01:14.0
Now, Philippine authorities claim more than 6,000 drug suspects were killed in police operations during former President Rodrigo Duterte's term.
01:24.0
Rights groups, however, estimate the figure could go as high as 30,000.
01:34.0
A Philippine lawmaker allays concerns over the bill seeking to protect human rights advocates.
01:39.0
Manila 6th District Representative Bienvenido Abante, Jr. asserts the Human Rights Defenders Bill will not hinder the government's efforts to combat terrorism.
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The country's Anti-Insurgency Task Force earlier opposed the measure, saying it will make the Anti-Terrorism Act and other laws that prevent terrorism toothless.
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Siguro kinakailangan nilang pag-aralan mabuti itong Human Rights Defenders Protection Act.
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I mean, kailangan natin ito eh. Our country needs this.
02:13.0
The advancement of human rights and the security of the state are not mutually exclusive, neither are they anathema to each other.
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We do not have to choose between human rights and security.
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The promotion of the former does not erode the latter.
02:33.0
The Philippine Justice Department indicts suspended prisons chief Gerald Bantag and several others over the killing of radio commentator Percy Lapid and Bilibid inmate June Villamor.
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Murder charges will also file Tuesday against Bantag's deputy, Ricardo Sulueta.
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Justice Secretary Crispin Remulia said enough evidence had been gathered related to the case.
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This is the evidence. Just follow the evidence. I think that if there is a solution for the filing of a case, it's because the panel of prosecutors have evaluated the evidence and they believe it to be sufficient to convict a person charged.
03:13.0
Thousands of people have been convicted on circumstantial evidence. Don't worry about that.
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The Mabasa family called this development a welcome relief. Their legal counsel also laid down their possible next steps.
03:27.0
Wala pang jurisdiction yung importe nito. Kailangan mahuli muna sila at ma-arraign. Mag-lead sila ng guilty or not guilty and tuloy-tuloy na yan.
03:41.0
Yung pag-handle ng kaso nito on the part of the prosecution, since this is a case of people of the Philippines versus disabused, ang lead prosecutors dito dapat yung mga panel of prosecutors or sa DOJ.
04:00.0
As for Bantag's camp, they said they will file the necessary pleadings after reviewing the resolution.
04:06.0
Moving on, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri doubts the push to amend the 1987 Constitution will succeed in the upper chamber.
04:14.0
Zubiri claims the number of senators supporting charter change is not enough to pass the measure.
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On Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved on final reading a bill calling for a constitutional convention to amend the charter.
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Even if I would say, at this point in time I don't support it, but if I say I support it, I'm only one out of 24 members of the Senate.
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To be honest, tamay sinabi ni Sen. Javiercito kahapon na apat at lima lang ang nabibilang namin na pumapabor sa charter change.
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We need 18 votes to dance the cha-cha. I don't think we have 18 votes to dance the cha-cha. Hindi kami makasayaw ng cha-cha. Wala kaming numero.
05:02.0
Zubiri maintains there's no need to amend the economic provisions of the charter as the country has enough laws to boost the economy.
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What else do we need to loosen up in the Constitution for economic provisions? Is it the ownership of land?
05:16.0
Because I personally am against the ownership of land. Why? People tell me, hindi naman nalang madalay ang lupa sa kanilang bansa.
05:23.0
Pero ang totoo niyan, kung bubuksan natin ang ownership of land, mamahal at mamahal ang lupa dito sa ating bansa.
05:33.0
Senate President Zubiri meanwhile shrugs off rumors of a looming leadership change in the upper chamber.
05:39.0
He says they received information the rumors were linked to his stand on charter change.
05:45.0
Last week, talks emerged Zubiri could be replaced soon due to his low output in terms of measures passed.
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Ako'y naniniwala sa paggawa ng batas. It is not para miyan. It's about the quality of legislation that we pass.
06:02.0
And I also got it from another source dahil nairita daw yung mga pro-charter change sa akin dahil hindi daw ako sumasayaw ng cha-cha.
06:11.0
I'm an institutionalist. I believe in the institution. I really believe in the sanctity and the wisdom of having a Senate, a bicameral system of government.
