- ACTIVITY #2 – Article Critique
DIRECTION: By applying the outline given in the lesson, critique these articles.
1. Lacson: Wage earners getting hungry, but where’s the cash subsidy?
‘A HUNGRY STOMACH KNOWS NO LAW'
By: Neil Arwin Mercado - Lacson also cited reports that “families,
Reporter / @NAMercadoINQ especially the daily wage earners are going
hungry already.”
INQUIRER.net / 04:02 PM March 30, 2020
“In Isabela province, for example, there are
MANILA, Philippines — The government should
reports that some people are eating corn
already be distributing the emergency subsidy
fungus to stave off hunger,” Lacson said.
for some 18 million households amid the
coronavirus pandemic, Senator Panfilo Lacson “If the executive does not act with dispatch, we
said Monday. may have a serious social problem to face. As
the old adage says, ‘a hungry stomach knows no
Under Republic Act No. 11469 or the Bayanihan
law’,” the senator added.
to Heal As One Act which President Rodrigo
Duterte recently signed into law, some 18 Lacson also emphasized his call to those tasked
million households are entitled to get an with the distribution of the subsidy through an
emergency subsidy from a minimum of P5,000 adage: “Aanhin pa ang damo, kung patay na ang
to a maximum of P8,000 for two months kabayo.”
computed based on the prevailing regional
( Of what use is the grass to a horse already
minimum wage rate.
dead.)
Section 9 of the said measure shall take effect
“At this time when daily wage earners must
“immediately upon its publication in a
have exhausted whatever limited savings and
newspaper of general circulation or in the
personal loans they subsist on, every meal
Official Gazette.”
missed by their children means desperation,”
But Lacson said that the measure was signed by Lacson said.
Duterte on March 24 and was published on
“We know what desperation can drive a head
March 25.
of the family to do when he sees his family
“It’s now [March] 30. By now, those in charge of starving,” he added.
its implementation particularly the distribution
SOURCE:
of cash dole-outs to the 18 [million] plus
families should already be taking place,” Lacson https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1251075/lacson-
said in a message to reporters. distribution-of-cash-subsidy-story
IATF setting parameters for possible lifting, extension or expansion of Luzon quarantine
By: Darryl John Esguerra - Reporter / @DJEsguerraINQ
INQUIRER.net / 10:55 AM March 31, 2020
MANILA, Philippines — The inter-agency task force handling the government’s response to the coronavirus disease
2019 (COVID-19) crisis is setting its sights on the possible lifting, extension or expansion of the Luzon-wide enhanced
community quarantine (ECQ) more than two weeks after it was imposed.
Philippine National Police Deputy Chief for Operations PLtGen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar inspects Metro Manila
Community Quarantine Checkpoints at the boundary of Meycauayan, Bulucan and Malanday, Valenzuela City, March
16, 2020.
Niño Jesus Orbeta/INQUIRER
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, spokesman of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging
Infectious Diseases, said in a virtual press briefing Tuesday that the IATF will convene to set the parameters for the
30-day lockdown’s potential lifting, extension or expansion.
“The IATF Technical Working Group (TWG) to be led by the DOH is directed to convene and finalize the parameters
for deciding on the eventual total or partial lifting of the ECQ in Luzon, the possible extension of its duration, or its
expansion to other areas outside the contained area, subject to the approval, amendment or modification by the
IATF,” Nograles said.
The Palace official also reiterated that reports circulating on social media about the extension of the ECQ for another
60 days are “fake news.”
“Sa usapin na ito, science is in charge. Sana po malinaw ito sa ating lahat,” he stressed.
President Duterte placed the entire Luzon under a month-long ECQ on March 16, forcing more than 50 million
Filipinos to observe home quarantine.
The ECQ is the government’s response to health experts’ estimate that COVID-19 infection may reach 75,000 in the
Philippines in three months if the virus is not contained.
To date, the Philippines has 1,546 COVID-19 cases as of Monday, 78 of whom have died while 42 have recovered.
The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
Worldwide, the virus, which was first detected in Hubei province in China, already infected more than 784,000
people and killed over 37,600 while more than 165,200 people have recovered so far from the disease as of March
30.
SOURCE: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1251527/as-luzon-lockdown-reaches-halfway-mark-iatf-to-study-possible-
lifting-extension-or-expansion-of-ecq
