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Arts & Culture (05/05/21)

Alex OReilly

Art Fair Philippines 2021 goes online

THE ART Fair Philippines goes digital for the first time from May 6 to 15 at www.artfairphilippines.com. Access to the fair is free for everyone. A highlight of the fair is a section focusing on digital art called the Metaverse.

Instituto Cervantes showcases documentaries

TO HIGHLIGHT the rich diversity of viewpoints and narratives this May, Instituto Cervantes de Manila is presenting the online film cycle Zonazine, a showcase of Spanish and Latin American documentaries. The films will be shown through the Instituto Cervantes channel on the Vimeo platform (vimeo.com/institutocervantes) and will be freely accessible for 48 hours from their start date and time. The series of four films will kick off on May 8 with the online screening of El cuarto reino (The Fourth Kingdom), available for 48 hours through the following link: https://vimeo.com/536445310. Directed by Adán Aliaga and Àlex Lora in 2019, this documentary has received several awards including the 2020 Gaudí Award for Best Documentary and the Grand Jury Award at the 2019 Atlanta Film Festival. It portrays the daily life of a can collection and recycling center in a New York neighborhood. Through René, an illegal worker from Mexico, and the relationships he establishes with his peers, the film explores the lie of the “American dream.” For further information about the cultural program of Instituto Cervantes visit the website (http://manila.cervantes.es), or the Instituto Cervantes Facebook page www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila.

Enrollment for theater workshop series starts May 7

GMG Productions is partnering with the Open House Fundraiser and the Artists’ Welfare Project, Inc. for their newly launched Workshop Series. GMG’s first Workshop Series will be taught by international touring cast members that have performed in Manila. Each week, enrollees will have the opportunity to dance to their favorite musical theater song numbers taught by international cast members. Joining the first set of moderators are Darren Greef, resident director and choreographer of international productions Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita, and Chicago the Musical; Alexanda O’Reiley, cast member and Mamma Mia flipper boy; Brian O’Muiri, CATS International touring member; and Louisa Talbot, associate and resident choreographer on West Side Story, Grease, Rocky Horror Show, and Matilda. GMG’s first workshop series will launch June 7. The dance workshops will be held Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 3 p.m. Each session will be approximately one hour and will include learning choreography, cast hangout and a Q&A. Workshops slots are P3,500 per week. Enrollment will begin May 7. Very limited slots are available through the GMG Productions website https://www.gmg-productions.com/manila/workshops. A portion of the workshops’ proceeds will go to Open House as well as five workshop scholarships per week that shall be extended to qualified beneficiaries as part of additional revenue-generating measures for the Open House Fundraiser. “We are excited to partner with the Open House Fundraiser and AWPI,” said GMG Productions’ CEO Carlos Candal in a statement. “At the beginning of our discussions for the workshops, we knew right away that it was the right thing to do. With every show that comes in to Manila, we hire a team of up to 40 amazing Filipino musicians, cast and crew members, many of whom have been displaced due to the pandemic. We want to be able to help by making use of our network.” To book the Open House Fundraiser slots, e-mail artistswelfareproject@gmail.com.

Art Basel HK pushes through physically and virtually

AFTER an absence of more than two years because of the pandemic, Art Basel is officially scheduled to take place from May 21 to 23 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center (HKCEC). More than 100 galleries from Asia, Europe, and the Americas have confirmed their participation. In addition, Art Central will run concurrently at the HKCEC for the first time, and is free to attend with registration. The annual French May will continue to offer cultural entertainment, with over 100 events running from May 1 to June 30. To ensure that all fair participants have a stress-free experience, best-practice health and safety protocols will be followed, including mask-wearing, timed entry, reduced capacity, wider aisles and regular cleaning. In addition to Art Basel, which will launch a new digital initiative, Art Basel Live: Hong Kong in parallel with the physical show to amplify its international visibility, fairs that have adopted the hybrid format include Art Central and Yim Tin Tsai Arts Festival 2021. While Hong Kong Arts Festival’s PLUS program is featuring a diverse line-up of online and in-venue experiences, the soon-to-be-opened West Kowloon Cultural District’s M+ museum is offering online movie screenings on demand. Actively contributing to Hong Kong’s art revival, the HKTB created a dedicated campaign website (www.discoverhongkong.com/Arts), which is a one-stop platform providing essential information about Arts in Hong Kong and introducing online showcases, art itineraries, an event calendar, artsy offers, interviews with art insiders, and more.