06:21.0
And if it means my head, then so be it. I mean, so be it. But not on my watch.
06:29.0
Senate President Zubiri seeks a P150 daily wage increase for workers in the private sector.
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Zubiri filed a measure Tuesday citing the effects of high inflation.
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His move comes days after the Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives filed a bill calling for a P750 across-the-board daily wage increase.
06:52.0
Kailangan natin bigyan ng ating manggagawa ng tinatawag natin living wage, hindi naman minimum wage.
07:00.0
Because the minimum wage is not a living wage. Napakababa ng minimum wage, napakababa ng sweldo ng ating bansa.
07:07.0
That's the whole truth. That's why we have how many million Filipinos? Twelve million Filipinos abroad.
07:14.0
It's because we don't pay the right or at least decent wages here in the Philippines.
07:18.0
Inflation has reached everywhere. And I think we have to address the problem of inflation by also increasing the economy.
07:25.0
All business organizations should know that the people are suffering.
07:31.0
The Employers' Confederation of the Philippines earlier warned a wage hike could force small businesses to fold.
07:41.0
The family of the victims of the plane that crashed in the Philippine province of Isabela appealing for help
07:47.0
While the owner of the aircraft and the local government of Isabela have provided financial aid,
07:52.0
the family says the amount will not be able to cover the burial costs.
07:56.0
Four of the six victims on the ill-fated plane was a mother and her three children.
08:04.0
Hindi po kami natatulungan sa Libby. Yun lang sana po inihina.
08:08.0
Pero sinamang nabibigay. Ngayon parang dawn po ang Pilimbulay malami.
08:17.0
In other news, a U.S. military surveillance drone crashes into the Black Sea after being intercepted by Russian fighter jets.
08:31.0
Now it is the first such incident since Russia's invasion of Ukraine over a year ago.
08:36.0
According to the Pentagon, one of the Russian jets struck the propeller of the drone, making it inoperable.
08:44.0
We are continuing to assess exactly what happened.
08:48.0
But I think based on the actions of the Russian pilots, it's clear that it was unsafe, unprofessional.
08:55.0
And I think the actions speak for themselves.
08:59.0
What we saw again were fighter aircraft dumping fuel in front of this UAV
09:08.0
and then getting so close to the aircraft that it actually damaged the propeller on the MQ-9.
09:14.0
We assess that it likely caused some damage to the Russian aircraft as well.
09:21.0
But Russia's defense ministry is blaming sharp maneuvering of the unmanned drone for the crash,
09:27.0
adding its jets did not come into contact with it.
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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer isn't convinced.
09:35.0
It is another reckless act by President Putin and his military.
09:41.0
And I want to tell Mr. Putin, stop this behavior before you are the cause of an unintended escalation.
09:50.0
We have seen this behavior from the Russian military before.
09:54.0
And it will not deter the United States from conducting operations over the Black Sea.
10:02.0
These aggressive actions by Russian aircraft are risky and could lead, I repeat, to unintended escalation.
10:12.0
The U.S. has routinely flown over the Black Sea since before Putin's illegal and reckless invasion of Ukraine.
10:20.0
And I'm confident our military will continue to do so.
10:25.0
China irked by the nuclear submarine pact announced by Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.
10:31.0
Beijing's foreign ministry says the three countries disregarded concerns of the international community,
10:37.0
adding they have gone further down a dangerous road.
10:41.0
It also asserts the U.S. should meet China halfway and bring the bilateral relationship back on track.
10:49.0
Australia, meanwhile, says it offered China a briefing over the nuclear-powered submarine deal.
10:55.0
We watch the global rules-based order being placed under enormous pressure in Eastern Europe but also in the Indo-Pacific.
11:05.0
And we are witnessing the biggest conventional military buildup that we have seen since the end of the Second World War.
11:15.0
And it's happening within our region. And it is not Australia which is doing that.
11:22.0
And we need to respond to this. A failure to do so would see us be condemned by history.
11:30.0
The deal is part of the so-called AUKUS project, first announced in 2021.
11:38.0
Under the agreement, America will sell to Australia three nuclear-powered subs with an option to buy two more.
11:46.0
A research fellow of China Institute of International Studies, meanwhile, says the deal violates multiple international laws
11:54.0
and deeply hurts regional peace and stability.
