KAKAMMPI News

PhilHealth reiterates its commitment to pay its obligations to its partner hospitals. It has sufficient funds to fulfill its obligations. Being a public fund, safeguards are in place based on accounting and auditing rules and regulations prior to disbursements. For 2021, as of May 17, 2021, PhilHealth paid a total of P25.38 B in claims, P4.88B of which are for COVID-19 related claims. Recognizing the need of the hospitals for funds especially in highly critical areas for COVID as identified by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Infectious Diseases, PhilHealth has introduced the Debit-Credit Payment Method (DCPM) wherein 60% of good “in process claims” are paid outright to qualified hospitals minus 2% withholding tax, while the remaining 40% shall be paid after claims processing and reconciliation, minus 2% withholding tax. The accelerated payment method provides hospitals sufficient cash flow to continue providing the sick with quality health care dur...

Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News Posted at May 24 2021 03:37 PM MANILA — The Philippines will receive 2.3 million COVID-19 shots from US-based Pfizer-BioNTech "not later than June," an official leading the vaccination strategy said on Thursday. Vaccine-sharing COVAX Facility wrote to the Philippines saying it would deliver 2,385,210 Pfizer jabs "not later than June," said Carlito Galvez Jr, chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19. Pfizer and Philippine authorities are finalizing a deal on legal immunity and who will shoulder compensation in case of adverse effects from the vaccine, Galvez said. "Napaka-cordial, napakabait nga po ng Pfizer... Kahit mayroon tayong tinatawag na challenges, legal challenges, talagang hindi nila binago iyong kanilang tinatawag na offer sa atin," he said in a press briefing. "Isa po sa pinakamababa na presyo ang Pfizer, sumunod doon sa AstraZeneca. Ang ganda ng presyo sa atin." (Pfizer is v...

Reuters Posted at May 24 2021 01:43 PM BENGALURU - India's overall death toll from COVID-19 crossed 300,000 on Monday, as it reported 4,454 deaths over the last 24 hours. The South Asian country's total coronavirus cases are now at 26.75 million, while total fatalities are at 303,720, according to health ministry data. (Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Chan Ho-him, South China Morning Post Posted at May 24 2021 01:57 PM Parents spoke of their relief on Monday as Hong Kong schools and kindergartens returned to full capacity for the first time in more than six months under a relaxation of Covid-19 rules, with about 900,000 pupils welcomed back on campus for half days. "I'm really happy. When I first heard the news about a full resumption I felt like 'finally we can return to school'," said Mable Wong, in her 40s, who has two children at a local primary school in Yau Ma Tei. Another mother, Kelly Tam, said: "With a full capacity resumption, children can return to a relatively normal social life and can move around outside home. "Parents have been under pressure too, having children at home for such a long time. Face-to-face learning is also a lot more efficient." Under the latest relaxation of pandemic control measures, city schools are allowed to have all students back on campus at the same t...

The Conversation via Reuters Alarm bells rang internationally last week when Taiwan announced it was moving to its second highest COVID alert level after a recent surge of cases. The country last year recorded zero cases of community transmission for eight straight months. The recent increase in cases has led many people to wonder: what happened to Taiwan’s COVID success story? One part of the answer is a very slow vaccine rollout. Australia should take heed. On May 9, Taiwan recorded zero new community cases of COVID-19 (there was one imported case in quarantine). But only five days later, new local cases had risen exponentially to 29, and then to a peak of 333 on May 17. And on Saturday, the country’s health department retrospectively added an extra 400 cases to the previous week which were not included in earlier reports. Although these numbers are still very low in comparison to many other countries, the fact that these new cases were spread across many cities and counties a...

Kiyoshi Takenaka, Reuters Posted at May 24 2021 01:10 PM * Exhausted doctors warn of a "system collapse" * Region accounted for third of Japan's death toll in May * Swamping of health system highlights challenge of Olympics * Just half of Japan's medical staff completed inoculations OSAKA, Japan - Hospitals in Japan's second largest city of Osaka are buckling under a huge wave of new coronavirus infections, running out of beds and ventilators as exhausted doctors warn of a "system collapse", and advise against holding the Olympics this summer. Japan's western region home to 9 million people is suffering the brunt of the fourth wave of the pandemic, accounting for a third of the nation's death toll in May, although it constitutes just 7% of its population. The speed at which Osaka's healthcare system was overwhelmed underscores the challenges of hosting a major global sports event in two months' time, particularly as only about ha...

