Philippines News: Graft Charges Filed Against Garin Over Dengvaxia. Local Council Elections Next Monday 30th October 2023. Philippines has run out of Covid-19 Vaccines & has no plan to buy more.

Former President Duterte in hot water over televised death threats. Tarlac Bishop dies during basketball tournament. Philippines slow progress in transition to smart cities to be aided by a WB Loan.

Garin Charged With Graft Over Dengvaxia Purchase

The Ombudsman has filed graft charges against Garin over the Dengvaxia vaccines purchase. These vaccines were given to 800,000 school children before it was realized that they could cause severe dengue in children not previously exposed to dengue.

Garin has welcomed the charge stating that she has done no wrong and that the final settlement of this case would be the best recourse to settle the Dengvaxia issue. The precedent from the Dengvaxia cases may well end up relevant to the Covid-19 cases, which are surely not far off!

Local Election Season - First Barangay Elections to be held on Monday 30th October 2023 after more than 3 Years of Postponement

It is local election season in the Philippines. Philippines had historically held the barangay (local council) and Sangguniang Kabataan (regional barangay youth council) elections in December every 3rd year. Dates were changed and the last elections were supposed to have been held in May of 2020. However, these were cancelled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic lockdowns. They were first postponed up to December 2022. Then, in July 2022, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act No. 11935 further postponing the barangay and SK from December 2022 up to October 2023. While the Supreme Court has ruled that the moving of the election was not constitutional, it has also ruled that the October 30 elections must proceed.

Around 67.8 million people are eligible to cast their ballots for the barangay elections, while 23.2 million people are registered to participate in the Sangguniang Kabataan polls. Voting is not automated. 846,000 teachers will serve as electoral board members to assist with the election. Selections and vote counting will all be done manually. A special nationwide holiday has been declared on 30th October to encourage people to vote.

Security is tight around the elections and clan wars can often flare into overt violence. In an attempted to counter this, gun bans are in put in place for the entire election period from 28 August to 29 November.

Liquor bans, preventing sale, serving and consumption of alcohol in public places are also in place for the election weekend from 29 to 30 October 2023.

No More Covid-19 Vaccines for the Philippines

The Philippines has consumed all of the 390,000 donated vaccines from Lithuania, and currently has no plans to procure additional vaccines.

DOH Secretary Herbosa indicated that the Philippines will not procure any further bivalent vaccines as these cannot protection against current circulating strains of Covid-19. He also commented that while they will continue to monitor the situation, the current Covid-19 cases are not serious, deaths are few, and the situation does not currently warrant the procurement of newer monovalent vaccines. Dr. Herbosa is a smart man, I wonder the conversations behind closed doors. However, I rejoice that the covid-19 vaccines are finally stopped; at least no additional harm will be realized.

Former President Duterte in Hot Water Over Public Death Threats

Having lost presidential immunity for his actions, Duterte is being sued for making public death threats against ACT Teachers Rep France Castro. Whether or not, he was serious in these threats, Duterte has a long history of lack of restraint over violent public statements.

Blast from the past in 2021 when Covid-19 vaccine hesitant people were told to “just die already”. This hasn’t aged very well!

While Duterte has never been known for his refined language, which is well and good, he also has a record of delivery on threats, and sees nothing wrong with making threats.

Bishop Dies of Apparent Heart Attack While Playing Basketball

Tarlac’s Bishop died of apparent heart attack while playing in a basketball tournament. He had served his community as bishop for 7 years. He was 67 years old. Another sudden and tragic loss to the community.

Loans for Smart City Transformations

Philippines is lagging to meet its targets for conversion to smart cities. I am not surprised, and even question why there should be such a mass push for digitalization, when power supplies can be intermittent (in places) and where internet connectivity is not consistent, and often very poor.

WB approves $0.6B loan for Philippines digitization and transformation to a cashless society.

WB claims that digitization will improve efficiency and transparency. However, my on-the-ground, in business experience is that currently digitization is failing to live up to its promises. It has made payments and transactions far more complicated and time consuming; considering that they rarely go through the first time, and when this happens then manual transactions may still be needed. I consider that the Philippines is not ready for digitization, and cashless society. Pushing this will further alienate a large portion of the population.

A cashless society will further alienate those who live outside the banking system, which include large numbers of people, even in Metro Manila, and what more in provincial and remote areas.