Two shows at Silverlens

SILVERLENS presents two shows this month: “Lonely Picket in the Balcony,” featuring works by Leslie de Chavez, and “Flower Moon,” featuring works by Kitty Tanigushi, both running from May 14 to June 11. In “A Lonely Picket in the Balcony,” Leslie de Chavez demonstrates the diversity of his practice by featuring paintings, sculptures, and installations. In keeping with his socio-political oeuvre, these works investigate the struggles and inequalities faced by the marginalized — victims of systemic injustice, brought about by political indulgences. Meanwhile, Kitty Taniguchi’s “Flower Moon” continues the artist’s exploration of imagery revolving around personal mythologies set in landscape. Figures are rendered in oil, acrylic and ink including tigers, unicorns, crows, lions, fantastical plants, and cityscapes seen from afar like mountain ranges. In the midst of it all, a woman sits in repose and waiting. Ms. Taniguchi’s re-telling of myths set in new terrain allows stories to return to its geographical roots and pave other ways of expressing self-hood.  Silverlens is located at 2263 Don Chino Roces Avenue Ext., Makati. For details on scheduling visits, COVID-19 protocols and other information, call 8816-0044, 0917-587-4011, e-mail  info@silverlensgalleries.com or visit www.silverlensgalleries.com.

BenCab Museum presents 2-artist exhibit

BENCAB Museum in Baguio presents “Message from the Ground,” the fourth joint exhibit of Abi Dionisio and Welbart. As a reaction to the ongoing pandemic, Ms. Dionisio labored her hands in threadwork to create embroidered moving images of hope and strength to represent the unwavering commitment and dedication of the people at the face of this threat. Because she also wanted to capture their gargantuan sacrifices that go behind each act of service, she painted the backside of each threadwork on her canvas to show how the seamy thread lines and incoherent knots make the front side we often only see most invitingly beautiful and inspiring. Meanwhile, Welbart, known for his critically acclaimed and highly celebrated nude figures set in chiaroscuro, reveal their faces painted in almost alabaster skin, indicative of years of being kept in complete solitude. For each figure, he carefully paints a crown of embroidered words he curated from years of his own self-fought battles. The exhibit is currently on view until June 6. For details, send an e-mail to the BenCab Museum at bencabartfoundation@gmail.com, or visit its website (www.bencabmuseum.org/) or its Facebook or Instagram pages (www.facebook.com/bencabmuseum/ and  www.instagram.com/bencabmuseum).

First Hebrew to Filipino book translation launched

THE EMBASSY of Israel in the Philippines launched the first Hebrew to Filipino book translation entitled Bigla, May Kumatok sa Pinto, a collection of short stories by Israeli author Etgar Keret who is a leading voice in Israeli literature and cinema. His five best-selling story collections have been translated into 46 languages. The Filipino translation was done by U. Z. Eliserio of the Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas, Kolehiyo ng Arte at Literatura of the University of the Philippines. Anvil Publishing, Inc. is the official publisher and distributor of the book. Bigla, May Kumatok sa Pinto is available in National Bookstores and online shopping platforms for P395.

Embattled China Huarong seeks to reassure investors that it can repay its debt

CHINA HUARONG Asset Management Co. broke its silence over the embattled company’s financial position, with a company executive telling media the firm is prepared to make its bond payments and state backing remains intact.

Recent rating downgrades by international agencies “have no factual basis” and are “too pessimistic,” Xu Yongli, Huarong’s vice-president and board secretary, said in an interview with the state-run Shanghai Securities News on Friday. There are no signs of change in the government’s support for the firm and there is no evidence indicating a change to its shareholding structure, he said, according to the report.

The comments are the most comprehensive by the state-run asset manager on its financial health since the delay of the company’s 2020 results at the end of March triggered a record selloff in its offshore bonds. Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings downgraded the firm’s credit ratings last week amid a lack of visibility over the central government’s support. The finance ministry is China Huarong’s biggest shareholder.

