When will coronavirus end? Carbonara? Here's what Filipinos Googled in April

MANILA - Filipinos researched on the coronavirus as well as pasta and rice cake recipes during the first full month of lockdown to ride out the pandemic, Google said.

Among the most asked questions regarding the virus on Google were: 

What is coronavirus?
Is coronavirus airborne?
Is there a cure for coronavirus?
How many cases of coronavirus in the Philippines?
When will coronavirus end?
Many also asked about how to keep themselves from getting infected, which country has no infection, when the outbreak started, how to know if you have the coronavirus, and how Taiwan controlled the virus, Google said.

Filipinos searched about the symptoms of COVID-19, including its mild symptoms, if diarrhea was a symptom of the disease, and what to do if you have symptoms of the disease, it said.

“The results reveal how Filipinos are using Google Search to cope with the community quarantine period and look for information about the pandemic,” the tech giant said.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development also trended on Google last month, the search engine said, reaching an all-time high on April 5. The DSWD is among agencies involved in distributing cash aid to 18 million poor Filipino families. 

Filipinos also flocked to Google for recipes including carbonara, maja blanca, pancake, banana cake, puto, menudo, leche flan, pandesal, chicken curry and dalgona coffee. 

A previous report of Google meanwhile showed that Filipinos had dramatically cut back on trips outside their homes following the imposition of the lockdown.

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Pasig City to provide cash aid for poor families excluded from DSWD's coronavirus crisis list

MANILA - Pasig City will provide about P8,000 each for some 113,000 families who were not included in the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) list of cash aid beneficiaries, Mayor Vico Sotto said Sunday.

Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, DSWD-identified beneficiaries will receive P8,000 twice, but only 93,000 of the 206,000 indigent families in Pasig City were included in the list, Sotto said.

"Lahat po ng hindi mabibigay sa listahan ng DSWD Social Amelioration Program, sasaluhin po ng Lungsod ng Pasig. Hindi sa buong halaga na P16,000 pero kung ano yung kaya, ibibigay natin," the mayor said.

(Pasig City will shoulder all those who were not included in the DSWD's Social Amelioration Program. We cannot match the P16,000 cash aid, but we will give what we can.)

"Medyo magkakaproblema po tayo kung 93,000 lang ang mabibigyan... [Kasi] kung yung kapitbahay niyo nabigyan tapos kayo hindi, baka magkaron ng mga akusasyon na may palakasan," he said.

(We might have a problem if only 93,000 will receive the cash aid because if your neighbor receives it and you don't, there might be accusations that the government is playing favorites.)

The amount of P8,000 per family may still change as the city government is still "studying its cash position," Sotto said.

The city government is in the process of finding cash sources to fund the supplemental cash aid program, the mayor said.

"'Yung pera ng Pasig na nasa trust fund, ilalabas natin... Magsasakripisyo tayo, maghihigpit tayo ng sinturon, may mga programang kakanselahin muna natin," he said.

(We will use the money from Pasig's trust fund... We will have to sacrifice, we will have to tighten our belts, there will have to cancel some programs.)

Sotto said the city government will try its best to provide for all Pasig City residents, but appealed to well-off Pasigueños to decline receiving aid.

"'Yung may kaya naman o yung may savings naman, wag na po kayo kumuha sa Pasig Social Amelioration Program natin," he said.

(For those who are well-off or have savings, please don't get from the Pasig Social Amelioration Program.)

"Hindi naman po ito Christmas gift. Ito po ay tulong sa mga nagugutom o mga magugutom," he said.

(This is not a Christmas gift. This is aid for those who are starving or those who are about to starve.)

Cases will be filed against residents who will try to get more aid than what is due to them, Sotto said.

The city government will start convening barangay officials this week to finalize how the supplemental aid will be distributed in communities, the mayor said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Palace ready to open CCT books amid 'sojourn' for homeless

MANILA - Malacanang is ready to open its books referring to the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program amid the controversial stay of street kids and their families in a Batangas resort, away from the line of sight of Pope Francis.

In a radio interview, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said: “Lagi pong bukas ang pamahalaan sa pagbibigay ng impormasyon na hinihiling at lagi po kaming bukas sa kooperasyon dahil ‘yan naman po ang umiiral sa pagitan ng ehekutibo at iba pang sangay ng pamahalaan.”

Some lawmakers have asked for a special inquiry into the CCT program after news came out that street children and their families were whisked away from their temporary shanties in Manila to live in Chateau Royale – with rates ranging from $90 to $500 – for a couple of days, or during the visit of Pope Francis.

In a report, Time.com quoted Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman as saying that the resort sojourn was done so that the families will “not be vulnerable to the influx of people coming to witness the Pope.”

The report went on to say: “Pressed to clarify, she expressed fears that the destitute ‘could be seen as not having a positive influence in the crowd’ and could be ‘used by people who do not have good intentions.’”

The move was heavily criticized, however.

Former CBCP President Oscar Cruz had said: “The pope came here for the poor, needy, that’s why the theme of his visit was ‘Mercy and Compassion’. All of a sudden they (DSWD) would like to hide the poor people and bring them somewhere?”

Militant lawmaker Terry Ridon, for his part, said: “The pope would have wanted to see the Philippines, warts and all. Let us not pretend that we are a first-world country.”

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Dinky pleads for understanding of looters

MANILA – Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman on Tuesday said the people should not be so quick to judge survivors of typhoon "Yolanda" who have resorted to looting in order to survive.

