KAKAMMPI News

(Agence France-Presse) - September 11, 2020 - 12:59pm WASHINGTON, United States — North Korean authorities have issued shoot-to-kill orders to prevent the coronavirus entering the country from China, according to the commander of US forces in the South. The impoverished North -- whose crumbling health system would struggle to cope with a major virus outbreak -- has not confirmed a single case of the disease that has swept the world since first emerging in China, the North's key ally. Pyongyang closed its border with China in January to try to prevent contamination, and in July state media said it had raised its state of emergency to the maximum level. US Forces Korea (USFK) commander Robert Abrams said that the border shutdown had increased demand for smuggled goods, prompting authorities to intervene. The North introduced a new "buffer zone, one or two kilometers up on the Chinese border," Abrams told an online conference organized by the Center for Strategic and I...

(Agence France-Presse) - September 14, 2020 - 7:59am RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia will partially lift its suspension on international flights from Tuesday, the interior ministry said, six months after travel curbs were imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The kingdom will end all restrictions on air, land and sea transport for Saudi citizens "after January 1" next year, the ministry added on Sunday, adding that an exact date will be announced in December. People in other "exceptional categories", including Saudi government and military employees, embassy workers, students and people requiring medical treatment, will also be allowed to enter and exit the kingdom from Tuesday. Saudi Arabia had suspended international flights in March, leaving many citizens and residents stranded overseas. The ministry added that Saudi Arabia will later announce a plan to gradually allow the umrah pilgrimage. Saudi Arabia suspended the year-round umrah in March over ...

Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star ) - September 14, 2020 - 12:00am MANILA, Philippines — While only P165 billion was allocated for distressed sectors under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, the newly signed law also has non-monetary provisions to strengthen the country’s fight against the coronavirus disease and help the economy recover. The law grants President Duterte authority to undertake certain policies, and realign as much as P165 billion in pre-allocated funds in the 2020 General Appropriations Act to extend additional financial aid to medical frontliners and other sectors, as well as construct facilities and purchase supplies needed to fight the disease, which amount many lawmakers found too small. The Department of Finance said it has only so much to spare, at least until yearend, to implement programs under the law dubbed “Bayanihan 2.” Sen. Sonny Angara, who sponsored the measure in the Senate, said the law “will bridge the gap between now and January 2021 when the ...

Alexis Romero (The Philippine Star ) - September 14, 2020 - 12:00am MANILA, Philippines — The government’s pandemic task force has provided President Duterte options on how to deal with the concerns of health workers covered by the deployment ban, a Cabinet official said. The deployment ban, which has been criticized by some sectors as a violation of the right to travel, covers healthcare professionals who do not have contracts and travel documents on or before March 8, 2020. The policy seeks to ensure that the Philippines has enough health workers as it grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, officials have said. “We are communicating with the Office of the President, to President Duterte himself. We have presented options to President Duterte and we have stated in our letter to the President how many nurses would be affected and how many nurses would benefit if we allow those who signed contracts... beyond March (to leave),” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said in a live online ...

Pia Lee-Brago (The Philippine Star ) - September 15, 2020 - 12:00am MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. revealed yesterday a “plot” to sell four Philippine properties in Japan. “There is another plot to dispose of four of our Japan properties. This is a second Pearl Harbor perpetrated by Filipinos on our own patrimony,” Locsin tweeted. He did not identify who is behind the plot. According to a Supreme Court decision, the four are “properties and the capital goods and services procured from the Japanese government for national development projects are part of the indemnification to the Filipino people for their losses in life and property and their suffering during World War II.” These are the 3,179-square meter Philippine property on 306 Roppongi St. 5-Chome Minato-ku in Tokyo; the 2,489.96-sq.m. Nampeidai property at 11-24 Nampeidai-machi, Shibuya-ku also in Tokyo; the 764.72 sq.m. commercial property at 63 Naniwa-cho in Kobe; and the residential p...

(The Philippine Star ) - September 14, 2020 - 12:00am MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra expressed optimism that Task Force PhilHealth would be able to meet today’s deadline and submit to President Duterte the outcome of its 30-day investigation on the anomalies in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. “Our report will attempt to present the general environment at PhilHealth which enables fraud and corruption, and specific instances where fraudulent or corrupt acts have been perpetrated because of this enabling environment,” he said yesterday. He did not divulge details of the report or name those they would recommend to be criminally charged. Early last week, the task force finished holding its hearings on the alleged multibillion-peso anomaly inside PhilHealth. They had seven days of hearings, called 12 witnesses and resource persons and required the submission of documents. Since then the members of the task force had held a meeting and began drafting its r...

Neil Jayson Servallos (The Philippine Star ) - September 15, 2020 - 12:00am MANILA, Philippines — Metro Manila residents and people from outside Cavite who are planning to go to Tagaytay are required to secure travel passes from their local police, an official said yesterday. With Tagaytay’s reopening of domestic tourism to Cavite residents, non-residents need to have a valid reason to be able to enter the popular tourist and holiday destination, according to Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, chief of the Joint Task Force COVID Shield. “While it is true that Tagaytay has declared that residents don’t need travel passes to enter the city, that’s only limited to residents of Cavite,” Eleazar said. He cited a guideline issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, which prohibits travel, except when an individual is an APOR or authorized person outside of residence, and if the travel is work-related. A travel pass is issued by the police and is r...