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Pope Francis to have COVID-19 vaccine, says it is the ethical choice for everyone

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis said on Saturday he planned to be vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as early as next week and urged everyone to get a shot, to protect not only their own lives but those of others.

“I believe that ethically everyone should take the vaccine,” the Pope said in an interview with TV station Canale 5. “It is an ethical choice because you are gambling with your health, with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others.”

Vatican City, the smallest independent county in the world, home to about 450 people including Pope Francis, has said it will shortly launch its own vaccination campaign against the coronavirus.

“Next week,” the Pope said, “we will start doing it here, in the Vatican, and I have booked myself in. It must be done.”

Pope Francis, 84, had part of one lung removed during an illness when he was a young man in his native Argentina, making him potentially vulnerable to the disease.

Vatican City last week said it expected to receive enough COVID-19 vaccine doses in the following days to inoculate all of its residents and its workers who live beyond its walls in Rome.

As part of its vaccination plan, the Vatican said it had bought an ultra-cold refrigerator to store doses, suggesting it will use the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, which must be stored at about minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit).

As excerpts of the interview were released, the official Vatican News website reported that the pope’s personal doctor, Fabrizio Soccorsi, had died of complications from COVID-19.

Soccorsi, 78, was in hospital and was being treated for cancer. He had been the pope’s doctor since 2015. — Reuters

Historic snow storm kills 4 in Madrid

MADRID — A storm in Spain killed four people, paralyzed travel and blanketed the capital Madrid in so much snow on Saturday that skiers took to the main Gran Via thoroughfare.

Forecasters warned of more havoc next week after Storm Filomena brought the heaviest snowfall in decades across central Spain.

In the Madrid area, rescuers reached 1,500 people trapped in cars, while on the usually traffic-clogged Gran Via, residents snowboarded and pelted each other with snowballs as well as ski.

“It is astonishing, we have never seen anything like it before,” said Marcos, 30.

One man and a woman in a car drowned after a river burst near Malaga in the south, while two homeless people froze to death in Madrid and Calatayud in the east, officials said.

“I want to reiterate the government’s call for maximum caution in the face of the evolution of the weather in the next few hours,” tweeted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Julian Morcillo, of the State Metereological Agency (AEMET), said temperatures would plunge to minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 Fahrenheit) next week, bringing dangerous ice.

Between 20-30 cm of snow fell in Madrid, making it the heaviest there since 1971, he added.

The capital’s Barajas airport was shut from Friday night, while nationwide, more than 650 roads were blocked.

“No solutions today,” sighed Christopher, a Norwegian national living in Spain, stuck with his car on a road after an aborted attempt to reach a flight for Chile.

“I have been stuck here without water or any other help,” added Patricia Manzanares, in her car on Madrid’s M-40 motorway since 7 p.m. on Friday. — Reuters

Singapore to legislate on contact-trace data use for crimes

Singapore’s government plans to create urgent legislation to formalize the use of virus contact-tracing data in investigations of serious crimes.

Legislation will be introduced in the next sitting of parliament in February to limit the use of the data to probes of seven categories of serious crimes, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office said in a statement Friday. Those will include murder, terrorism, kidnapping, and serious sexual offenses, it said.

The move comes amid concerns over privacy issues in the city-state’s TraceTogether contact-tracing program designed to help contain the spread of the coronavirus.

“We acknowledge our error in not stating that data from TraceTogether is not exempt from the Criminal Procedure Code,” the office said.

TraceTogether is being used by 78% of Singapore’s population. According to its website, the program does not collect data about individual GPS locations, Wifi, or mobile networks being used. But a clause about data being only used to contact trace people exposed to the coronavirus was removed and replaced with a statement noting that police “can obtain any data, including TraceTogether data, for criminal investigations.”

“The government was unequivocal last year that the data would only be used for contact tracing and public health,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch. It should “return to the original purpose of TraceTogether by firewalling that program’s data from police, prosecutors, and the criminal justice system,” he said.

