- Palace: Give Magalong a 2nd chance
- Active cases highest in 3 months
Malacañang is hopeful Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong will reconsider his irrevocable resignation as contact tracing czar after drawing heavy flak for attending a party where violations of the pandemic protocol were observed.
“We are sad that Mayor Magalong tendered his resignation. Of course, we respect his principles but I heard that Sec. Galvez will still talk to Mayor Magalong,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Saturday.
On Friday, Magalong, a former police general, cited his lapses in failing to correct violations at the party, held for the birthday of event organizer Tim Yap.
Some of the guests were photographed without masks and failing to observe physical distancing. His wife was among 33 people who paid fines for violating ordinances on COVID-19 protocol.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque said Magalong’s resignation was rejected and that “he continues to enjoy the trust and confidence of the leadership of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19.”
Travel restrictions
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration said it would lift the travel restrictions on the 36 countries with reported cases of the new Covid-19 variants starting Feb 1, following a directive from the Inter-Agency Task Force Against Emerging and infectious Diseases (IATF).
However, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente clarified that other travel restrictions remained in place.
“We are still limiting the entry of foreign nationals to the country, following the IATF,” said Morente. “Generally speaking, tourists are still not allowed to enter the country,” he added.
Current restrictions only allow the entry of accredited foreign diplomats and personnel of accredited international organizations such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations, foreign dignitaries, and those for medical and emergency cases, including their medical escorts.
Foreign spouse and minor children of Filipinos, children with special needs regardless of age of Filipinos, foreign parent of minor Filipinos, and foreign parent of Filipino children with special needs regardless of age will also be allowed entry.
Permanent residents under Section 13 of the Philippine Immigration Act, RA 7919, and EO 324, as well as those with Native Born visas may enter. Also allowed are those married to Filipinos with Temporary Resident Visas and MCL-07-021 Permanent Resident Visas relative to Section 13 of CA 613.
Investors with an EO 226 visa, Special Investors Resident Visa under EO 226, 47(a)2 visa issued by the Department of Justice, and Section 9(d) Treaty Traders visa will also be allowed, together with those with economic zone visas under Aurora Pacific Economic Zone, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority and Clark Development Corporation.
Additionally, holders of Section 9(g) visas who left the country starting December 17, 2020 may return upon presentation of a valid ACr I-Card and Special Return Certificate.
Except for those qualified as balikbayans under Republic Act No. 6768, all exempted foreign nationals are required to have a valid and existing visa at the time of entry, with a pre-booked accommodation facility for at least 7 nights in an accredited quarantine facility, subject to COVID-19 testing protocols as set by the Department of Health, and subject to the maximum capacity of inbound passengers.
COVID updates
The Philippines logged on Saturday 2,109 new cases of the novel coronavirus diseas, bringing the total to 523,516, as six laboratories failed to submit their data on time, the Department of Health reported.
The DOH reported 36,943 active cases, which is 7.1 percent of the total number of cases and the highest recorded in three months. Of the active cases, 85.2 percent are mild; 9.7 percent are asymptomatic; 2.6 percent are critical; 2.1 percent are severe; and 0.44 percent are moderate. The DOH also reported that there were 146 persons who recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 475,904, which is 90.9 percent of the total.
The DOH also reported 71 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 10,669, which is 2.04 percent of the total.
Call on medical professionals
Baguio City is calling on medical professionals to extend their services by being part of the vaccination teams that will be organized by the local government for the roll out of the mass vaccination program.
City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo urged medical doctors to enlist themselves with the City Health Services Office for them to be assigned specific functions in the vaccination teams that will aggressively implement the mass vaccination program in the barangays to help in achieving the desired herd immunity of the populace.
She told medical doctors during the recently concluded health summit that their services in the vaccination teams are badly needed as they will be assigned as persons responsible for the after effect following immunization where their expertise are required.
The city health officer claimed that after a person would be immunized, he or she would be asked to stay for at least 30 minutes to undergo the required observation by the assigned physicians for any after effect of the vaccine that will be injected to him or her.
The local government is organizing some 85 teams that will be deployed in the different parts of the city for the implementation of the government’s mass vaccination program.