Moves in the company’s bonds in reaction to the comments were muted. The borrower’s 3.75% note due 2022 is indicated up 0.3 cent to 82.6 cents on the dollar, while its 4.5% perpetual bond climbed 2.6 cent to 66.4 cents, Bloomberg-compiled prices show at 5:34 p.m. in Hong Kong. Several markets in Asia were closed for holidays on Monday, including China.

China Huarong is actively working with auditors to release its 2020 results as soon as possible, Xu told the Xinhua News Agency-owned newspaper. The interview was also shared by the firm’s official WeChat account.

The firm is one of China’s biggest issuers of debt in the overseas market with some some $22.9 billion of outstanding offshore bonds. It needs to repay or refinance some $3.7 billion of those notes through this year. Its offshore unit has a coupon payment due May 7 for a $700 million, 4% perpetual dollar bond.

The ratings firms lack a comprehensive understanding of China Huarong and the environment it’s operating in, Xu told the Shanghai Securities News. The company has made proper arrangements and adequate preparation for its future bond payments, he said. — Bloomberg

Bogo-Medellin Milling trims net loss in first quarter

BOGO-MEDELLIN Milling Co., Inc. trimmed its net loss to P18.2 million during the first quarter of its fiscal year on the back of better sales, the listed company said in a stock exchange disclosure on Tuesday.

“The significant decrease in net loss for this quarter compared to the same period last year is mainly due to higher volume of sugar sold,” it said.

Improved sugar sales for the October-to-December quarter allowed the company to cut its losses by 52.2% from its P38.08-million net loss year on year.

Total sales during the quarter reached P17.42 million, a sharp increase from the P3.91 million it had the year earlier. Operating costs and expenses fell 15.1% to P35.67 million from the P42.01 million.

For its fiscal year that ended in September 2020, Bogo-Medellin incurred a net loss of P54.79 million, wider than the P20.33-million losses a year earlier as a result of lower sugar and molasses sales.

In a regulatory filing on April 30, the company said its total sales last year reached P177.63 million, a 19.6% drop from the P220.88 million it had in 2019.

Bogo-Medellin said the total cane milled last year was at 231,771.16 metric tons (MT), a 3.1% reduction compared with 239,187.59 MT in 2019.

Shares in Bogo-Medellin were last traded on Feb. 10 when it closed at P70.60 apiece, based on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) website.

Trading of the company’s shares were temporarily suspended after its failure to file its annual report for the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2020 and quarterly report for the period that ended on Dec. 31, 2020.

In a separate announcement on Tuesday, the PSE said the trading of Bogo-Medellin shares will resume on May 5 after the company complied with the structured reportorial requirements. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Philippines among the economies with the highest estimated working-hour losses in 2020 — ILO

Philippines among the economies with the highest estimated working-hour losses in 2020 — ILO

How PSEi member stocks performed — May 4, 2021

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Tuesday, May 4, 2021.

Palace distances itself from envoy’s China rant

WIKIPEDIA

THE PHILIPPINE presidential palace on Tuesday distanced itself from its top envoy’s tirade against China, saying his views on the South China Sea dispute is his own.

“This is not the policy of the Philippines,” presidential spokesman Herminio “Harry” L. Roque, Jr. told an online news briefing, citing “express orders” from President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro M. Locsin, Jr. on Monday minced no words in telling the Chinese to get out of its waters in the South China Sea, cussing at its neighbor for failing to reciprocate its goodwill.

Mr. Duterte “does not approve the use of profanities, particularly in the field of diplomacy,” Mr. Roque said.

“The President’s message is, in the field of diplomacy, there is no place for profanities,” he said in Filipino. “The President also said that among his Cabinet, he’s the only who can cuss.”

Mr. Locsin on Tuesday apologized to his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, after his expletive-laden tweet.

“I won’t plead the last provocation as an excuse for losing it; but if Wang Yi is following Twitter then I’m sorry for hurting his feelings but his alone,” he tweeted.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila said Scarborough Shoal is China’s territory and its adjacent waters are under its jurisdiction.

“China urges the Philippine side to earnestly respect China’s sovereignty and jurisdiction and stop taking actions that may complicate the situation,” it said in a statement posted on its website.

“Facts have proven time and time again that megaphone diplomacy can only undermine mutual trust rather than change reality. We hope that a certain individual from the Philippine side will mind basic manners and act in ways that suit his status,” it added, alluding to Mr. Locsin.

