FACT SHEET FOR NEWS WRITING (Filipino)

Panuto: Sumulat ng isang balita na nakabase sa mga datos at impormasyong nabanggit sa ibaba.

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte yesterday led the kick-off ceremony for
this year’s Brigada Eskwela in Imus, Cavite, as she admitted that the Department of Education (DepEd) is facing
gargantuan challenges with the resumption of face-to-face classes and would need some P18 billion in funds to
address the problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and other natural calamities to the education sector.

Speaking before DepEd employees, teachers, local leaders, parents and representatives of civil organizations,
Duterte cited the continuing threats of the COVID pandemic, natural calamities such as flooding, typhoons and
earthquakes, and the entry of monkeypox in the country as among the challenges that the agency is facing as school
reopens later this month.

“We all know these problems and the other problems and challenges that the Department of Education and its
partners are facing year in and year out... We are in a quicksand. While we have yet to address the destruction of a
previous calamity, another calamity has hit us,” the Vice President said in English and Filipino.

“And we need more than P18 billion, excluding the P1.4 billion of damage from the Abra earthquake to get ourselves
out of the quicksand of this year and last year. It does not include the things or the repairs that we have to do from
2016,” she added. Citing the assessment of the DepEd’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service
(DRRMS), Duterte said more than 9,000 schools in Northern Luzon have been affected by the magnitude 7.3
earthquake that hit the region last Wednesday.

She added that based on the DRRMS’ assessment, the government would need P1.4 billion for the repair of 451
classrooms destroyed by the earthquake and the other 706 classrooms that sustained damage. The Vice President,
however, stressed that she is confident that the DepEd can overcome the challenges and mount a successful return of
face-to-face classes.

“I am confident, and I am optimistic that Department of Education will overcome – and we will overcome with the
support of our national government and the administration of President Bongbong Marcos,” she said.

She added that the previous DepEd leadership, under the administration of her father, former president Rodrigo
Duterte, has left the agency with a clear roadmap, the “Basic Education Development Plan 2030,” to ensure that basic
education targets would be met. “What is important is that we have the determination to succeed in our mission. We
are all set to open our schools all over the country 22 days from now,” the Vice President said.

“With the national government supporting the DepEd, with the Basic Education Development Plan 2030 serving as our
guide, the success of the department’s plans and programs shall now be completed by our undying love for the
profession of teaching Filipino children, our children, the future of our nation,” she added.

“That we are gathering here today to pilot Brigada Eskwela all over the country – with your presence here – is truly
inspiring, and I hope that the energy that you are showing today will create waves and waves of the same energy and
will reach even the farthest public school in the Philippines,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Audit (COA) has admonished the DepEd over its procurement of “pricey” laptops
totaling P2.4 billion, through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) last
year.

In its 2021 annual audit report, the COA has noted several “deficiencies” in the DepEd’s utilization of P2.451 billion in
COVID-19 response fund allocated under Republic Act 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2),
the bulk of which or P2.4 billion was used for the procurement of 39,583 units of entry-level type laptops for
distribution to public school teachers nationwide.

COA said the items, procured by the DepEd Central Office (CO), were “pricey” for an entry-level type of laptop, thus,
resulting in “significant decrease in the number of units provided to intended users”. “Apparently, the supposed
number of laptops to be procured of 68,500 units was significantly reduced to 39,583 units which was mainly due to
the huge increase of estimated cost from P35,046.50 (per unit), based on DepEd’s submitted and approved Agency
Procurement Request (APR), to P58,300.00 (per unit) anchored on the DBM-PS’ recommendation, which was duly
accepted by the DepEd,” the audit body said.

