Philippine president pledges free coronavirus vaccines for poorest 20 million citizens

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte meets members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Malacanang presidential palace on Thursday. (AP)
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Updated 01 August 2020
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Philippine president pledges free coronavirus vaccines for poorest 20 million citizens

  • Government could finance the procurement of 40 million doses of the vaccine

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday announced that 20 million of the country’s poorest citizens will receive free COVID-19 vaccines, which he hoped would happen by December.
The announcement came during Duterte’s address to the nation where he also spoke about the country’s planned “return to normal” by the end of the year, even though like the rest of the world it is still grappling with the coronavirus pandemic.
“I promise you, by the grace of God, I hope by December we will be back to normal. Don’t mind the new normal because as I told you from the start, let’s just wait for a vaccine,” Duterte said. “Just wait till December ... We are not going back to a ‘new normal.’ It’s going to be normal again,” he added.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, who was among the Cabinet members present during the president’s address, said that the government could finance the procurement of 40 million doses of the vaccine, estimated to cost about 20 billion pesos ($400 million).
“We have a financing plan for that. The Department of Health (DoH) estimates that we will need to vaccinate for free a minimum of 20 million people. I don’t know if it’s one vaccine or two shots. So we need 40 million doses; 40 million times $10 per dose is $400 million or roughly 20 billion pesos,” Dominguez said.
“We have a plan and we can execute it as soon as the DoH chooses which vaccine or vaccines they want. Certainly, by late this year, if it’s available, we can already buy it,” he said.
According to Duterte, the first COVID-19 vaccine may come from China, where the disease had originated. He mentioned China’s Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm Biotech as potential sources of the vaccine.

HIGHLIGHT

President Duterte said the Philippines would be given priority in supplies if China makes a breakthrough with a COVID-19 vaccine.

He cited friendly bilateral ties with China and said that Beijing had “guaranteed” that it would give priority to the Philippines once the vaccine was ready. Besides the poor, Duterte said, the military and police would also be among the first to receive the vaccine.
Drug pushers, whom he called “dogs,” would not be vaccinated.
“I see drug pushers, drug addicts as dogs. I will not help you. You are destroying the Philippines, you are killing people,” he said.
The president also announced that Metro Manila would remain under general community quarantine (GCQ) as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.
Other areas under GCQ are: Cebu City, Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal in Luzon; Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Talisay City, Minglanilla and Consolacion in the Visayas; and Zamboanga City in Mindanao.
On Friday, the DoH reported a record high of 4,063 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total coronavirus figures in the country to 93,354, of which 26,153 are active cases.
The Philippines’ coronavirus death toll has reached 2,023 after 40 more patients were reported to have died from the disease.


Indonesian gig drivers protest demanding lower app fees

Updated 10 sec ago
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Indonesian gig drivers protest demanding lower app fees

  • Motorbike and scooter drivers who form the backbone of Indonesia’s sprawling gig economy earn up to 150,000 rupiah ($10) a day

JAKARTA: Thousands of drivers from ride-hailing and food delivery apps protested in Indonesia on Tuesday, demanding a 10-percent cap on commission fees.

Hundreds of drivers gathered in the streets of the capital Jakarta, driving their motorbikes and waving flags.

Thousands more in Indonesia’s second-largest city of Surabaya drove to the offices of ride-hailing apps GoJek and Grab, before rallying in front of the governor’s office, an AFP journalist saw.

“Many of our friends got into accidents on the road, died on the road because they have to chase their income,” Raden Igun Wicaksono, chairman of the driver’s union Garda Indonesia, told AFP.

“It’s about lives, not about business calculation.”

Drivers are also demanding the end of discounted fare programs and calling on lawmakers to meet with the drivers’ association and app companies.

Motorbike and scooter drivers who form the backbone of Indonesia’s sprawling gig economy earn up to 150,000 rupiah ($10) a day, but costs including app commissions and fuel eat into their income.

Gojek — which alongside Singapore’s Grab is among Asia’s most valuable startups — said it was committed to “supporting the long-term welfare of our driver partners.” 

