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7May 27-June 2, 2021

 NATIONAL NEWS NATIONAL NEWS SC Associate Justice delos Santos retires early

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE Edgardo Delos Santos

MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) has approved the optional retirement of Associate Justice Edgardo Delos Santos eff ective by the end of June, or one year ahead of schedule.

In a notice, Clerk of Court Marife Lomibao-Cuevas said the SC en banc on May 12 “approved Delos Santos’ request for optional retirement eff ective June 30, 2021 for reasons pertaining to his current state of health”.

The Leyte-born Delos Santos, who turns 69 on June 12, was appointed to the SC in December 2019 following the re-

tirement of Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. He was the Court of Appeals (CA) executive justice of the Visayas station at that time. Before his appointment to the SC, he had been with the CA since 2008. He started in the judiciary as a Court Legal Researcher while completing his studies at the University of San Carlos College of Law. He was also a municipal trial court judge, appointed in 1983, before becoming a regional trial court judge in 1993. CHED adopts fl exible learning as norm, groups air protest

CHED Chairman Prospero de Vera

QUEZON CITY - Philippine universities and colleges will no longer return to traditional face-to-face classes as the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) adopted a policy to continue fl exible learning in the years to come, prompting parents, students and teachers to protest.

Bringing back face-to-face classes will expose educational stakeholders to the “same risks if another pandemic comes in,” CHED Chairman Prospero de Vera said last week in a webinar, adding it also “would have wasted all the investments in technology, in teacher training, in the retrofi tting of our facilities.”

“From now on, fl exible learning will be the norm. There is no going back to the traditional, full-packed face-to-face classrooms. The commission has adopted a policy that fl exible learning will continue in School Year 2021 and thereafter,”de Vera said.

The “old paradigm of face-to-face versus online will now disappear,” he added.

“What will happen is a fl exible system where universities will mix and match fl exible learning methods appropriate to their situation,” De Vera said. “The more prepared universities will continue investing and moving ahead using online platforms. Others will be allowing some of their students to come back at specifi c periods and do more synchronous versus asynchronous learning.”

Youth groups slammed the CHED decision to continue implementing fl exible learning in the coming years, saying it would exacerbate problems that students and teachers face under the new setup.

National Union of Students of the Philippines National President Jandeil Roperos said the new policy would worsen the fi nancial, mental and emotional hardships that confront students with fl exible learning.

It would also “jeopardize the quality education that is their right,” Roperos said in an ABS-CBN report.

“Face-to-face classes remain to be the most inclusive and accessible option for education. If CHED wishes to pursue prolonged fl exible learning, do they at least give gadget and connection assistance to those in need?” she said in a statement.

“It has been a month since lockdown, and frankly, the bursts of calls for academic breaks and academic ease are taking place as a refl ection of how exhausting and unsustainable the current set-up in learning is,” she added.

The Kabataan Party-list described the new policy as a “gross negligence of duty to the education sector.”

“Teachers and students struggle with lacking internet infrastructure and modular learning,” the group said.

Lawmen..

(From page 1)

Duterte aired the warning and order in his taped public address after Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año’s report about three “super spreader” events that contributed to the spike in Covid-19 cases in the country.

At the same time, Duterte ordered the arrest of local offi cials, especially the barangay chairmen who fail to enforce the ban on parties, picnics, and other mass gatherings to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the independent OCTA Research called for the extension of the general community quarantine (GCQ) in NCR Plus until June as it urged that the country should target to vaccinate 50% of the population in Metro Manila and six other areas at high risk for COVID-19 to achieve herd containment.

In a report, the independent team of experts said 50% of the population must be vaccinated in Metro Manila and the cities of Tuguegarao, Santiago, Baguio, Cainta, Cebu, and Imus due to their high COVID-19 attack rates. At press time, more than four million have been vaccinated in the country, including 80 percent of medical workers.

As of May 26, a total of 4,495,375 Filipinos have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, 1,029,061 of them now fully protected, said Health Undersecretary and National Vaccination Operations chairperson Myrna Cabotaje.

OCTA Research Group fellow Professor Guido David said “the numbers are still high” despite a decline in the average of new Covid-19 cases per day was seen in NCR, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal.

“While we believe we can relax restrictions, we think we should try to retain the GCQ at this time because the cases are still signifi cant. We want to avoid situations wherein people become very complacent because they feel that the situation has improved signifi cantly, that there are no more cases when in fact there are still cases,” David said.

In a related development, those found illegally selling COVID-19 vaccination slots will be dealt with the full force of the law, according MMDA Chairman Benhur Abalos as one allegedly involved in the scam has surrendered.

Año, in a meeting in Malacañan Palace, told Duterte that two people who were seen swimming at the Ciudad sa Gubat resort in Valenzuela on May 9 tested positive for Covid-19, while 54 others got infected with coronavirus after attending a pool party in Nagkaisang Nayon village in Quezon City from May 9 to 11.The DILG chief added that the government is now tracing people who went on a picnic in Norzagaray, Bulacan on May 23.

Duterte lamented that many Filipinos continue to be “stubborn” and do not mind catching the coronavirus and infecting others.

“Huwag niyo akong pilitin na talagang pahirapan ko kayo (Do not force me to put you in a diffi cult situation),” he said. “Kapag nagpositive ka, dadamputin ka talaga, bantay kayo (If you tested positive for Covid-19, you will really be arrested. Watch out). And I make it mandatory.”

In his briefi ng, Duterte said barangay chairs would be liable for dereliction of duty under the Revised Penal Code if they failed to prevent the gatherings in their respective jurisdictions.

Duterte gave the order to the Philippine National Police and all law enforcement agencies after Interior Secretary Eduardo Año reported the recent incidents of mass gatherings including picnics and parties.

Earlier, a Filipino crew member of MV Athens Bridge who was found carrying the B.1.167 coronavirus variant fi rst detected in India has passed away, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reported.

The seaman, who was confi ned in a hospital in Metro Manila, died on May 21 after his bout with severe COVID-19 infection, she said.

On May 17, Duterte warned that he might be forced to reimpose “stricter” quarantine measures, in the event that Filipinos continue to disregard the protocols.

Duterte’s latest warning came, as he said it is a “crime” for a Covid-19 carrier to infect “innocent” Filipinos.