By Artchil B. Fernandez An alarming trend was noted this week. For the first time in five months or since October 2020, cases of Covid-19 infections in the country breached 3,000 a day. The pattern was observed in the first three days of the week. Since then, average daily cases of Covid-19 in the
March 13, 2021
By Artchil B. Fernandez Du30 and his administration have earned another unique distinction, perhaps the only one in the world. The Philippine government is likely the sole one in the world that sabotaged its own vaccination program amid the rampaging Covid-19 pandemic. That this incident came after the Philippines became the last country in
March 6, 2021
By Artchil B. Fernandez Several incidents in the past weeks triggered public alarm. These incidents indicate the incompetence of Du30 as the leader of the nation is worsening. That this is happening while the country grapples with a deadly pandemic is indeed a cause of major concern. Two rules were suspended by Du30 when
February 27, 2021
By Artchil B. Fernandez The economy is bleeding PHP2.8-billion daily, cried the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA). The agency said that in 2020 alone, the Philippine economy lost PHP1.04-trillion due to Covid-19 pandemic. Overall, the country’s economy contracted 9.5% last year. To slow down the economic hemorrhage, NEDA is proposing that the economy should
February 20, 2021
By Artchil B. Fernandez In his pre-taped night show this week, Du30 abruptly shifted topic catching everyone by surprise. In the middle of discussing vaccination roll-out, Du30 suddenly blurted out on ABS-CBN franchise, leaving his audience to wonder, what is the connection? It appears Du30 cannot get over the long-resolved issue. He is likely
February 13, 2021
By Artchil B. Fernandez The Philippines ranked 79th out of 98 countries evaluated for its handling of Covid-19 pandemic. The evaluation was done by Australian think tank Lowy Institute which measured the Covid-19 response of the countries based on their Covid Performance Index. Among the indicators considered by the study were the number of
February 6, 2021
By Artchil B. Fernandez Vaccination is the people’s most important defense against deadly diseases. During a pandemic, vaccination is the best way to protect the population from the rampaging plague. Vaccination gives people immunity from the viruses or micro-organisms. Since Edward Jenner successfully developed the vaccine against smallpox in 1796, vaccination for more than
January 30, 2021
By Artchil B. Fernandez No institution of higher learning in the country has been more misunderstood than the University of the Philippines (UP). The decision of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to unilaterally abrogate the 1989 accord between the Department of National Defense (DND) and the state university once again highlights how misunderstood UP is
January 23, 2021
By Artchil B. Fernandez Vaccination has started in the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) at the end of last year. In the first month of 2021, vaccination began in many countries in Europe and even in Asia. Philippine’s neighbors Indonesia and Singapore rolled out the vaccine this week and Filipinos can only
January 16, 2021
By Artchil B. Fernandez Du30 opened 2021 with a scandal involving his close-in security. His big mouth placed the Presidential Security Group (PSG) in a difficult and tight situation. He revealed in his first public appearance of the new year that the PSG had been vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Chinese firm
January 9, 2021
By Artchil B. Fernandez Reality is always stranger than fantasy. As the world a year ago welcomed 2020 with feast and pomp, nobody (maybe except few infectious disease experts) ever imagined how horrible the year turned out to be. Who would have thought that a global pandemic will sweep the world in 2020? Not
December 31, 2020
By Artchil B. Fernandez A year ago, the first cluster of novel human pneumonia cases was reported in Wuhan, China. Patients with the disease had fever, malaise, dry cough, and dyspnea. The disease was diagnosed as viral pneumonia. The causative agent of the disease is a novel coronavirus based on the whole-genome sequencing results,
December 24, 2020