Mr. Duterte on Monday night said Manila does not need to be rude to Beijing because they can settle their dispute diplomatically.

“Just because we have a conflict with China, it doesn’t mean to say that we have to be rude and disrespectful,” he said.

“China remains to be our benefactor,” Mr. Duterte said, citing vaccine donations and investments from its neighbor.

The tough-talking leader in 2016 threatened to break up with the US and said then President Barack Obama could “go to hell” after the US government criticized his deadly war on drugs. He had also called both the former US President and his ambassador to the Philippines a “son of a whore.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Duterte said he never promised during his presidential campaign to retake the country’s territories in the South China Sea.

“I never, in my campaign as president, promised the people that I would retake the West Philippine Sea,” he said, referring to areas of the sea within the country’s exclusive economic zone. “I did not promise that I would pressure China.”

He rebuked retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, who have spoken against his foreign policy on China, for forcing him to quarrel with his neighbor.

‘GRAND ESTAFA’
But Mr. Carpio belied the President’s claim, noting that during the campaign, he had promised to fight for Philippine sovereignty over the South China Sea.

“He declared during the presidential debate that if elected President he would ride a jet ski to Scarborough Shoal and plant the Philippine flag,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“By not being true to his campaign promise that he would assert the country’s territories in the disputed area, Mr. Duterte committed grand estafa,” Mr. Carpio said.

Mr. Duterte “cannot now say that he never discussed or mentioned the West Philippine Sea issue when he was campaigning for President,” he said in a separate statement. “There is a term for that —  grand estafa or grand larceny — making a false promise to get 12 million votes.”

Meanwhile, Senator Panfilo M. Lacson sought a review of diplomatic ties with China.

“Maybe a review of the country’s diplomatic relations is timely and called for,” he tweeted. “All the diplomatic protests that the secretary of Foreign Affairs filed have been ignored as if nothing was filed at all.”

“The continued incursions and bullying finally got his goat. The Senate must support him in this regard,” he added.

Mr. Lacson said the review of Philippine-China ties should be “innovative and creative” since diplomatic protests have failed.

The Philippines should boost alliances with the United States, Australia, Japan and European Union countries “to maintain the balance of power in the region.”

Mr. Lacson also said Senator Franklin M. Drilon had accepted his proposed changes to a resolution filed by 11 senators last week on the South China Sea issue. 

The amendment included urging the Department of Foreign Affairs to review diplomatic ties with China “to send a clear message that the incursions into our exclusive economic zone in utter disregard of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the rule of law is totally unacceptable.”

Eleven senators on April 26 filed a resolution “strongly condemning” Chinese illegal activities within Philippine waters.

Mr. Lacson said Filipinos should have a “united stand” on the South China Sea issue but it should not be connected to other issues such as vaccine donations.

Mr. Locsin cussed at China on Monday as his agency filed two more diplomatic protests against China for its “belligerent actions.”

It cited the “incessant, illegal, prolonged, and increasing presence” of Chinese fishing and militia vessels in the South China Sea. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Bianca Angelica D. Añago and Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Gov’t says it aims for metro herd immunity in six more months

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

THE PHILIPPINES targets to vaccinate millions of residents in Manila, the capital and nearby cities and provinces this year as vaccine supply issues hinder it from achieving herd immunity for the entire country, according to the presidential palace.

The government expects herd immunity in the National Capital Region and the provinces of Laguna, Rizal, Cavite and Bulacan by November, vaccine czar Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. told a televised news briefing on Tuesday.

“We’re looking at 180 days,” he said, citing estimates by private sector players involved in the country’s vaccination plan.

The government earlier said it was seeking to vaccinate as many as 70 million Filipinos this year.

Mr. Galvez earlier said the country needed to inoculate three million people weekly to achieve herd immunity this year.

The country needs to get at least 15 million vaccines every month to achieve the goal, he said at a televised meeting with President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Monday night.

“If we can achieve herd immunity by vaccinating up to 70 percent of the residents in these areas, there is a big chance that our economy will recover and we can prevent a surge in cases,” he said.

The government has set up 5,000 vaccination sites that can give 100 shots a day, a major requirement to achieve herd immunity, he said. He added that the country needs to have as many as 50,000 vaccinators.

