President Rodrigo Roa Duterte wants a “bigger and higher” statue of first Filipino hero Lapulapu than the statue of Portuguese explorer and colonizer Ferdinand Magellan in Cebu. “Let me be very clear, I am not belittling Magellan because he has our respect ‘yung statue niya (with his statue). I do not mean to offend the sensibility of Cebuanos. I’m just a citizen of this country expressing my opinion,” Duterte said in his prerecorded Talk to the People aired Tuesday morning. Duterte recalled the times when he went to Cebu campaigning for the presidency. “I went to Cebu and there was
The city government has asked officials of its 128 barangays to assist in making an inventory of unvaccinated residents and facilitate their vaccination against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) if needed. Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan, in a phone interview on Tuesday, said the move is aimed at further improving the vaccination rate of the city, with 95.09 percent of its 281,000 eligible adult population now fully vaccinated as of January 15. “They (barangay officials) can also help, like what they continue to do in informing their residents of the gains of the vaccine,” he said. Despite the city’s high vaccination
The acquisition of the Indian-made BrahMos medium-range ramjet supersonic cruise missiles will greatly enhance the Philippine Navy (PN)’s capabilities to defend the country’s vast maritime borders. “It will increase the capability of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), particularly the PN to defend the country’s extensive maritime borders,” PN spokesperson Commander Benjo Negranza said in a message to Philippine News Agency on Monday night when asked how the acquisition of the BrahMos will affect the country’s deterrent capabilities. Negranza added the BrahMos will also complement the efforts of PN surface ships in patrolling Philippines waters aside from beefing up
To prevent crowding in pharmacies set to administer Covid-19 jabs to the public, Malacañang said expected vaccine recipients will have to preregister before arriving at participating drugstores. Acting presidential spokesperson, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, made this remark after testing czar Vince Dizon announced the pilot rollout of Covid-19 vaccination in select pharmacies and clinics from January 20 to 21. “Kailangan pong magrehistro (Pre-registration is required). So that way, mas ma-manage po natin ang flow ng mga pupunta doon sa mga botika at ng (we can manage the flow of those showing up at drugstores and) private clinics that are participating
A total of 15 areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) have logged cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, a health official said Tuesday. “Our latest whole-genome sequencing showed that the Omicron variant is now the predominant variant in the National Capital Region,” Department of Health Epidemiology Bureau Director Alethea de Guzman said during a congressional briefing. She did not identify which NCR areas registered Omicron cases. The variant has also been detected in 13 out of the 17 regions, driving the increase in Covid-19 infections. “However, the increased mobility and reduced adherence to minimum public health standards, as
Indonesia’s parliament has approved a bill to relocate the nation’s capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, an official said on Tuesday. “The new capital city has a central function and is a symbol of national identity, as well as a new economic center,” Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa said in the parliament after the bill was passed. According to Monoarfa, the new capital will be named Nusantara, a Javanese name for the Indonesian archipelago chosen by Indonesian President Joko Widodo. The planned area of the new capital is 256,142.74 hectares (632,941 acres), according to the new law.