Rami Ayyub, Reuters Posted at May 13 2021 03:29 PM JERUSALEM — Weeks of violent clashes in East Jerusalem have ignited the heaviest fighting in years between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. At the core of the violence that has left dozens dead are tensions between Israelis and Palestinians over Jerusalem, which contains sites sacred to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. As both sides appear to be digging in for more prolonged fighting, here are some of the factors that triggered the escalation AMADAN PROTESTS, JERUSALEM EVICTIONS Since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in mid-April, Palestinians have faced off nightly with Israeli police in East Jerusalem, who put up barriers to stop evening gatherings at the walled Old City's Damascus Gate. Palestinians saw the barriers as a restriction on their freedom to assemble. Police said they were there to maintain order. Tensions have also been high over a long-running legal case that could see m...

Gillan Ropero, ABS-CBN News Posted at May 20 2021 07:49 AM | Updated as of May 20 2021 09:56 PM MANILA (2nd UPDATE) - The Philippines will suspend the deployment of its migrant workers to Israel, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Thursday. The labor department will continue to process job applications, including the documents of 400 Filipino caregivers set to leave for Israel, but it will not deploy them, Bello said. "Tama po yan, simula ngayon 'di muna. Makikipagconsult na rin ako kay (Foreign Affairs) Secretary (Teodoro) Locsin tungkol sa alert level doon kasi nakikita naman natin putukan dito, putukan dun, mahirap pag nagdeploy tayo, malaki ang pananagutan ko po," he told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo. (That's right, as of now we won't be deploying workers. I will also consult Secretary Locsin on the alert level raised there because as we can see there's bombing everywhere, if we deploy, it would be difficult, it would be my responsibility.) "Ha...

ABS-CBN News Posted at May 24 2021 08:51 AM The Philippines is eyeing the redeployment of hundreds of Filipino caregivers to Israel after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended days of conflict. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the government is monitoring the ongoing truce, which ended the fiercest fighting between Israel and Hamas since a 2014 Gaza war. He said he will also consult with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. if it is safe to redeploy Filipinos to Israel. "Tiyakin muna natin na igagalang nila 'yun at baka may violation," he told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo. (We have to make sure that they will respect the true because there might be violations.) Police raids in and around al-Aqsa during Ramadan, as well as planned evictions of Palestinians from homes claimed by Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem, drew long-range rocket attacks by Islamist Hamas on May 10. Israel and the two main armed groups in Gaza agreed to a ceasefire last week...

By HANA BORDEY, GMA News Published May 22, 2021 5:41pm The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will consult the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) first before allowing Filipinos to be deployed to Israel, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Saturday. In a Dobol B TV interview, Bello said OFW deployments are dependent on the DFA’s alert level on Israel and Gaza. “Kung nagtatandaan niyo, nag-declare ang DFA ng Alert Level 2… ibig sabihin suspend ang deployment. So, we have to assess the situation at konsultahin ang DFA kung ang alert level ay ibaba from Alert Level 2 to Level 1 kasi ‘pag Alert Level 2 suspended ang deployment,” Bello said. (To recall, the DFA has declared an Alert Level 2 which means the deployment to that area was suspended. So, we have to assess the situation and consult the DFA if the alert level will be downgraded.) Alert Level 1, the lowest security category of the government for Filipinos overseas, means there are valid signs of internal disturba...

ABS-CBN News MANILA— The country's coronavirus task force on Friday approved the recommendation to include the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in the A4 priority group for the government's COVID-19 vaccine deployment plan, the trade department said. The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) approved the endorsement of the Department of Trade and Industry, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said in a statement, noting its steady growth despite the economic pinch brought by the pandemic. Being on the priority list means BPO sector workers can avail of COVID-19 jabs ahead of the general population. The A4 category, which includes government and economic frontliners, is the fourth on the list after health workers, elderly and people with comorbidities. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the IATF "supported" the justification that the BPO is crucial to the economy with its contribution in export revenues reaching close to $30 billion a ...