"Ngayon lang naman tayo nagka-disaster na ganito ang naging responde ng mga tao. At para sa akin, unawain natin sila. Hindi nila inakala na ganito ang mangyayari sa kanila," Soliman told dzMM.

She added that sheer magnitude of the devastation brought by the typhoon has forced the hungry and tired survivors to resort to lawlessness.

"[Naiisip siguro nila] 'Bakit nangyari sa akin ito? Galit ako sa lahat, ang akin lang magagawa ay gumawa ng mga pagkilos na ito,'" she said.

Soliman said the most important thing now is that help is coming to the severely battered city of Tacloban in Leyte, and Guiuan in Eastern Samar.

"Ngayon ang pinakamahalagang mangyari, tuloy-tuloy ang bigay ng pagkain, dahil sa aking pagtingin, sa galit, sa frustration, sa sama ng loob, ang mga tao, masyadong heightened ang pangangailangan na ma-assure na sila ay hindi mauubusan," Soliman said, reacting to reports that some survivors were blocking vehicles carrying relief goods.

State of national calamity, curfew

President Benigno Aquino on Monday night declared a state of national calamity following the devastation caused by the typhoon.

The declaration will allow the national government to fast-track delivery of aid and basic services, particularly in typhoon-hit areas in the Visayas.

Around P18.7 billion in government funds can be used to help victims and rebuild communities, Aquino said. Some P1.1 billion in Quick Response Funds were also allotted for the DSWD and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Over 20 countries, as well as foreign aid organizations and the private sector, are helping in the relief efforts.

To address the crime incidents plaguing badly-hit Tacloban, the Philippine government said Tuesday it had deployed armored vehicles, set up checkpoints and imposed a curfew to help end looting in the city.

Tacloban -- on the central island of Leyte -- bore the brunt of Friday's category-five storm with at least 10,000 people feared to have died there, according to the United Nations.

The devastated provincial capital -- a city of 220,000 residents -- has also seen some of the worst pillaging. Famished survivors desperate for food and medical supplies have ransacked aid convoys, hampering relief efforts.

Survivors have reported gangs stealing consumer goods including televisions and washing machines from small businesses.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said four Simba armored personnel carriers had been deployed to contain looting and help restore law and order, a day after hundreds of Philippine soldiers and police were sent to the city.

"We are circulating them (the Simbas) in the city to show the people, especially those with bad intentions, that the authorities have returned," Roxas told DZMM radio.

Checkpoints have been set up to stop people from mobbing relief trucks, he said.

Many resorted to looting with a charity saying that in one case, a man with a machete tried to rob aid workers who were receiving a delivery of medicine.

"The presence of policemen, military and government forces will definitely improve things (but) it will not be overnight," Roxas said, confirming reports that the Tacloban city government had imposed a curfew on residents of 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.

"It is a tool that we are using to minimize the looting and break-ins. We know some people cannot return home (during the curfew) because their homes were washed away but it is more effective against roving gangs who are looking for targets of opportunity," he said.

It is not clear where newly homeless residents are meant to go during this period.

Roxas added that the public works department had cleared at least one lane of a highway entering the city, which would speed up entry of supplies. It is hoped that incidences of looting will decrease as food relief flows to isolated areas.

Roxas said the government's three main priorities were to restore peace and order, bring in relief goods and start collecting corpses.

"Now that we have achieved number one and two, the priority is the recovery of the cadavers," he said. – with Agence France-Presse

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Freddie's girlfriend stopped from leaving PH

MANILA - Even before singer Freddie Aguilar told the public about his 16-year-old girlfriend, the Department of Social Welfare and Development stopped her from leaving the country, a DSWD official said yesterday.

DSWD Region 4-B director Wilma Naviamos had raised a red flag when she rejected the girl’s application last Aug. 29 to travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to watch Aguilar’s concert, said DSWD Protective Services Bureau director Dulfie Shalim.

The girl wanted to travel with Aguilar, unaccompanied by her parents, Shalim said. When the DSWD Region 4-B rejected the girl’s application on Sept. 5, the girl’s mother showed up two weeks later to make an appeal.

“The DSWD region office there took the initiative to give counseling to the girl’s mother about allowing her child to travel out of the country without a parent and with a man,” Shalim said.

The official said social workers counseled the mother on the “risks and consequences that her child may encounter in going out of the country.”

Shalim said the DSWD Region 4-B has yet to make a report on a visit the Protective Services Bureau ordered to determine the role the girl’s parents played in the 60-year-old singer’s romance with the girl.

Shalim said if it comes out that the parents coerced the girl to have an affair, they will be guilty of child exploitation. At the very least, they could be held liable for neglect, and the girl “will be a ward of the state,” the official said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

DSWD to step into Freddie's love affair

MANILA - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) may intervene in the May-December affair of 60-year-old singer Freddie Aguilar with a 16-year-old girl.

Aguilar drew criticism from the public after he admitted his relationship with a minor.

Reports said that the singer-composer of the worldwide hit song “Anak” may be sued for child abuse or seduction by being in a relationship with a minor.

Under the Revised Penal Code, seduction of a girl who is under 18 years of age is considered a crime against chastity.

Child abuse, on the other hand, is considered a public offense and that agencies like the DSWD can file a case for victims under Republic Act 7610, or the Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.

Dulfie Shalim of the DSWD Protective Services Bureau said social workers are set to visit the teenager’s parents in Mindoro to determine if they approved of the relationship of Aguilar with their daughter.

“The girl is considered a minor under the law. That means she is vulnerable to abuse, and not yet capable to discern,” Shalim said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com