Philippines starts pilot face-to-face class in low risk areas
Pupils observe minimum health protocols as they attend the first day of limited face-to-face classes at the Longos Elementary School in Barangay Pangapisan in Alaminos City, Pangasinan on Monday. Department of Education (DepEd) and Department of Health (DOH) selected 100 schools in COVID-19 “low risk” areas to participate in the pilot face-to-face classes. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
Molo Church lights up for the holidays
Ilonggos enjoy the beautiful Christmas lights outside the St. Anne Parish Church, also known as Molo Church in Iloilo City on Sunday. The Molo Church, a Gothic-Renaissance inspired church, uniquely features 16 life-size statues of female saints. Arnold Almacen, Iloilo City Mayor’s Office
Pharmally executives under Senate custody after arrest
Officers of the Senate Medical and Dental Bureau (MDB) conduct a medical check-up on arrested Pharmally executives Mohit and Twinkle Dargani following their arrival at the Senate Sunday evening. Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Blue Ribbon committee chairperson Sen. Richard Gordon had ordered the arrest of some Pharmally executives, including the Darganis, for skipping the hearings on the 2020 COA report related to the budget utilization of the Department of Health (DOH), particularly its COVID-19 expenditures. The two have been arrested by members of the Senate's Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms in Davao on Sunday as they boarded a private plane headed to Malaysia. Henzberg Austria, Senate PRIB
Temperature check in Botolan school
A teacher checks the temperature of a student on the first day of the pilot implementation of face-to-face classes at Owaog-Nebloc Elementary School in Baytan village, Owaog, Botolan, Zambales on Monday. The Philippines reopened some of its schools on a limited scale for a dry run of in-person classes, after 20 months of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jun Dumaguing, ABS-CBN News
Cebu town among pilot areas for face-to-face classes since pandemic started in PH
Kindergarten students attend their first face-to-face class since the spread of the COVID-19 virus last year, at Siocon Elementary School in the town of Bogo in Cebu province on Monday. Some students from Cebu joined thousands of others in other parts of the country that were allowed to hold a dry run of in-person classes amid the lingering coronavirus pandemic. Cheryl Baldicantos, AFP
Lease on drug war victims' tombs expire
People receive the urns holding the ashes of their family and relatives who died in the government's war on drugs after a memorial service inside a Catholic church in Manila on Monday. The remains were exhumed from their graves after the lease on the tombs at a public cemetery where they were buried expired and relatives could not afford to continue with it. Basilio H. Sepe, ABS-CBN News