By JOJO DASS DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Filipino entrepreneurs here operating 18 restaurants have recently banded together to take “Pinoy cuisine diplomacy” to the next level through a city-wide food festival and by joining in major culinary events. This, bearing in mind that Dubai is an international expat city that people from over 200 countries call their second home, bringing with them comfort foods they grew up with and in the process making the megalopolis a culinary wonderland. “One of the reasons we wanted to come up with a restaurant group was to ensure that Philippine cuisine diplomacy efforts have an institution, even if very informal, to serve as foundation,” Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes, head of the Philippine mission in Dubai and the neighboring northern emirates, told GMA News Online. “By forming such an association,” he added, “we have an informal grouping of Filipino business people involved in food and Filipino cuisine that is able to share best practice...

By CONSUELO MARQUEZ, GMA News Published May 16, 2021 11:18am An Israeli air strike Saturday demolished the 13-floor building housing Qatar-based Al Jazeera television and American news agency The Associated Press in the Gaza Strip, AFP journalists said. Filipinos staying in areas impacted by the ongoing clashes between Israeli security forces and Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip have been evacuated, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration's Hans Leo Cacdac said Sunday. Cacdac said over "Dobol B TV" that embassy officials prepared contingency measures to keep Filipinos away from Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Gaza Strip where tensions arise. "Sa ngayon, in-country evacuation at least sa 3 apektadong area" (At least in three affected areas, for now), he said. Cacdac added that the three areas include: the Ashkelon and Ashdod areas nearest to Gaza Strip going to Tel Aviv, and the "Gaza Strip itself." So far, he said, there are no reported casualtie...

By CONSUELO MARQUEZ, GMA News Filipinos staying in areas impacted by the ongoing clashes between Israeli security forces and Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip have been evacuated, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration's Hans Leo Cacdac said Sunday. advertisement Cacdac said over "Dobol B TV" that embassy officials prepared contingency measures to keep Filipinos away from Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Gaza Strip where tensions arise. "Sa ngayon, in-country evacuation at least sa 3 apektadong area" (At least in three affected areas, for now), he said. Cacdac added that the three areas include: the Ashkelon and Ashdod areas nearest to Gaza Strip going to Tel Aviv, and the "Gaza Strip itself." So far, he said, there are no reported casualties among Filipinos in the said countries in conflict. As of January, the foreign affairs department said 29,473 Filipinos are living and working in Israel. Of the number, most are employed as caregivers and household...

By TED CORDERO, GMA News Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Thursday said that the government has not banned the deployment of overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs) to Israel amid the ongoing tensions between Israeli forces and Gaza’s armed groups. advertisement “We have not banned the deployment of our workers to Israel. The processing of those who already qualified continues,” Bello said in a statement. “We are merely suspending their actual departure while the tension is still high,” the Labor chief said. In a separate text message, Bello said that the “processing of the applications are still ongoing.” Malacanang, through presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, said it is backing the move of the Labor department. “Well, suportado po ng Malacañang ang naging desisyon ni Secretary Bello na panandaliang itigil muna ang pagpapadala ng mga OFWs sa lugar ng Israel sa Gitnang Silangan dahil nga po sa tumitinding labanan doon,” Roque said in a Palace briefing. (The Palace supports t...

By MICHAELA DEL CALLAR Published May 20, 2021 11:27am The Philippines is prepared to evacuate Filipinos who wish to return home as conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza intensifies, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday. advertisement Israel and West Bank was placed under Alert Level 1 category by the DFA, while Gaza is on Alert level 2. "The DFA is on standby with evacuation plans ready to be activated as needed and as soon as the borders open and a humanitarian corridor is established," a department advisory said. There are 29,473 Filipinos in Israel and 91 in Gaza. Alert Level 1, the lowest security category of the government for Filipinos overseas, means there are valid signs of internal disturbance, instability, and external threat to the host country. No evacuation is needed under this level, but Filipinos must exercise caution and avoid conflict zones. Level 2 entails restriction of non-essential movements, avoiding of places of protest, ...

Shay Cullen 21 May 2021 There are essentials of life that we all need nowadays: fresh air, food, water, clothes, shelter, health, electricity, and the Internet. The Internet is now an essential means of human interconnectivity and has become a blessing and a blight on human society depending on who and how it is used or abused. As you read these words, it is because they were sent to you over the Internet. Every industry and most service organizations are almost totally dependent on computer technology that needs connectivity through the Internet. Almost all communication is now Internet-based: e-mail, voice, image and transmission of documents and information storage and dissemination. Conferences and meetings and educational classes are now mostly by Internet. But there are vulnerabilities with this dependency. Hackers can steal data from government and corporations and hold them to ransom as happened to the Irish Health System and previously to the UK National Health Service...

