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IN METRO MANILA ₱18.00VOL. 579 NO. 03 wEdNEsdAy, MARch 3, 2021 ThE EXPONENT OF PhILIPPINE PROGREss sINcE 1900

ENTERTAINMENT B-7

BusINEss B-1

B-8lIfEsTylE

COVID-19 upDATE IN ph

580,4422,067

12,369534,463

confirmed cases

new cases

deaths

recoveredAs of March 2, 2021

How to invite luck into your 2021,

the Year of the Ox

Gov’t debt breaches P10

trillion in January

Hundreds of K-pop songs disappear

from Spotify

pREsIDENTIAl ADDREss – president Duterte talks to the people after holding a meeting with core members of the Inter-Agency Task force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATf-EID) at the Malacañang Golf Clubhouse in Malacañang park, Manila, on March 1, 2021. (photo from the Office of the president)

fIRsT JABs – photo at left shows Marikina City Mayor Marcy Teodoro (left) and philippine vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. (second from left) witnessing the inoculation of the city’s public health workers in Marikina City, while photo at right shows Manila City Vice Mayor honey lacuna getting her sinovac vaccination at the sta. Ana hospital in Manila, on Tuesday, March 2, 2021. (Mark Balmores/Alvin Kasiban)

Bush fIRE – The starry night is aglow with a bush fire that was photographed at the foot of Mayon Volcano in sitio Tinubran, sua Area, Camalig, Albay, at around 8:30 p.m. on Monday, March 1, 2021. (Contributed photo by Jang Melgar Grageda)

By ANAlOu DE VERA and MARTIN A. sADONGDONG

The Department of Health (DOH) said it is “content and happy” that the country has already started its vaccination program against the cor-onavirus disease (COVID-19), inocu-lating 756 healthcare workers on the first day.

DOH: 756 health workersinoculated on first day

Galvez gets cold after taking Sinovac shot

By GABRIElA BARON

The University of the East-Ra-mon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center, Inc. (UERMMMCI) got the green light from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to con-duct limited face-to-face classes for senior interns of its medicine pro-grams.

This was announced by the uni-versity on Monday, March 1, the

same day it got CHED’s approval.In February, UERM proposed

limited face-to-face classes for its senior interns of the programs in medicine, physical therapy, nurs-ing, medical technology, and the practicum of graduate programs.

“UERM invested much in terms of cost, time, and human resources. However, one of the key factors that paved the way to success was the coordination, with itera-

CHED OKs limited face-to-face classes for UERM’s medical, health programs

By ANAlOu C. DE VERA

An official of the World Health Organization (WHO) assured that the Philippines will receive doses of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

vaccines developed by pharmaceu-tical firms Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

“The Philippines is going to re-ceive both AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines through the COVAX facili-ty,” said WHO Representative to the

Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyas-inghe in an interview on CNN Phil-ippines on Tuesday, March 2.

“The requirements relating to AstraZeneca have been completed... Having said

WHO official assures PH will get Pfizer,AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines

By ARGyll CyRus B. GEDuCOs

President Duterte has dismissed Philippine Ambassador to Brazil Marichu Mauro for maltreating her Filipino household helper last year.

In his weekly public address, Duterte said he approved the rec-

ommendation to dismiss the for-mer envoy only recently.

Aside from being dismissed from service, Mauro will also face the following penalties: cancella-tion of eligibility; forfeiture of re-tirement benefits; perpetual disqualification from hold-

Duterte dismisses PH envoyaccused of maltreating helper

By ANAlOu DE VERA

Six cases of the South African variant of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) virus have been detect-ed in the Philippines, while 30 more cases of the United Kingdom variant were found, the De-

Six cases of South African COVID-19 variant detected in PH

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By lEslIE ANN G. AQuINO

Pope Francis has granted the re-quest of Cebu Archbishop Jose S. Pal-ma to declare within the Archdiocese a Special Jubilee Year along with the attached plenary indulgence.

"In commemoration of the 500 years of the arrival of christianity in the Archdiocese of Cebu, His Holi-ness Pope Francis, through a decree

from the Apostolic Penitentiary, has graciously granted the request pre-sented by His Excellency the Most Reverend Jose S. Palma, Archbishop of Cebu, to declare within the Arch-diocese a Special Jubilee Year, along with the attached plenary indul-gence," the Archdiocese of Cebu an-nounced the Feb. 4 granting of the request on Monday, March 1.

"The same authority has

Pope Francis grants request to declare Special Jubilee Year in Cebu archdiocese