‘Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he has extended a state of calamity in the entire Philippines by a year to allow the government to draw emergency funds faster to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and harness the police and military to maintain law and order. Duterte first placed the country under a state of calamity in March when the number of confirmed infections was approaching 200 with about a dozen deaths. The country now has more than 290,000 confirmed cases, the highest in Southeast Asia, with nearly 5,000 deaths.
‘State of calamity allows officials to draw emergency funds quickly anywhere in the country, and to control the prices of basic commodities like rice and cooking oil. President Duterte also signalled that the country remains at the mercy of a vaccine, which is unlikely to be developed and distributed until the second quarter of 2021.’
Read here (South China Morning Post, Sept 22, 2020)
