from the  world’s industries, causing the polar  ice  to melt, ocean levels to rise, and spawning more destructive typhoons and hurricanes.

It’s the week before Christmas Day and despite the  continuing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, our people are determined to celebrate the holiday, perhaps not as exuberantly with the revelry of  previous years, but with greater  reverence and a greater sense of gratitude that we have survived the difficulties of the past months, including the death of so many loved ones.