Published May 10, 2021 5:43pm A Filipino teacher in China is seeking assistance after he found out that he had been working illegally and his papers tampered with. advertisement According to Oscar Oida's report on "Balitanghali" on Monday, Aliomar Apad is a registered overseas Filipino worker under the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. He was deployed to China by a licensed recruitment agency. Apad was supposed to work as a teacher in a school in Yantai. However, upon arriving in the country, his Chinese employer took his passport and other documents. Instead of being deployed in Yantai, he was assigned to a school in Weifang province. "Ang nangyari is 'yong Chinese employer niya, hindi sumunod doon sa usapan sa kung saan siya magtatrabaho," POEA Undersecretary Bernard Olalia said. "Nagkaroon po ng paglipat sa kaniya na hindi po naaayon sa rules ng POEA at doon po sa ibinigay na visa sa kaniya ng China kaya siya nagkaproblema,"...

By JOJO DASS DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A seasoned human resource practitioner who lost her job of 12 years to the pandemic, turned things around and opened her own flourishing consultancy company, saying she’d rather make use of the expertise she has developed than throw in the towel. advertisement “The pandemic is more of an opportunity than a challenge,” said Robie Torre-Gonzales, noting that as companies downsized their workforce to keep afloat, outsourcing and collaboration has become the trend. “And HR services are absolutely among the outsourced services being sought,” said Gonzales, who was given termination notice last September that took effect three months later. Gonzales was head of learning and organization development at a leading consumer electronic company here. Her department was dissolved due to downsizing, she said. “The company was greatly affected by the pandemic. So, I was hit,” Gonzales, who had also worked in the HR field back home in the Philippines for...

Published May 5, 2021 6:37pm The Churches Witnessing With Migrants — Philippines (CWMM-PH) on Wednesday welcomed Saudi Arabia’s abolition of the “kafala” sponsorship system for foreign workers, saying it would further protect overseas Filipino workers. advertisement “For us who have long been advocating for the rights and welfare of migrants, this is a positive step for the protection of our Filipino migrant workers, and other migrant workers as well,” Rev. Marie Sol Villalon, CWWM-PH spokesperson, said in a statement. “We hope that this will set precedent to other countries in the Gulf region who have implemented the same,” she added. Under the “kafala” sponsorship system, Arab nationals and companies in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Lebanon are permitted to employ overseas workers instead of recruitment agencies. The system has been branded by critics as a modern form of slavery that binds workers to their Saudi employers. Th...

By JULIA MARI ORNEDO, GMA News The Philippines reported on Tuesday the detection of the B.1.617 coronavirus variant first discovered in India, following its classification as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization (WHO). advertisement “Nais po nating ipaalam sa publiko na tayo po ay may natukoy na dalawang kaso na may sinabing variant (We wish to inform the public that we identified two cases with the said variant),” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing. Dr. Alethea De Guzman, chief epidemiologist of the Department of Health (DOH), said the two cases -- both overseas Filipino workers with no history of travel to India -- are now asymptomatic after recovering from COVID-19. One case is a 37-year-old male who arrived from Oman on April 10. He was released from isolation in Metro Manila after recovering on April 26. He was found negative for COVID-19 in a repeat test on May 3 and is currently in Soccsksargen. The other case is a 58-year-old...

The Department of Health’s (DOH) announcement of the official resumption of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine for all age groups is a big boost toward efforts to vaccinate economic frontliners. This according to Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo Founder Joey Concepcion. “It’s certainly a huge step forward, especially when it comes to combating vaccine hesitancy,” he said. The DOH’s announcement came following the recommendation of the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the DOH All Experts Group on Vaccines. The DOH concluded that there are currently no known risk factors for Vaccine-Induced Thrombosis and Thrombocytopenia (VITT), a very rare condition of blood clots associated with low platelet counts. To date, there have been no local confirmed VITT events. "This is a big boost,” said Concepcion, “especially following the endorsement of the DOLE,” he said. The DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) earlier released an advisory promoting t...

