MANILA, Feb. 12 The Department of Health (DOH), the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC), and the UP-National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH) confirm the detection of nineteen (19) additional COVID-19 cases positive for the B.1.1.7 variant (UK variant). This brings the total B.1.1.7 variant cases in the country to 44. The DOH, UP-PGC, and UP-NIH further report that no other variant of concern was detected, and 60 samples from Region 7 fitting sequencing criteria were negative for the B.1.1.7 variant.
The 19 additional cases were part of the sixth batch of 718 samples sequenced by the UP-PGC on February 8, 2021. The sixth batch of samples were sourced from all regions, except BARMM, and were selected to ensure representation of each region as well as areas where spikes in cases have been reported.
UP President Danilo Concepcion and Secretary Delfin Lorenzana
The advice was in reaction to the statement issued by the UP Council which seeks the revival of the agreement which requires the military to seek permission from UP authorities before they could conduct operations in any of its campuses.
DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and UP President Danilo Concepcion have already started their dialogue and have both agreed to continue their discussion to address the issue.
“Both parties have agreed to sit down again to further express their positions on the issue, and possibly come up with an acceptable deal that would balance legal considerations and moral obligations,” said Andolong.
In a statement sent to
PIA-NCR, the DND pointed out that discussions on the cancellation of the 1989 accord between the DND and the UP have already started.
“We find this appeal to be untimely and surprising since the UP President himself has said that their discussions should continue, the DND said.
DND spokesperson Director Arsenio Andolong, for his part, said Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and UP President Danilo Concepcion have already started their dialogue and have both agreed to continue their discussion to address the issue.
“Both parties have agreed to sit down again to further express their positions on the issue, and possibly come up with an acceptable deal that would balance legal considerations and moral obligations,” Andolong said.
MANILA, Feb. 11 A fifth of the 30 institutions polled by the Department of Finance (DOF) correctly predicted the contraction of the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) by 9.5 percent in the pandemic-hit year of 2020.
DOF Undersecretary and its Chief Economist Gil Beltran said that of these 30 forecasts released since November last year, 10 were a little more pessimistic, with GDP estimates ranging from -9.6 percent to -10.6 percent.
The remaining 14 were less gloomy in their outlook, Beltran said, with GDP projections of -7.1 percent to -9.1 percent for 2020.
“During these trying times, however, a pessimistic forecaster, no matter how confident he might be in his outlook, would hope that he be proven wrong. For if he were to be eventually proven correct in his gloomy assessment, that would spell more economic suffering. In a sense, such correct reading of the tea leaves would give no pleasure to the forecaster,” Beltran said in his memorandum to Finance Secretary Car