LR

ymv

Yellow Magenta Cyan Black

IN METRO MANILA ₱18.00VOL. 577 NO. 11 MONdAy, jANuARy 11, 2021

m b . c o m . p h M a n i l a B u l l e t i n

ThE EXPONENT OF PhILIPPINE PROGRESS SINCE 1900

COVID-19 upDate In ph

487,6901,9069,405

458,198

confirmed cases

new cases

deaths

recoveredAs of January 10, 2021

BuSIneSS B-1

enteRtaInMent B-4

BSP closely watching ‘too big

to fail’ banks

LIFeStYLe B-8

Capturing nature’s evanescence

Appeal to Manilans: Register to get free COVID vaccine

10 Most Stylish Social Media Stars

6

BatanG MaYnILa

MaYOR ISkO MORenO

VIewS anD FeatuReS

BY hannah L. tORReGOZa

The Senate Committee of the Whole will start its inquiry on the national govern-ment’s over-all COVID-19 vaccination program today, Jan. 11, with the goal of

eliciting more information from the Department of Health (DOH) and other task force leaders on how they intend to roll-out the vaccines to groups included in the priority list.

Senators said they observed that heads of the state’s task force against COVID-19 are giv-ing vague pronouncements with regards to the availability of vaccines needed to combat the pandemic.

“Do we have a clear vaccination plan? Based on our conversation with doctors and frontliners, it appears (that) we don’t. Frontliners are waiting to know when they would be prioritized in the vac-cination program,” Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said on Radio DZBB.

“The frontliners deserve to know because they are the ones who go to the morgues, they are the ones who attend to COVID patients. They deserve to know if they would be prioritized in the vac-cination program,” the senator added.

“There is no reason for the officials concerned to ask for an executive session on this because there is nothing confidential or classified about it. Wala namang kalaban dito. Ang kalaban natin dito ay sakit. Hindi naman yan sasagot, (There’s no enemy here; the enemy here is the dis-ease which is not capable of answering any

Senate begins inquiry on COVID-19 vaccination plan

By aRGYLL CYRuS B. GeDuCOS and RICha nORIeGa

Malacañang is confident that the Philippines is on its way to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement as the government awaits data to see if the number of COVID-19 cases

increased over the holidays while implementing measures to prevent the entry of new COVID-19 strains into the country.

Roque said that the Philippines is on its way to recovering from the pandemic since the country is now prepared after going through "the worst" phase.

"I think we have seen the worst and I think the entire government

machinery agrees with this," he said. "So huwag po kayong mag-alala (Don't worry), the worst is over. Sabi nga nila (As they say), we’ve hit rock bottom, and the only way to go is up," he added.

The Department of Health (DoH) said that it will be able to determine in mid-January if there was a surge in COVID-19 cases during the holidays.

Palace: Worst is over, PH on the road to recovery from COVID

BY ChaRISSa LuCI-atIenZa and LeSLIe ann G. aQuInO

A Department of Labor and Em-

ployment (DOLE) official succumbed to the coronavirus disease while Senior Deputy Speaker and Oriental Mindoro 1st District Rep. Doy Leachon and his wife, Calapan City Councilor Rona Lea-chon (RL) have contracted COVID-19.

DOLE Undersecretary Joji Aragon, 58, succumbed to cardiac arrest re-sulting from COVID-19.

"It is believed that she contracted the virus following a procedure that she underwent in the second week of December last year,"

DOLE official succumbs to disease; Mindoro solon, wife contract COVID

ROME, Italy (AFP) -Pope Francis and Britain's Queen Elizabeth became the latest high-profile figures to join the global vaccination campaign against the coronavirus, as the UK reported it had surpassed more than three million cases since the pandemic began more than a year ago.

More than 1.9 million people worldwide have now died from the virus, with new variants adding to soaring cases and prompting the re-introduction of restrictions on movement around the globe — even as some countries begin mass inoculation campaigns.

By MaRtIn a. SaDOnGDOnG

The public has been urged to take precautionary measures as thousands of families were af-fected by flooding and landslides in Western Visayas (Region 6) and Bicol (Region 5) due to the effects of a seasonal weather system, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Manage-ment Council (NDRRMC) said yesterday.

A report from the regional

DRRM office in Western Visayas (RDRRMC-6) said 7,640 fami-lies composed of 37,830 indi-viduals have been affected by moderate to heavy rains caused by the tail-end of a frontal sys-tem (TEFS).

In Victorias City, Negros Occidental, around 830 families were preemptively evacuated due to the threats of flash-floods.

Minor flooding was also reported in some

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP/Xinhua) -Body parts and debris were hauled from waters near Indonesia's capital on Sunday from a Boeing passenger plane that crashed shortly after takeoff with 62 people on board.

The Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 plunged into a steep dive about four min-utes after it left Soekarno-Hatta international airport in Jakarta on

Thousands affected by floods in W. Visayas, Bicol

Body parts found at Indonesian plane crash site

InDOneSIa CRaSh – Indonesian navy divers retrieve part of the wreckage of Sriwijaya air flight SJY182 which crashed shortly after takeoff from Jakarta on Sunday, January 10. above, a family member awaits word on the fate of her relative at the Supaido airport in pontianak, Borneo Island. (aFp)

LaStInG DeVOtIOn – Despite the prevailing pandemic, thousands of devotees continued to attend holy mass at the Quiapo Church in Manila on the Feast of the Black nazarene Saturday night, with the multitude of worshippers extending to the other side of Quezon Boulevard (inset photo). (Manny Llanes)

7

7

7

7 7 7

Pope, Queen Elizabeth join vaccine drive as UK tops 3 million cases