Gerald Giam, a lawmaker for the opposition Workers’ Party, posted this week on Facebook that it’s “ill-advised” that the government hasn’t ruled out the use of TraceTogether data for criminal investigations.

“It is not in the public interest to completely deny the Police access to such data, when the safety of the public or the proper conduct of justice is at stake,” the office said in the statement. The country has already used it to investigate a murder case. — Ann Koh/Bloomberg

Facebook and Twitter crackdown around Capitol siege is too little, too late

PALO ALTO/NEW YORK — By the time social media companies took action against users and groups spurring on the siege of Capitol Hill this week, culminating in the suspension of US President Donald J. Trump’s accounts, it was too little too late.

For weeks, content on Big Tech platforms Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc., and Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube as well as upstart fringe social networks foretold the storming of the US Capitol on Wednesday that led to five deaths.

In one Facebook post identified by online advocacy group Avaaz, an illustration of Mr. Trump holding a machine gun in front of the White House is accompanied by the words “Come and Take it.” Another depicted Trump as Uncle Sam with text paraphrasing the president: “I want you in Washington DC January 6. It’s going to be WILD.”

After the violence, right-wing social users on smaller platforms were retelling the story with videos from the siege to bigger, new audiences, while the major sites showed users sharing false claims about the unrest and groups dedicated to “Stop the Steal.” The slogan refers to the pro-Trump followers’ belief that the Nov. 3 election was fraudulent in favor of Democrat Joseph R. Biden Jr., a claim that has been encouraged by Mr. Trump without evidence.

Facebook said it “removed content and accounts that violated our policies against inciting violence and dangerous organizations in the lead-up to January 6” and was continuing to monitor and remove dangerous content.

A Twitter spokeswoman said the company had “taken enforcement action on thousands of accounts that were attempting to undermine the public conversation and cause real-world harm.”

On Friday, Twitter permanently suspended Mr. Trump’s account and also suspended accounts belonging to vitriolic Trump fans including Ron Watkins, who helped run little-regulated image board 8kun, home of many recent posts calling for violence.

YouTube said it removes content that violates its community guidelines.

’LIKE ISIS DOES IT’
Disinformation experts said that while big platforms allowed radical racists, violence enthusiasts, and conspiracy theorists to amass a large audience, leading influencers learned what they could get away with.

“You end up with a very diluted form of the content on the large platform, and the more radical stuff is elsewhere, like ISIS does it,” said Alex Stamos, the former Facebook chief security officer who runs a Stanford program exposing disinformation. He was referring to Islamic state militants.

The mainstream content “is difficult to claim is inappropriate, because it says ‘come to a rally.’ Bring this and bring that, ‘get ready to rumble,’ is on 8kun and Parler, and operational stuff is on Telegram,” Mr. Stamos said.

Even after major purges of accounts and groups, it has been easy for the operators to re-emerge with slight tweaks, such as swapping “cue” for “Q,” said Daniel Jones, a former FBI analyst and Senate staffer who leads nonprofit research firm Advance Democracy Inc.

On Wednesday, a tweet that turned one of the earliest posts by the anonymous “Q” three years ago into the call to action, “My fellow Americans, the Storm is upon us,” got 16,000 retweets.

Before Facebook took down its page late on Tuesday, Red-State Secession had urged its nearly 8,000 followers to find the home addresses of officials who “helped steal the election.”

It linked to a website that declared last week a “second American revolution” would start on Jan. 6 and urged supporters to follow its accounts on more permissive social-media platforms Gab and Parler “before we get deleted.”

The group said by e-mail that its Facebook page and blog “promote the peaceful separation of blue states and red states” and that Facebook had overreacted.

Far-right groups that appeared at the riot maintain a vigorous online presence on digital platforms like Parler, Gab, MeWe, Zello and Telegram, and in some cases discussed using overwhelming crowds to enter the Capitol, said Jared Holt, a disinformation researcher at the Atlantic Council.

MeWe said it prohibits “haters, lawbreakers, violence inciters” and that it has been taking action on violations around the protest.

