Daphne Oseña Paez appointed as Palace 'press briefer'

By Kristina Maralit  and Aric John Sy Cua

December 21, 2022 1180

(UPDATE) TELEVISION personality and The Manila Times columnist Daphne Oseña Paez has been appointed as the official "press briefer" of the Palace.

Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) Officer in Charge Cheloy Garafil formally introduced Paez to the Malacañang Press Corps in a briefing on Tuesday.

Garafil said that Paez's main role will be to give the press briefer on "every activity, program of President [Ferdinand] Marcos Jr."

Paez, who earned her degrees in Fine Arts and History from the University of Toronto, began her career in media in the country in ABS-CBN as a news reporter in the 1990s. She was also the weather presenter of the late night English newscast, "The World Tonight."

As Malacañang's "explainer," Paez will "regularly be the source of updates from the Palace."

"I look forward to working with all of you in a harmonious and collegial manner because I am also one of you. I am very honored to be communicating the message and programs of this administration, of course, in an accurate and effective way and I will do my best," the 52-year-old said.

She likewise clarified that she is not the new Palace spokesman and that Marcos will still continue to "speak for himself."

"I am just here to support the Office of the Press Secretary for now," she said.

Paez told reporters that this is her first time working directly with the government.

DoH braces for new Covid spike

By Kristina Maralit

THE Department of Health (DoH) on Monday gave assurances that the country's health facilities are ready for any spike in coronavirus disease infections that may be triggered by the entry of the highly transmissible Omicron BQ.1 subvariant.

Fourteen cases of BQ1 have been recorded in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Ilocos Region, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), Central Visayas, and the National Capital Region (NCR).

   

BQ1 is a sublineage of the BA-5 subvariant, is more transmissible than the other subvariants and is immune evasive.

A triage system and step-down facilities are now in place should there be an increase in the health care utilization rate.

The DoH said that sticking to health protocols and strengthening of the country's health surveillance on infectious diseases are still the best defense against the virus.

"Kaya ang mas importante talaga ay pigilan ang pagpasa sa virus para maiwasan ang pag-mutate nito. At lalong importante na laging handa ang ating health care system to respond to these emerging variants (It's important to stop the spread of the virus to prevent its mutation. And it's more important that our health care system is always ready to respond to these emerging variants)," DoH Officer in Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

She gave assurances that available Covid-19 jabs are effective against the virus and provide an added layer of protection against infections.

Meanwhile, infectious disease expert Dr. Edsel Salvaña said a spike in Covid-19 cases is likely to be seen during the holiday season but that it would not be as high as the first Covid wave.

"Should there be a higher number of cases, it won't be as big, I don't think it will surpass 5,000 cases. And again, most of these cases will be mild and won't need hospitalization," Salvaña said in a press briefing.

"So, if ever the number goes up, it is because of the activity of the public during Christmas. I do not think it will be as dramatic as the number of cases that we saw last January, after Christmas. I think what will happen here, although there might be an increase (in cases), it will be minimal because many are already vaccinated," he added.

He urged the public to help keep the number of positive cases at manageable levels amid the relaxed policy on the wearing of face masks.

FDA warns vs 'toxic' cough syrups

By Kristina Maralit October 25, 2022 

The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) on Monday echoed an earlier warning by the World Health Organization (WHO) against four "substandard" cough syrups for children.

The WHO tagged the cough syrups manufactured by India-based Maiden Pharmaceutical Ltd. under the brands Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup as unsafe for consumption because they contain "toxic ingredients."

The warning was issued following the death of 66 children in the West African country of Gambia last September.

In its advisory, the FDA said the four brands contain diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol which are considered as contaminants and toxic to humans.

Consumption "may result in abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental state and acute kidney injury which may lead to death," it said.

Boost local tourism, Marcos urges Pinoys

By Kristina Maralit October 24, 2022 

PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. encouraged Filipinos to start visiting the country's tourist sites to help speed up the recovery of the local tourism sector.

In his weekly vlog posted on his official Facebook page Sunday, the President said tourism is one of the country's major job generating and revenue earning industries.

"I will not stop encouraging you all to visit our beautiful tourist spots," he said in Filipino.

"Let's start this Undas (All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day). One reason why I declared October 31 a special non-working holiday is so that we will have more time to spend with our families and plan our vacation," he said.

Tourism can revitalize the economy because improving existing tourist spots and developing new ones will open more businesses, which in turn will provide more local employment opportunities, he said.

Marcos said he has tasked concerned government agencies to step up efforts to improve accessibility to areas with a high potential for tourism.

"The more that they are accessible, the more people will be enticed to visit and pour in money to the provinces," the President said.

Last week at the Philippine Tourism Industry Convergence Reception, Marcos pledged all-out support for efforts to boost the tourism sector.

