Opinion-Editorial NEWS

Seven years after super-typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) hit Samar, Leyte, and the rest of Eastern Visayas on November 7, 2013, killing over 6,300 people and damaging over a million houses, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles announced this weekend that the housing project for Ormoc City victims has now been completed.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many problems in our country, affecting not just the health sector but all other aspects of the national life. It affected the running of government, the operations of business and industry, and the lives of ordinary people of the country.

In a world desperate for a vaccine against COVID-19, it does not matter who develops it first and who can mass produce it for the waiting billions of people around the world. Three possible vaccines being developed in the United Kingdom, the United States, and China are often mentioned as close to final testing and approval. But these three are expected to be ready and available by December at the earliest.

In the national effort to meet the problems raised by COVID-19, Congress is moving to enact laws to help support the economy which has been badly hit by the pandemic.

President Duterte revived interest in the death penalty when he included among his proposals in his State of the Nation Address that it be reinstated as penalty for drug-related crimes.

A recent study by researchers of the University of California at San Diego with the University of Toronto, and the Indian Institute of Science found that respiratory droplets from a cough or a sneeze can travel — depending on weather conditions — eight to 13 feet away before evaporating. The droplets evaporate faster in hot, dry climate, but can still travel about eight feet.

When President Duterte delivers his State of the Nation Address (SONA) today before Congress in joint session at the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City, he is likely to touch on so many issues and incidents that have recently affected the nation.