But lowering its 20-percent commission fee, which complied with regulations, was “not a viable solution,” according to Ade Mulya, head of public policy for Gojek’s parent company GoTo.


Pentagon chief orders review of US withdrawal from Afghanistan

Updated 8 min 41 sec ago
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Pentagon chief orders review of US withdrawal from Afghanistan

  • A special review panel will “thoroughly examine previous investigations,” Hegseth said in a memo
  • “This team will ensure ACCOUNTABILITY to the American people”

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday ordered a Pentagon review of the chaotic 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which has long been a target of Republican criticism.

“I have concluded that we need to conduct a comprehensive review to ensure that accountability for this event is met and that the complete picture is provided to the American people,” Hegseth wrote in a memo.

A special review panel will “thoroughly examine previous investigations, to include but not limited to, findings of fact, sources, witnesses, and analyze the decision making that led to one of America’s darkest and deadliest international moments,” the memo said.

“This team will ensure ACCOUNTABILITY to the American people and the warfighters of our great Nation,” it added.

The US withdrawal saw Taliban fighters sweep aside Afghan forces, forcing the last American troops to mount an evacuation from Kabul’s airport that got more than 120,000 people out of the country in a matter of days.

On August 26, 2021, a suicide bomber targeted crowds of people on the perimeter of Kabul airport who were desperate to get on a flight out of the country, killing more than 170 people, among them 13 American troops.

Joe Biden, who was US president during the withdrawal, defended the decision to leave Afghanistan, which critics have said helped cause the catastrophic collapse of Afghan forces.

That paved the way for the Taliban to return to power two decades after their first government was toppled by American forces in the wake of the September 11 attacks.


Muslim Brotherhood ‘threat to national cohesion’: French report

Updated 20 min 48 sec ago
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Muslim Brotherhood ‘threat to national cohesion’: French report

  • The report pointed to the spread of Islamism “from the bottom up” and at the municipal level
  • It highlighted the “subversive nature of the project,” saying it aims “to gradually bring about changes to local or national rules“

PARIS: The Muslim Brotherhood movement is a “threat to national cohesion” in France and action must be taken to stop the spread of “political Islamism,” according to a report to be presented to President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday.

“The reality of this threat, even if it is long-term and does not involve violent action, poses a risk of damage to the fabric of society and republican institutions... and, more broadly, to national cohesion,” said the report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP on Tuesday.

The report, prepared by two senior civil servants, is to be examined by the Defense Council on Wednesday.

France and Germany have the biggest Muslim populations among European Union countries.

The report pointed to the spread of Islamism “from the bottom up” and at the municipal level, adding the phenomenon constituted “a threat in the short to medium term.”

In France, the movement is “based on a solid structure, but political Islamism is spreading primarily at the local level,” the authors stressed.

“Resolute and long-term action on the ground seems necessary to stem the rise of political Islamism,” they said.

The report highlighted the “subversive nature of the project,” saying it aims “to gradually bring about changes to local or national rules,” particularly those concerning secularism and gender equality.

Such “municipal Islamism” risks affecting the public sphere and local politics, the report said, pointing to “the creation of increasingly numerous Islamist ecosystems.”

France’s tough-talking Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau expressed concern on Tuesday about “a low-level Islamism” whose “ultimate goal is to turn the entire French society to Sharia law.”

But the report authors said that “no recent document demonstrates the desire of Muslims in France to establish an Islamic state in France or to enforce Sharia law there.”

Muslims in France (Musulmans de France), formerly the Union of Islamic Organizations of France, is identified as “the national branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in France.”

“We are not dealing with aggressive separatism” but a “subtle (...) yet no less subversive aim for the institutions,” the authors said.

The report estimates that there are 139 places of worship affiliated with Muslims of France, with an additional 68 considered close to the federation.

This represents seven percent of the 2,800 Muslim places of worship listed in France, the report said.

The Islamist movement is losing its influence in the Arab world and “focusing its efforts on Europe,” it added.

