Headline

Amid huge funds poured into the COVID-19 response in Davao City, labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno-Southern Mindanao Region (KMU-SMR) criticized the distribution of the assistance shelled out last year as it failed to reach the most affected population.

An old cargo ship docked five years ago in a shipyard in Barangay Lower Jasaan town in Misamis Oriental sank early morning on April 3 which resulted to oil spill affecting the fishing community there.

On April 2, new cases surged to 15,310, the highest reported single-day tally in the country and in Southeast Asia since the start of the pandemic. Although the Department of Health (DOH) said this included the backlog of 3,709 cases from March 31, these figures look worse still. How did we get here and what are the ways forward?

New COVID-19 cases in the city has declined in the past weeks with 335 active cases. With 23 new recoveries reported, the total recoveries pushed to12,733, while three new fatalities raised the death toll to 670.

The Davao City Government will be expanding its COVID-19 testing and “surveillance” of communities with COVID-19 cases to address the possible new surge of new variants.

Human rights group KARAPATAN urged a Davao City court to conduct a reinvestigation and recall the arrest warrants on their national chairperson Elisa Lubi and Southern Mindanao Region Secretary General Jay Apiag on charges of attempted murder.

Beaches and resorts in Davao City will be closed to the public during the Holy Week from April 1 to 4 as ordered by Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to prevent public gatherings that might transmit COVID-19.

The Roman Catholic Church’s Caritas Philippines together with EcoWaste Coalition is appealing to its faithful and to those who observe the Holy Week to mark it with acts that could lessen pollution in the environment.

The United Church of Christ of the Philippines Southeast Mindanao Haran Center, which houses the displaced Lumad families from Talaingod and Kapalong, is dismayed by the freezing of its bank deposit by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

Echoing on the call of the political party PDP-Laban and other groups in the capital that have urged President Rodrigo Duterte to seek election for Vice President in the National elections next year, a group gathered here to express their support for the move.