Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque/ Screenshot from PCOO Facebook video
MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN): As 2021 approaches, Malacañang expressed hope that it would be the year for the Philippines to heal and recover from the challenges it faced in 2020.
“We welcome 2021 with renewed hope, courage and inspiration as we bid farewell to 2020 bringing with us its valuable lessons and memories, ” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Thursday (Dec 31) in his New Year message.
“Let us therefore make Year 2021 a year of healing, recovery and bouncing back. Together and united, we will heal and recover as one, ” he added.
“The challenges we faced as a nation in 2020 were daunting but because of the resilient Filipino spirit, we fought and carried on, ” he added.
ILOILO CITY (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN): A committee of the 145-member League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) will meet next week to tackle plans for direct procurement of Covid-19 vaccines by local authorities around the country, a former leader of the group said on Wednesday (Dec 23).
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, who had served as LCP president and chair, said the LCP president, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, would call the meeting of the committee composed of city mayors to discuss the procurement of vaccines for cities in the country.
“We need to discuss plans especially for cities who can afford to buy their own vaccines because the sooner we can administer these, the sooner we can return to normal, ” Treñas told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
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The Philippines was supposed to get the Pfizer vaccine in January. - AP
MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN): Sen Kiko Pangilinan on Thursday (Dec 17) said some government officials may be held liable for graft over the government’s failure to secure a deal for 10 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had helped to arrange for the Philippines.
In a statement, Pangilinan said the failure raised suspicion that the prospect of kickbacks might have motivated the government officials not to submit a document required by the US pharmaceutical giant.
“We just hope it’s not an issue of ‘kickvac’ that led to the ‘dropping of the ball’ in the vaccine procurement, ” Pangilinan said.
Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez. - Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN): National government agencies and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) launched on Monday (Dec 14) a digital platform that sought to connect farmers directly to consumers, a move aimed at increasing farmers’ income and lowering consumer prices.
The departments of Trade and Industry (DTI) and of Agriculture (DA) together with the USAID officially launched DELIVER-e after the project in its proof-of-concept stage sold 260 metric tonnes of vegetables and fruits and made more than P7.15 million worth of transactions.
“This initiative is about bringing farm produce closer to the buying public and cutting through layers of traders. This has long been a personal dream of mine, ” Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said during the online event.