Agence France-Presse Posted at May 04 2021 01:46 PM BEIJING - Sipping bubble tea and dressed in their holiday finest, millions of Chinese travelers flocked to domestic tourist attractions over the May 1 long holiday with COVID-19 fears already a distant memory. Beijing's historic alleyways were packed with camera-wielding visitors Tuesday, while a bride dressed in red tulle took wedding photos with her groom outside the Forbidden City. Out-of-towners also mobbed popular sites in Shanghai over the weekend, many dragging roller bags and snapping selfies against the city skyline. In Wuhan, where COVID-19 was first reported in late 2019, thousands of maskless revelers cheered and danced shoulder to shoulder at the outdoor Strawberry Music Festival. China has largely brought the virus under control with strict lockdowns and border controls since mid-2020, with only 17 cases among quarantined travelers reported in the country on Tuesday. The Chinese economy recorded an explosive 18...

ABS-CBN News Posted at Feb 23 2021 04:56 PM MANILA - San Miguel Corp said Tuesday it is spending almost P1 billion to vaccinate all of its 70,000 employees against COVID-19 for free. The company said it has secured COVID-19 vaccines from various sources and is currently preparing employees for vaccination with its “Ligtas Lahat” task force, in coordination with the government. Receiving the vaccines is voluntary, but SMC President Ramon Ang said he hopes that all of their eligible employees will sign up for vaccination. “Our program...aims to create a safe and healthy workplace so that we can further contribute to our country’s economic recovery,” Ang, said. The government is allowing the private sector to procure its own vaccines against COVID-19. Procurement of vaccines will be free from taxes and duties until Dec. 31, 2023

By LLANESCA T. PANTI, GMA Malacañang Palace urged overseas Filipino workers to avail themselves of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country where they are working in if this option was available. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the call given that several countries were likely to require the workforce in their jurisdictions to get vaccinated for COVID-19. “Ini-engganyo po natin ang ating mga OFWs na magpabakuna rin po kung nasaan man sila kasi ang alam ko po ang pagbabakuna naman ay sinasakop ang lahat ‘no,” Roque said. (We encourage the OFWs to get their COVID-19 vaccine in the country where they work because vaccination covers everybody as far as we know.) “We are not safe until everyone is safe ‘no, ‘that is the motto worldwide,” Roque added. The Philippines has only 3,540,600 doses of COVID-19 supply thus far. Of this number, 1,562,815 individuals already got their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while 246,986 people already completed their two doses of the COVID-1...

The Philippine Consulate is now in coordination with the Hong Kong government regarding a plan for the mandatory vaccination of domestic workers in the special region. Philippine Consul General Raly Tejada said that mandatory vaccination should not be made a requirement for a working visa or the renewal of contracts, as reported on GMA's "24 Oras Weekend" on Sunday. For its part, the Hong Kong Labor and Welfare Bureau said it is now studying the mechanism for the mandatory vaccination program. Hundreds of overseas Filipino workers over the weekend queued to take part in the mandatory COVID-19 testing for domestic workers in Hong Kong. The mandatory testing comes after two Filipinos tested positive for mutations of the coronavirus disease 2019. Earlier this year, the Hong Kong Center for Health Protection said a passenger from the Philippines tested positive for the U.K. variant of COVID-19. The Philippines on Sunday reported 8,346 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 to...

Fr. Shay Cullen 4 May 2020 The horrific scenes in Brazil and India show people dying in the streets from the lack of preparation by government for the protection of its citizens against the surge of Covid-19. They failed to impose control of mass gatherings and election rallies and now they reap the tragic results- a massive wave of infections. In India, 314,835 infections were recorded and as many 3,000 died in one day and every day. It still rages on. The government has failed to provide oxygen to the hospitals and see that there are enough beds in response to a catastrophic calamity. Television shows people dying at the gates of the hospitals. The hospital wards are crowded with relatives, for sure they will be infected and many will soon follow their relatives to the grave. There is no way to save them with the lack of medicines and oxygen. The vicious virus attacks the lungs and racks the body with fever. It is a terrible disease and hundreds of thousands are dying around the...

The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) strongly encourages proponents of community pantries to include contraceptives such as condoms and pills as necessary goods in their distribution activities. The agency has noted the increasing importance of these sprouting kiosks across the country in temporarily providing basic necessities for less privileged Filipinos and thus, is enjoining their organizers to also carry the above-mentioned modern family planning methods, in coordination with local health centers. In an interview, Undersecretary for Population and Development (POPDEV) Juan Antonio Perez III, MD, MPH noted the dispensation of family planning services and commodities as essential during the ongoing public health emergency that can help prevent unplanned and teenage pregnancies. As such, the presence of these modern methods of contraception in community pantries should also be seen as filling a void in the rollout of family planning activities, which are grea...