12:00.0
Actually, this is a very bad deal among the three countries.
12:04.0
It's not only a proliferation of nuclear technology.
12:07.0
Actually, it's one part of U.S. strategic deployment in this region.
12:14.0
The United States would like to arm Australia as one partner in this area to enhance the underwater warfare capabilities
12:25.0
and also to give more facilities to support the U.S. deployment of submarines in that region.
12:34.0
So I think such a deal among the three countries is really a challenge for the peace and stability in this region
12:42.0
and also a violation of the international laws.
12:48.0
But one Australia-based security analyst concerns around the nuclear submarine pact are overblown.
12:55.0
Justin Burke adds the deal is a response to the deteriorating security environment which Australia is in.
13:04.0
I think this reflects a deepening seriousness about security and defense in Australia.
13:11.0
That's a transition that's occurred really in the last 10 years or so.
13:18.0
And there have been several inflection points and several triggers for that,
13:22.0
not least of which the economic coercion that Australia experienced at the hands of China,
13:29.0
seeking all sorts of concessions in return for Australia being able to export a whole range of commodities to China.
13:40.0
So Australia has been awakened to the coercive actions.
13:47.0
In other news, U.S. President Joe Biden orders tighter gun control measures.
13:53.0
On Tuesday, the chief executive issued an executive order that reinforces background checks on gun buyers,
14:00.0
a move that the White House promotes as the most comprehensive policy Biden can enact without Congress.
14:07.0
The order also aims to strengthen federal support for red flag laws,
14:11.0
which are gun prevention laws that intend to stop gun sales to people legally deemed dangerous.
14:18.0
The U.S. records more than 40,000 gun-related deaths per year.
14:25.0
It will accelerate and intensify this work to save more lives more quickly.
14:30.0
First, this executive order helps keep firearms out of dangerous hands.
14:37.0
As I continue to call on Congress to require background checks for all firearm sales.
14:42.0
Second thing it does, the executive order ramps up our efforts to hold the gun industry accountable.
14:47.0
It's the only outfit you can't sue these days.
14:50.0
It does that by calling out for an independent government study
14:54.0
that analyzes and exposes how gun manufacturers aggressively market firearms to civilians,
15:00.0
especially minors, including by using military imagery.
15:07.0
We're taking a quick break.
15:09.0
Still to come, Facebook's parent company is laying off 10,000 employees.
15:13.0
That's next on The Rundown. Stay tuned.
15:37.0
You're back on The Rundown. Facebook parent Meta set to axe 10,000 jobs in a second round of layoffs.
15:44.0
CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the cuts are part of a wider restructuring
15:49.0
that will also see the tech giant scrap hiring plans for 5,000 openings.
15:54.0
He tells employees the company needs to operate more efficiently
15:58.0
to prepare for what he described as this new economic reality.
16:03.0
Meta in November slashed more than 11,000 jobs or 13 percent of its workforce at that time.
16:11.0
This month, the world marks three years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.
16:16.0
In the years that passed, lives are reshaped and normalcy is redefined.
16:22.0
Rafael Bosano gives us a look back at how the Philippines coped with the ongoing health crisis.
16:28.0
We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.
16:37.0
It was this statement that shook the entire world to take the threat of COVID-19 seriously.
16:43.0
But a month before this, on January 30,
16:46.0
the World Health Organization has already declared the novel pathogen
16:50.0
as a public health emergency of international concern.
16:54.0
It was also on the same day that the Philippine Department of Health
16:58.0
confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in the country.
17:07.0
The days that followed would test the mettle of two medical fellows
17:11.0
who faced the Chinese couple tagged as patients 1 and 2.
17:23.0
We dealt at that time in January kasi hindi ka na-mention na kalat talaga.
17:26.0
So, parang challenging also because the protocols kept on changing every day.
17:33.0
Dr. Mai Vigalon was a senior fellow then at the San Lazaro Hospital,
17:37.0
the country's referral facility for infectious diseases.
17:41.0
With her was another fellow, Dr. Brynn Dagok,
17:44.0
who attended to the male patient in the intensive care unit for an entire week.