Gab CEO Andrew Torba said by e-mail: “None of the platforms you listed, Gab included, are useful for organization of any type.”

Zello, Telegram, and Parler did not reply to requests for comment.

RECRUITMENT MACHINE
The selfies snapped on the Senate floor and livestreams broadcast from inside lawmakers’ offices served as marketing to recruit new followers and in some cases earn money.

“While extremists on the ground livestreamed and bragged about the chaos they created minute-to-minute, far-right online communities aggregated their content and cheered on their efforts,” said Mr. Holt.

The Southern Poverty Law Center documented at least five accounts on blockchain-based video platform DLive that livestreamed Wednesday’s protest, including two accounts belonging to people who participated in the white supremacist-led “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.

One of them, a provocateur named Tim Gionet who is known online as Baked Alaska, livestreamed from inside a Capitol office. He pulled in at minimum $222 in tips from viewers via DLive during the afternoon, according to the report.

He promoted his content to followers on Instagram and Facebook until the company disabled his accounts on Wednesday.

DLive said on Thursday it had suspended three accounts, banned two others and permanently removed over 100 broadcasts. Donations and paid subscriptions will be refunded, it added.

Mr. Gionet did not respond to requests for comment. — Katie Paul, Elizabeth Culliford and Joseph Menn/Reuters

Apple, Amazon suspend Parler social network from App Store and web hosting service

In addition to Parler, right-leaning social media users in the United States have flocked to messaging app Telegram and hands-off social site Gab. Screenshot via the App Store

Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have suspended Parler from their respective App Store and web hosting service, saying the social networking service popular with many right-leaning social media users has not taken adequate measures to prevent the spread of posts inciting violence.

The action by Apple and Amazon follows a similar move by Alphabet Inc.’s Google on Friday. Parler is favored by many supporters of US President Donald J. Trump, who was permanently suspended from Twitter on Friday, and it is seen as a haven for people expelled from Twitter.

“We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues,” Apple said in a statement Saturday.

Apple had given Parler 24 hours to submit a detailed moderation plan, pointing to participants’ using the service to coordinate Wednesday’s siege of the US Capitol.

Amazon’s move effectively takes the site offline unless it can find a new company to host its services.

Amazon suspended Parler from its Amazon Web Services (AWS) unit, for violating AWS’s terms of services by failing to effectively deal with a steady increase in violent content, according to an e-mail by an AWS Trust and Safety team to Parler, seen by Reuters.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the letter was authentic.

Due to the “very real risk to public safety” that Parler poses, AWS plans to suspend Parler’s account effective Sunday, at 11:59 p.m. PST, the e-mail seen by Reuters showed.

Parler Chief Executive John Matze lashed out at Amazon, Google, and Apple, saying it was a coordinated effort knowing Parler’s options would be limited and it would inflict the most damage right as Trump was banned from other social media platforms.

“There is the possibility Parler will be unavailable on internet for up to a week as we rebuild from scratch,” he said in a post on Parler.

“This was a coordinated attack by the tech giants to kill competition in the market place… You can expect the war on competition and free speech to continue, but don’t count us out.”

In addition to Parler, right-leaning social media users in the United States have flocked to messaging app Telegram and hands-off social site Gab, citing the more aggressive policing of political comments on mainstream platforms such as Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. — Bhargav Acharya/Reuters

Catholics show devotion to statue amid super-spreader worries

More than 400,000 Catholics in Manila celebrated on Saturday a feast for a centuries-old wooden statue of Jesus Christ, despite health experts warning it could turn into a super-spreader event for coronavirus.

Authorities canceled an annual procession of the life-sized image of the “Black Nazarene”, the country’s largest religious event that draws millions of devotees in an annual ritual that has been observed for 200 years.

Instead, church leaders organized 15 Masses at Manila’s Quiapo church, which houses the statue that is believed to bring miracles. They livestreamed the services and urged devotees not to attend.