A public awareness campaign must be combined with renewed efforts to promote a “secular discourse” as well as “strong and positive signals to the Muslim community” including the teaching of Arabic, the report said.


Ukraine launches probe into French-trained brigade

Updated 20 May 2025
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Ukraine launches probe into French-trained brigade

  • The 155th Mechanized Brigade was supposed to be a flagship fighting force for Ukraine’s army
  • A spokesperson for Ukraine’s land forces confirmed that a fresh investigation had been launched

KYIV: Ukraine’s military has launched another investigation into the scandal-hit “Anne of Kyiv” brigade, trained in France, after a media report alleged financial misconduct among commanders, a military spokesperson said Tuesday.

The 155th Mechanized Brigade was supposed to be a flagship fighting force for Ukraine’s army, announced by French President Emmanuel Macron as a symbol of cooperation between Kyiv and Paris.

But it has been plagued by scandals, including reports of equipment shortages, low morale and soldiers abandoning the unit while undergoing training in France.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s land forces confirmed that a fresh investigation had been launched but declined to elaborate.

The Ukrainska Pravda media outlet recently alleged that brigade commander Col. Taras Maksimov had been possibly involved “in fictitious combat payments and extortion.”

It also said the brigade had seen over 1,200 cases of soldiers going absent without leave.

“After the publication of the article in the media, where new details and circumstances were revealed, an additional check was ordered to clarify all the facts set out in the article,” land forces commander Mykhailo Drapaty told AFP in a written statement.

He said a law enforcement investigation had started and that the land forces were taking “all necessary measures to facilitate the investigation and establish the truth.”

Macron announced the creation of the Anne of Kyiv brigade — named after a Medieval Kyiv princess who married into the French royal family — in June last year.

Paris hailed it as a “unique” initiative and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he wanted to form a dozen other NATO-trained and equipped units.

Ukraine’s military has been beset with corruption scandals — ranging from weapons procurement to the falsification of draft exemption certificates — since Russia invaded in February 2022.


Georgia court rejects jailed ex-president Saakashvili’s appeal

Updated 20 May 2025
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Georgia court rejects jailed ex-president Saakashvili’s appeal

  • Saakashvili, 57, was sentenced in multiple cases to a combined 12 years and six months
  • “The Tbilisi court of appeals upheld the verdict,” his lawyer Beka Basilaia told journalists

TBILISI: A Georgian court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili against a prison sentence that he and his backers see as political retribution by his opponents.

The pro-Western reformist politician, who ruled the Caucasus country from 2004 to 2013, was arrested in 2021 after returning to Georgia from exile in Ukraine in the back of a dairy truck.

Saakashvili, 57, was sentenced in multiple cases to a combined 12 years and six months earlier this year, charged with misuse of public funds and illegally crossing Georgia’s border.

“The Tbilisi court of appeals upheld the verdict,” his lawyer Beka Basilaia told journalists on Tuesday.

The sole appeal had been against a four-and-a-half-year sentence for the illegal border crossing.

Basilaia criticized what he called an “unprecedented” move by the court not to conduct an oral hearing as part of the appeal.

Saakashvili and rights groups have denounced his prosecution as a political move by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has been accused of democratic backsliding and growing rapprochement with Moscow.

Saakashvili has been held in a civilian hospital since 2022, when he staged a 50-day hunger strike in protest at his detention.

The European Parliament has called for his immediate release.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of “killing” Saakashvili “at the hands of the Georgian authorities.”

Zelensky granted Saakashvili Ukrainian citizenship and named him one of his top advisers in 2019.

Georgia and Russia fought a short war in 2008 — while Saakashvili was president — for control of breakaway Georgian territories.

The European Union and the United States have urged Georgia to ensure Saakashvili is provided medical treatment and that his rights are protected.

The Council of Europe rights watchdog has branded him a “political prisoner,” while Amnesty International has called his treatment “apparent political revenge.”

Georgian authorities have also jailed several former Saakashvili officials, in what rights groups have described as a political witch-hunt.