HEADS UP: Oops, It's Still MECQ in Metro Manila, Not GCQ, Says IATF

Here’s a Heads Up from reportr on news you need to know today, Sept. 8.

MECQ EXTENDED

• Metro Manila will stay under MECQ after the government deferred the shift to GCQ due to the lack of guidelines for granular lockdowns. There were 18,012 COVID cases yesterday.
• Ilocos Norte was placed under MECQ until the end of the month.

CULTURE EXPLAINED

• Were you thirsting for Father Ferdi? When does admiring men cross into oversexualization? And how does that play into the campaign to stop objectification of women?

NEWS EXPLAINED

• Philippine Airlines has filed for bankruptcy protection. Does this mean the end of the flag carrier as COVID decimates air travel?

2022 ELECTIONS

• Here’s your guide to voter registration in SM Malls. Here are our past guides for sign-ups at Robinsons Malls and Ayala Malls. Deadline is on Sept. 30.
• Vice President Leni Robredo may be open to supporting other opposition bets, but that doesn’t mean she’s giving up on running for president in 2022.
• The Duterte faction of PDP-Laban asked the Comelec to declare the rival Pacquiao wing as illegitimate.

NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW

• The Senate is seeking the arrest of Michael Yang, President Rodrigo Duterte’s ex-economic adviser who is linked to allegedly overpriced government contracts for medical supplies.
• VaxCertPH, the digital vaccine certificate for Filipinos, could be available to the general public by October.
• No more switching trains. The LRT-2 is now fully operational from Manila to the easternmost station, Antipolo.
• Tropical Storm Jolina lashed the Visayas yesterday and was headed to Central Luzon.
• Cuba has become the first country in the world to pilot COVID vaccines for children as young as 2 years old.
• NASA has successfully recovered a rock from Mars using its Perseverance rover.
• Singapore has deployed two robots to catch violators of its strict rules on social discipline.
• Under Taliban rule, curtains are used to separate male and female students.
• In Vietnam, a quarantine breach violator was sentenced to five years in prison.