Most of the faithful stayed at home and attended Mass by means of social media or broadcast television, Alex Irasga, head of the celebration’s working committee, told ANC news channel.

But many still attended, with a total of around 400,000 people cumulatively going in and out of the church vicinity by late afternoon, police data showed.

“We’re really going to need a miracle to stop a super-spreader event in Quiapo right now. Please don’t go,” said Edsel T. Salvana, director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the National Institutes of Health at the University of the Philippines Manila on Twitter before noon.

More than 6,000 police officers monitored entry points and enforced physical distancing at the Quiapo church, but this was sometimes ignored by people hustling to be blessed with holy water at the end of every Mass.

“We know that social distancing violations will lead to increased number of cases,” tweeted Dr. Anthony C. Leachon, former adviser of the coronavirus task force.

The Philippines, which has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Southeast Asia after Indonesia, reported 1,952 new infections on Saturday, the highest in three weeks.

PRAYING FOR AN END TO THE PANDEMIC
About 80% of the country’s 108 million people identify as Roman Catholic.

“I am not afraid to go here even with the risk of COVID-19 because I have faith in Jesus the Nazarene. Every year, every week I go to church,” Arjay Echon, 29, a supermarket employee and a devotee for seven years, told Reuters.

Mr. Echon, wearing a facemask and shield while carrying a small replica of the “Black Nazarene,” said he was praying for the pandemic to end.

The annual procession of the statue depicting Jesus shouldering a heavy cross—canceled this year—usually draws millions of devotees, many barefoot and jostling to get close and touch the image.

The statue was carved in Mexico and brought to the Philippines in the early 17th century.

“My personal prayer is good health for my family… I pray for a better Philippines this 2021 and for COVID-19 to end,” Prubancio Sarasin, A 56-year-old security guard, told Reuters. — Adrian Portugal and Eloisa Lopez/Reuters

October FDI net inflows lowest since April

By Beatrice M. Laforga, Reporter

Foreign direct investments (FDI) to the Philippines in October fell to the lowest level in six months, amid a fresh surge in coronavirus infections overseas, according to the central bank.

FDI net inflows shrank by a quarter to $423 million from $561 million a year earlier, the second straight month of yearly decline, according to data sent by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno via Viber on Friday.

The October inflows were the lowest since $314 million in April, when many parts of the country and the rest of the world were locked down at the height of the pandemic.

Restrictions have been eased since the second half of last year, but local quarantine and physical distancing measures remain.

“The slowdown in FDI during the month may be attributed in part to concerns over the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the US, Japan and some European countries,” the BSP said.

Some of the world’s largest economies reported higher infection tallies around October lowering the cases for months.

In the ten months to October, FDI net inflows fell by a tenth to $5.3 billion from a year earlier.

“The decline in FDI net inflows reflected the adverse impact on investor sentiment amid the uncertainties surrounding the effect of a prolonged pandemic on the global economy,” the central bank said.

“The was offset by the increase in consumer spending, which was translated into investment in the last quarter of 2020,” Emmanuel J. Lopez, dean of the Colegio de San Juan de Letran Graduate School said in an e-mail.

The expected seasonal uptick in public consumption should temper the losses as these may become investments in the latter part of 2020, he added.

“Whatever FDI shortage we experience in the preceding year can very well be recovered in 2021,” Mr. Lopez said.
“This was optimistically illustrated by the good credit rating the country gets from foreign independent credit rating agencies.”

November trade deficit narrowest since June

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Senior Reporter

The Philippine trade deficit dropped to its lowest level in five months in November, suggesting that trade could contribute to economic growth in the fourth quarter, though declining imports hinted at slowing domestic demand.

The trade deficit was $1.73 billion, lower than $1.79 billion in October and $3.65 billion in November last year.

The lower trade gap translated to $1.9 billion less demand for dollars to pay for imports, supporting the peso’s appreciation against the greenback in recent months, Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said in an e-mail.

Coronavirus-related lockdowns cut the country’s net imports amid reduced business and economic activities, he pointed out.