Citing the report of Tourism Secretary Cristina Garcia Frasco that the Philippines has attracted around 1.6 million foreign travelers since the country eased the screening of arriving passengers last February, he directed various government agencies to work closely with the Tourism department in building new infrastructure, rehabilitating and improving existing tourist destinations and discovering new ones, upgrading sea and airports as well as public transportation, and securing tourists.

DoT redefines key strategies

Ease of travel and better facilities, the President pointed out, will lure more local and foreign tourists alike to see the sights which will generate not just jobs and income for Filipinos but also "reintroduce" the Philippines to the rest of the world.

Marcos reiterated that "now is the best opportunity" for the country to be a tourism hub with its vast, rich natural resources and best asset — the Filipino workforce.

"We in the Philippines have been so fortunate to have been born to this very beautiful country. And even more so, we have been so lucky to be born to such beautiful people. This is something that we can show the world, and immediately, this will come to help on the preoccupation. At the very beginning, we always talk about jobs, we always talk about employment," he said.

"We must immediately do all that we can to make sure that these assets that the Philippines has must be used to bring jobs to people, good jobs to people, to bring visitors to our country," he added.

Marcos pledges to reboot tourism

To further streamline the processing of returning overseas Filipinos and foreign travelers, the government has replaced the One Health Pass (OHP) with the much simpler eArrival card.

Before the eArrival Card, travelers had to register for the OHP a few days before their arrival and accomplish the electronic Health Declaration Checklist (eHDC) on their day of departure.

Unnecessary information fields such as the traveler's occupation and educational attainment have been removed to speed up the registration process.

PTAA: Collaboration key to recovery

Tourism-related fields were likewise significantly cut by half — from 20 items under the OHP to now less than 10 items in the eArrival card.

Upon providing their travel details, personal information, health declaration and vaccination details on the eArrival Card website: www.onehealthpass.com.ph, travelers will be issued with a unique QR code which they will present to Bureau of Quarantine officers at their destination airport in the Philippines.

PH backs climate initiative

Robert Borje, vice chairman and executive director of the Climate Change Commission (CCC). TMT FILE PHOTO

By Kristina Maralit, Manila Times

October 10, 2022

THE Philippines renewed its call for a stronger global initiative on climate change during a meeting of stakeholders ahead of the Conference of Parties (COP27) climate summit in Egypt next month.

In the PreCOP27 summit held in DR Congo last week, Robert Borje, vice chairman and executive director of the Climate Change Commission (CCC), stressed the importance of reaching an agreement and urgent collective action to address climate change and its impacts.

"PreCOP27 in Kinshasa provides parties and partners a vital opportunity to discuss at length what is important for all in order to make significant headway in addressing climate change and its impacts, particularly for developing at-risk and vulnerable states like the Philippines," he said, adding that developing nations suffer the most while contributing the least to climate change.

On adaptation, Borje said the Philippines pushed for fast-tracking finance, technology and capacity development to build adaptive capacities, improve resilience and reduce vulnerabilities of developing countries, in accordance with the Global Goal on Adaptation.

On mitigation, the official stressed that emissions avoidance must be part of the mitigation action to accelerate just transition to low carbon development in developing nations.

Regarding climate finance, he pointed out that the New Collective Quantified Goal must include the key elements of transparency, responsiveness, and scale.

It emphasized that climate finance must be accurately reported while being needs-based and commensurate to the needs of potential recipients.

From the $100 billion climate finance commitment of developed countries under the Paris Agreement, the New Collective Quantified Goal must set a higher target for climate finance to help implement climate change-related strategies and measures.

Marcos tells world to act fast vs climate change

With a view to realizing climate justice for vulnerable and at-risk developing nations, the Philippines underscored that access by least developed and developing countries to financial mechanisms must be streamlined and simplified.

On loss and damage, the Philippines raised concern that least developed and developing countries can no longer absorb and afford the cost of further losses and damages due to climate change and its impacts.

Borje argued that there must be an agenda item on loss and damage, as well as dedicated space to discuss the operationalization of the Santiago Network.

Targeted to be fully operationalized by 2023, the Santiago Network is meant to catalyze technical support of organizations, bodies, networks and experts for developing countries to avert, minimize, and address climate change-related loss and damage.

UN forum seeks adequate funding for climate change

Additionally, the Philippine government underlined that dedicated discussion space must be provided for the financing for loss and damage, and the governance structure of the Warsaw International Mechanism as established to implement approaches to loss and damage — all in line with the Paris Agreement and the Glasgow Climate Pact, among other international frameworks and commitments.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, in partnership with the Arab Republic of Egypt as the incoming COP27 Presidency, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, convened 60 countries in Kinshasa for PreCOP27.

CP27 will be held on November 6 to 18 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.