17:48.0
More than anxiety, he recalls, it was the adrenaline that took hold of him.
17:52.0
But fear began to envelop him when he was tasked to perform a medical procedure.
18:16.0
The disease progressed fast based on the patient's x-ray results.
18:20.0
From visible infiltrates in the lungs on January 27,
18:23.0
only a portion of the left lung was left visible three days later.
18:28.0
Dr. Dagok was removed from ICU duties a week later to be quarantined
18:32.0
after developing symptoms of the disease.
18:50.0
He eventually tested negative for COVID, but the following months would pass
18:54.0
and the number of healthcare workers afflicted with COVID-19 would increase.
18:59.0
Some wouldn't even make it.
19:03.0
Data from the DOH show that more than 32,000 healthcare workers have already fallen ill.
19:09.0
127 of them succumbed to the disease.
19:13.0
In the last three years, the country has lived through at least four surges of COVID-19.
19:18.0
In August 2020, at least 14,000 cases were reported per week,
19:23.0
prompting a group of healthcare workers to call for a timeout and recalibration of government response.
19:30.0
A more transmissible variant of the SARS-CoV-2 also began to emerge,
19:34.0
causing a rapid rise in infections.
19:38.0
In April 2021, the surge was driven by the alpha and beta variants.
19:43.0
But things were about to get worse by September
19:46.0
after the most virulent variant Delta made its way to Philippine shores.
19:54.0
It was this variant that overwhelmed hospitals.
19:57.0
Tents were eventually set up, but even these weren't enough,
20:01.0
forcing patients to agonizingly wait until a bed was available.
20:05.0
Some died while waiting to be admitted.
20:08.0
Dr. Galon and Dr. Dagok admit there were times they thought of turning their backs on their profession.
20:14.0
Honestly, meron talagang times na gusto mo na magpumigil na lang.
20:17.0
Parang pinipiit mo nalang ang self-love to go to the hospital.
20:21.0
But then of course, one factor is ito naman talaga yung piniliin naming world
20:27.0
so we hang on to that all.
20:30.0
As 2022 opened, the virus shocked the world yet again with the Omicron variant.
20:36.0
But while this variant caused the highest surge globally, the disease was less severe.
20:42.0
It was at this time when a lot of Filipinos have already received the primary series of COVID-19 jabs,
20:48.0
with some even doubling their protection with a booster.
20:51.0
Eventually, the virus debilitating effects decreased.
20:55.0
Sa ngayon, we can say that everything is manageable.
20:58.0
Our hospitals are being able to manage our cases.
21:02.0
Wala pong masyadong mga kasong naitatalana mula sa ibang-ibang lugar dito sa Metro Manila.
21:09.0
While the COVID-19 situation in many areas has improved, thereby sparking economic activity
21:14.0
and even making the use of face masks optional,
21:17.0
one question remains unanswered.
21:20.0
Has the COVID-19 pandemic ended?
21:23.0
Rafael Bosano, ABS-TV News.
21:28.0
Filipinos can enjoy a long weekend next month.
21:31.0
Citing its principle of holiday economics,
21:34.0
the palace has moved the celebration of the Day of Valor, or Araw ng Kagitinga,
21:39.0
from April 9 to 10.
21:41.0
That is a Monday.
21:43.0
That means the five-day long weekend is upon us
21:46.0
with April 6 and 7, Monday, Thursday, and Good Friday, declared as holidays.
21:54.0
And before we go, a warning to netizens.
21:57.0
Going on Google today could make you hungry.
22:00.0
That's as today's Google Doodle celebrates the Filipino dish adobo.
22:05.0
It was on this day in 2007 that the word adobo was added
22:09.0
to the Oxford English Dictionary's quarterly update of new words.
22:13.0
The doodle artist Anthony Irwin says he tried to capture
22:18.0
the simple childhood joy of savoring food that feels like home in his artwork.
22:24.0
While not a national dish, adobo is a mainstay in Filipino meals
22:29.0
and a must-try for foreigners.
22:33.0
And that's the rundown.
22:34.0
I'm Stanley Palisado.
22:35.0
We'll be back with more news at 11.
22:37.0
Keep it here on ANC.
