By DEE AYROSO
Questions
Day: March 13, 2020
Groups want free, accessible healthcare not troop deployment
Women’s group Gabriela said that military deployment is not the answer to prevent the pandemic, and instead called on the government to provide free, accessible healthcare and concrete solutions for the marginalized sectors which are the most affected in this situation.
Under a fragmented health care, Philippines is ill-equipped in combating COVID-19
From 2016 to 2019 alone, the public health program’s total budget allocation has been reduced significantly, varying from 15-percent to 28-percent cut.
For one, the budget for Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, the lead public hospital in the government’s effort to address the looming outbreak, has been slashed from P263 million in 2019 to P115 million in 2020.
Rights groups criticize government’s red-tagging at UN
The group said they “find it hollow and hypocritical for the Philippine government to feign at the 43rd UN Human Rights Council session that they are open to dialogue then proceeds in incorrigibly mouthing hate speech against human rights defenders legitimately seeking succor for vicious human rights violations.”
TWIPH: International Day of Action for Rivers
On International Day of Action for Rivers, Bulatlat looks back on the people’s resistance against dam as they defend their ancestral domains and the environment.