“A further pickup and reopening of the local and global economies from lockdowns, a reduction in new COVID-19 cases, and further progress on the development and deployment of coronavirus vaccines could help improve economic recovery prospects,” Mr. Ricafort said.

Relaxed quarantines in Manila, the capital and nearby cities in the coming months could boost the economy further, he added.

Merchandise exports rose by 3% from a year earlier in November from a revised 1.2% decline in October and a 0.2% slide in November last year, according to preliminary data from the local statistics agency.

Export growth in November was the fastest in 10 months.

Merchandise imports shrank for the 19th straight month in November by 18.9% to $7.52 billion. This almost matched the 18.8% contraction in October and worse than the 4.5% decline in November last year.

The country’s external trade in goods fell by more than a tenth to $13.31 billion in November from a year earlier, bringing the 11-month level to $135.60 billion, which is a fifth lower than a year earlier.

For the 11 months to November, exports fell by 11.1% to $57.97 billion, better than the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s (DBCC) 16% estimate for 2020.

Year to date, imports reached $77.63 billion, a quarter lower than a year earlier and worse than the DBCC’s revised target of a 20% decline for the full year.

For the 11 months, the trade balance hit a deficit of $19.66 billion, lower than the $37.7-billion gap a year earlier.

Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa, senior economist at ING Bank N.V. Manila Branch, traced export growth to strong outbound shipments to China and Taiwan as both countries bounced back from the COVID-19 fallout.

The trend of modest export gains and weak imports are likely to continue “for at least the first half of the year with the recent spike in COVID-19 cases likely to sap momentum from the recent pickup in global trade, leading to softer export growth,” he said in an e-mail.

“Domestic activity in the coming quarters will likely remain subdued, with the economy expected to remain in recession until 2Q 2021, which would translate to only a modest pickup in import demand,” Mr. Mapa said.

With imports expected to remain well below pre-pandemic levels and exports not seen to sustain their recent pickup in volume, the trade deficit should remain manageable, he said.

“The peso should enjoy modest appreciation pressure if the global weak US dollar theme plays out,” he added.

Electronic products remained the Philippines’ top export in November, with earnings of $3.53 billion, 4.6% higher than a year earlier. They accounted for 60.9% of total exports, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.

The US was the top export destination, receiving $956.8 million in exports or 16.5% of the total. It was followed by China ($923.65 million), Japan ($872.95 million), Hong Kong ($736.13 million) and Singapore ($313.89 million).

China was the Philippines’ biggest supplier of imported goods for the month, with a total value of $2.02 billion, or 26.8% of the total. It was followed by Japan ($734.35 million), the US ($554.40 million), Indonesia ($545.58 million) and South Korea ($528.88 million).

Central bank raises P100 billion in short-term bills

By Beatrice M. Laforga, Reporter

The Philippine central bank fully awarded the short-term securities it offered on Friday as tenders nearly doubled the program at its first auction this year.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) borrowed P100 billion in 28-day debt as tenders reached P185.85 billion, making the auction 1.86 times oversubscribed.

The central bank has been making full awards since it started selling its own securities in September.

“The stronger demand for the BSP bills reflects the ample liquidity in the financial system as cash holdings gradually return to normal following the December holidays,” BSP Deputy Governor Francisco G. Dakila, Jr. said in a statement.

The bills fetched a weighted average yield of 1.6607%, down by 2.296 basis points (bps) from 1.687% at the previous auction on Dec. 18.

Rates sought for the debt ranged from 1.64% to 1.675%, lower than 1.67 to 1.69%, previously.

“Looking ahead, the BSP’s calibration of its monetary operations will continue to be guided by its assessment of market developments and liquidity conditions, as well as discussions with BSP counterparties,” Mr. Dakila said.

The lower rates could be a signal that investors might be expecting the central bank to resume its easing cycle this year, UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said in a Viber message.

“Although the BSP said that it may hold the key rate in the first half of this year, the market is seemingly starting to price in more easing by the central bank this 2021,” he said.