Mr. Galvez said the country is set to take delivery of about 3.3 million doses of vaccines monthly starting June to allow the government to vaccinate at least 120,000 Filipinos daily.

About 92% of the 4.4 million vaccines in the country have been sent out, Mr. Galvez said. About 1.9 million vaccines have been injected.

Mr. Galvez said the vaccines from India might get delayed due to the crisis there, where thousands die daily amid a fresh surge in coronavirus infections.

The Department of Health (DoH) reported 5,683 coronavirus infections on Tuesday, bringing the total to 1.07 million.

The death toll rose by 97 to 17,622, while recoveries increased by 9,028 to 984,210, it said in a bulletin.

There were 66,060 active cases, 1.2% of which were critical, 94.6% were mild, 1.7% did not show symptoms, 1.5% were severe and 0.98% were moderate. The agency traced the low tally to the failure of some laboratories to submit data on Sunday.

DoH said 15 duplicates had been removed from the tally, 11 of which were tagged as recoveries. Forty recoveries were reclassified as deaths. Twenty-one laboratories failed to submit data on May 2.

About 11.2 million Filipinos have been tested for the coronavirus as of May 2, according to DoH’s tracker website.

The coronavirus has sickened about 154.2 million and killed 3.2 million people worldwide, according to the Worldometers website, citing various sources including data from the World Health Organization. About 131.6 million people have recovered, it said.

Meanwhile, the Health department said 380 more people have been infected with the variant first detected in South Africa, bringing the total to 1,075.

It also said 289 more people were infected with the variant first detected in the United Kingdom, raising the total to 948.

Nine people had been infected with the variant first detected in the Philippines, bringing the total to 157. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza and Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Local PPE makers ask government to set up stockpiling, sourcing program

DTI.GOV.PH

LOCAL manufacturers of personal protective equipment (PPE) are asking the government to create a stockpiling program that will exclusively procure local supply. Garment exporters last year retooled their factories to manufacture various types of PPE, shelling out $35 million in initial investments, in response to government’s request for help in meeting demand amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Confederation of Philippine Manufacturers of PPE (CPMP), however, said their manufacturing capacity was not maximized as the government continued to source most of its PPE requirements from other countries. In a statement on Tuesday, CPMP said that government procurement done at the end of last year only picked up 27% of their members’ monthly production capacity for coveralls and gowns and 69% of their monthly capacity for face masks. To address the mismatch, the industry group is asking the government to create a procurement program that allows local manufacturers a certain period of time to source and stockpile raw materials. “The government can plan the requirement projections to ably address the bottlenecks in the PPE supply chain management mechanism,” the group said. The PPE makers also asked the government to create a supply chain committee that will work with industry players in developing a national PPE sourcing plan. An exclusive local-sourcing plan, the group said, would help increase local jobs. The manufacturers last month said 3,500 workers lost their jobs after three PPE factories closed due to lack of government purchases. — Jenina P. Ibañez

PEZA seeks inclusion of ecozone workers in vaccination priority group

DOLE

THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is asking the national task force handling the coronavirus response to include its locators’ workers among the A4 priority group for vaccination, which covers non-medical frontliners. PEZA Director General Charito B. Plaza wrote a letter to Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr., designated vaccine czar, on April 23 to ask for the inclusion of ecozone employees among the frontline workers next in line for inoculation. She noted that outsourcing and export-oriented firms that make up PEZA locators were allowed to have limited operations even during the strictest lockdown. “The BPO (business process outsourcing) and export-oriented sectors were allowed to operate as a measure to cushion the adverse impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) to the economy, subject to strict compliance with health and quarantine protocols,” she said in a press release on Tuesday. Under the government’s vaccination priority list, the A4 category includes frontline personnel in essential sectors such as transportation, overseas Filipino workers, and members of the media. The government is aiming to vaccinate those in the A1-A4 lists within the first half of the year.