“The huge difference of P23,253.50 per unit price resulted in significant decrease by 28,917 laptop computers,
purportedly for distribution to intended recipient-teachers, which could have helped them in performing their tasks in
the blended learning set-up. Consequently, an estimated 28,917 teachers were deprived of the possible benefits from
the supposed provision of these laptops,” it added. – Rainier Allan Ronda & Elizabeth Marcelo - The Philippine Star
August 2, 2022 | 12:00am
FACT SHEET FOR NEWS WRITING (English)
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Walang katuturan pa raw ang mga panawagang isara ang mga borders ng Pilipinas mula sa ibang bansa sa gitna ng
banta ng kinatatakutang monkeypox, bagay na namapasok na ng Pilipinas kamakailan. Ito ang sabi ni Department of
Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, Martes, matapos makumpirma ang monkeypox sa isang 31-anyos na
Pilipinong nakapasok mula sa ibang bansa.

"I'd like to tell everyone of you, hindi po natin papalitan ang ating restrictions sa ngayon sa ating borders," ani Vergeire
sa isang press briefing. "Closing our borders when in fact we can only really confirm this virus kapag nakita mo na
'yung lesion, kapag nakapagpa-test na, is somehow irrational at this point."

Paliwanag ng opisyal ng DOH, World Health Organization na ang nagsabing "low to moderate" pa lang ang banta ng
naturang virus. Bagama't nakamamatay, sinasabi ng U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention na "rarely fatal"
lang ito.

Bukod pa riyan, iminungkahi raw ng WHO na hindi kailangang itigil ang kalakalan at mag-restrict ng borders.

Matatandaang nabatikos noon si dating DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III matapos tutulan ang suwestyong
maagang pagpigil sa flights mula Tsina papasok ng Pilipinas noong nagsisimula pa lang ang COVID-19 bandang
Enero 2020. Sa Tsina unang natukoy ang virus.

Una nang nagkaroon ng matinding epekto ang mahihigpit na lockdowns at travel bans sa Pilipinas sa ekonomiya ng
bansa dulot ng pandemya, bagay na ngayon-ngayon pa lang talaga nakahihinga nang maluwag.

"Let me just emphasize, COVID-19 is different from the monkey[pox] virus," dagdag pa ni Vergeire kanina. "Ang
COVID-19 po, mas mabilis makapanghawa dahil 'yung droplet niya po maaring maipasa within this distance na meron
ang isang tao. Compared sa monkeypox virus which is really through close contact."

Mayo pa lang ay tinututulan na ng National Task Force Against COVID-19 ang pagsasara ng borders ng Pilipinas
dahil sa banta ng monkeypox. Sa ngayon, ang kailangan lang gawin ay ang pagpapatindi ng surveillance efforts,
alamin ang mga sintomas, at agad na mag-isolate oras na makaranas ng mga symptoms nito.

Ilan sa sinsabing symptoms ay ang lagnat, sakit ng ulo, pananakit ng katawan at likod, pamamaga ng kulani, chills
pagkapagod Respiratory symptoms (hal. sore throat, nasal congestion o ubo), rashes na mukhang tigyawat o lapnos
at lumalabas sa mukha, loob ng bibig at iba pang bahagi ng katawan gaya ng kamay, paa, dibdib, ari at pwetan

"The rash goes through different stages before healing completely. The illness typically lasts 2-4 weeks," sabi ng US
CDC.

Matatandaang nag-designate na ang DOH ng mga specific isolation facilities para sa mga potential monkeypox cases.

Ang naturang sakit ay unang lumabas sa mga tao noong 1970s sa Democratic Republic of Congo. Taong 2003 lang
nagsimulang magkaroon ng outbreak nito sa labas ng Africa.

Iniulat ng Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) na isang Pilipino sa Singapore ang nagpositibo sa monkeypox.

Sa ulat ng Ministry of Health sa Singapore, ang pasyente ay isang 31-anyos na lalaking Pinoy na nagpositibo nang
isailalim sa test noong Hulyo 25. Ang pasyente ay nagkaroon umano ng lagnat noong Hulyo 21 na sinundan ng mga
pantal sa mukha at katawan. Nagpagamot umano ito sa Singapore General Hospital noong Hulyo 24 at na-confined
ng araw din na iyon. Dahil dito kaya patuloy umano ang contact tracing sa mga nakasalamuha ng nasabing Pinoy.