“This is observed because of declining yields. It may also be that players are starting to position themselves ahead of the monetary easing or pause by the BSP,” he added.

Central bank Governor Benjamin E. Diokno this week said the Monetary Board was likely to maintain a low interest environment for the next few quarters to help the economy recover faster from pandemic-induced recession.

The central bank cut benchmark interest rates by a total of 200 bps last year, bringing its overnight reverse repurchase, lending and deposit rates to record lows of 2%, 2.5% and 1.5%, respectively.

Headline inflation quickened to 3.5% in December, mainly due to a faster increase in the prices of food and transportation.

Russian drugmaker seeks vaccine emergency use

Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology has applied for emergency use authorization for its coronavirus vaccine in the Philippines, according to the local Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The regulator, which got the application on Jan. 7, had ordered the drugmaker to submit missing documents, FDA Director-General Eric Domingo said on Friday.

Gamaleya withdrew its application for clinical trials of its vaccine on Jan. 6, the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) said.

“Their reason was simple — they would apply for emergency use authorization so they don’t need the clinical trials here,” Science and Technology Undersecretary Rowena Guevarra told an online news briefing.

US drugmaker Pfizer, Inc. and Britain’s AstraZeneca Plc have also filed for emergency use with the FDA.

The three already have existing emergency use approvals in other countries.

Meanwhile, the DoST said China National Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (Sinopharm) had yet to decide whether to pursue clinical trials for its coronavirus vaccine in the Philippines.

“Sinopharm has yet to decide if it will conduct a clinical trial here or just apply for an emergency use authorization,” DoST Assistant Secretary Leah J. Buenda told a televised public briefing in mixed English and Filipino.

Ms. Buendia said the agency had signed a confidentiality disclosure agreement with Sinopharm even if it had not yet received any data from the Chinese drugmaker. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas and Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

Philippines on lookout for 3 virus strains

Health authorities are monitoring the entry of two other coronavirus variants aside from a more contagious strain from the United Kingdom, where there had been a fresh surge in infections.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire noted that aside from the UK variant, they were looking out for the variants from South Africa and Malaysia.

“The three variants are already being monitored as it reflects signature mutations in the spike region of the virus, as has been studied in affected countries,” she told reporters in a Viber group message.

The Philippine Genome Center would continue analyzing positive samples to monitor the new strains, she said.

Health regional offices were tapped to get samples from different regions specifically in the Visayas and Mindanao regions for genome sequencing.

South African Health authorities last month identified the new variant that has caused a second wave of infections there, while a Malaysian health official also announced the detection of another variant in December, according to separate Reuters reports in December.

The Genome Center had not detected the UK variant in the initial 305 positive samples from patients admitted to various hospitals in the past two months and from inbound travelers who tested positive at the airports.

A 30-year-old Filipina domestic helper from Cagayan Valley Region who arrived in Hong Kong in northern Philippines last Dec. 22 tested positive for the UK variant.

DoH said on Thursday she had been isolated in Hong Kong and was stable. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Coronavirus cases nearing 484,000

The Department of Health (DoH) reported 1,776 coronavirus infections on Friday, bringing the total to 483,852.

The death toll rose by eight to 9,364, while recoveries increased by 285 to 449,330, it said in a bulletin.

There were 25,158 active cases, 82.6% of which were mild, 8.6% did not show symptoms, 5.4% were critical, 2.9% were severe and 0.48 were moderate.

Bulacan reported the highest number of new cases at 99, followed by Davao City at 96, Quezon City at 83, Rizal at 80 and Laguna at 64.

DoH said seven duplicates had been removed from the tally, while one recovered case was reclassified as death. Five laboratories failed to submit their data on Jan. 7.

More than 6.5 million people have been tested for the coronavirus in the Philippines as of Jan. 6, according to DoH’s tracker website.

The coronavirus has sickened about 88.5 million and killed 1.9 million people worldwide, according to the Worldometers website, citing various sources including data from the World Health Organization.
About 63.6 million people have recovered, it said. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

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