VACCINE CONFIDENCE
Meanwhile, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said vaccine confidence has increased within the labor sector and majority of workers are willing to be inoculated against the coronavirus. “Noong una mababa talaga eh, ngayong pataas ng pataas (In the beginning it was really low, but now it gets higher and higher),” ECOP President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis said in a briefing on Tuesday. He also assured that vaccination will remain voluntary in compliance with the Labor department’s rule. At the same time, the Department of Labor and Employment on Tuesday released an advisory encouraging employers to have their workers inoculated under the private sector’s vaccine procurement initiative or the government program. “Employers shall continue to urge their employees to avail their own vaccination program, if any, or their respective local government units,” the advisory dated May 1 said. — Jenina P. Ibañez and Gillian M. Cortez

Drilon questions seeming rush to release anti-communist agency’s funds

SENATE PRIB

SENATE Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon questioned the government’s speedy release of the anti-communism agency’s 2021 budget, noting that over half of its fund had already been released. In a statement, Mr. Drilon said the fund released to the National Task Force to End Local Communism and Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has already reached P10.68 billion as of April out of its P19-billion budget for 2021, citing data from the Budget department. The opposition senator cited in comparison the slower pace of disbursements for the rehabilitation of Marawi City that was ravaged in 2017. “Why is there a seeming rush to release the budget? Why has the release of the Marawi rehabilitation fund been slow? Where will the P10.68 billion be used?” Mr. Drilon said in Filipino. The senator said P7.54 billion out of the P10.68 billion was released in April only and P3.14 billion was given out on March 24. Mr. Drilon said addressing the coronavirus and its effects such as employment and hunger should be prioritized. “Yet, the government is giving priority to NTF-ELCAC’s anti-insurgency program rather than use the funds to expand ayuda (cash aid), buy vaccines and feed the poor,” he said. He said the Senate should scrutinize the use of the funds and compel the task force to submit a report to Congress as part of its oversight function. Mr. Drilon previously proposed to realign the budget of the NTF-ELCAC for financial aid to Filipinos most affected by the pandemic. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Solon wants agencies to start preparing for aid distribution under 3rd COVID-19 measure

Residents of Payatas, Quezon City receive financial subsidy on April 7. — PHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS
PHILIPPINE STAR/MICHAEL VARCAS

A LAWMAKER is calling on two executive departments to begin drafting guidelines for the distribution of cash assistance by local government units to their constituents under the still pending third law on coronavirus response. In a statement on Tuesday, AKO Bicol Rep. Alfredo A. Garbin, Jr. said, “Noting the current sentiment and preference of the House of Representatives to download Bayanihan III funds direct to the barangays, the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) and DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) should, as early as now, figure out how the funds transfers can be made swift, reliable, verifiable, and the funds beneficiaries are supposed to receive must be completely intact and accounted for.” House Speaker Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco, in a separate statement, said Congress will fast-track the approval of the proposed third Bayanihan fund once sessions resume on May 17. Three house committees recently approved House Bill 8628 or the proposed Bayanihan to Arise as One Act, which sets a P405.6-billion fund to revive the economy and assist affected sectors. — Gillian M. Cortez

Zamboanga City COVID-19 cases continue to spike due to community transmission

ZAMBOANGA City’s molecular testing center, 90% done as of May 2, will be the 5th coronavirus testing facility in the city. — ZAMBOANGA CIO

CORONAVIRUS cases in Zamboanga City continue to spike, hitting 1,622 active patients as of May 2 from only 216 on April 8, due mainly to community transmission. “1,541 or over 90% of the total active cases are due to community transmission,” the city government said in a statement. Zamboanga, a major port city in the southwestern part of Mindanao, last saw a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) surge in Oct. 2020. While it has been under the most relaxed quarantine level, checks on minimum health standards have been stringent as it is tied up with the regular security checkpoints and patrols. Last week, Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar ordered the closure of all beaches, inland resorts, and other establishments with swimming pool until May 15 to stop gatherings in these venues. The head of one of the city’s main hospitals, Hanna R. Turco of the Mindanao Central Sanitarium, appealed to the public last week for cooperation and support in curbing the transmissions. “We are appealing because our health system in Zamboanga is almost collapsing,” the doctor said, speaking for other medical frontliners. The local government has been setting up additional isolation facilities while its molecular testing center, which will be the 5th COVID-19 testing laboratory in the city, is 90% complete. The mayor, in a press release, said the molecular testing facility “is part of the initiative of the CHO (City Health Office) as it boosts the test, trace and treatment strategy in a bid to prevent and control COVID transmission.” Zamboanga City has recorded a total of 6,627 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with 251 deaths and 4,754 recoveries based on data from the Department of Health as of May 2. — MSJ

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