Here are the banner headlines on Trendrod for August 8, 2021.
PH records more than 9,000 new COVID-19 cases
After two days of reporting more than 10,000 new cases, the Philippines registered a slight dip on Sunday. According to the Department of Health, the country had 9,671 new cases on August 8 — pushing the total case count to 1,658, 916.
Recoveries were also relatively high at 8,079 newly healed patients reported.
However, mortalities increased 287 from yesterday’s tally, making the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 pass the 29,000 mark.
Nas Daily halts ‘Academy’ PH ops amidst backlash
Amidst immense backlash from netizens, social enterprise Nas Daily — headed by Nuseir Yassin — has decided to temporarily stop the operations of his namesake digital course ‘Nas Academy’ in the Philippines for the time being.
According to the Nas Daily team, they will be pausing their local ops “to focus on strengthening our processes around how we collaborate with our partners.” This move is in light of the current situation where Nas was called out by a certain Gracia Palicas, grandniece of renowned mambabatok Apo Whang-od. In a now-deleted post, Palicas accused Nas and his team of “taking advantage of our [Kalinga] culture.” Whang-od was promoted to be one of the Academy’s guru.
As a response, Nas Daily uploaded a video on social media as a proof of Apo Whang-od’s contract signing, where the mambabatok was seen sealing the papers with a thumbmark. But as claims of exploitation started spreading further, the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) have stepped in and will investigate on the matter.
In their statement, Nas Daily have also expressed willingness to work with the NCIP to rectify the issue.
In related news, amidst the ongoing issue, the Nas Daily Facebook page had seen a dramatic decrease in following within the past few days. According to Crowdtangle, the page had 20.96 million followers on August 4, 2021. But as of 12:42am of August 9, the real-time count of Facebook indicate that Nas has 20,355,946 followers or 610K down from Wednesday.
Miss Earth Philippines crowns new queens
Despite the enforcement of the enhanced community quarantine, the Miss Earth Philippines pageant was still able to push through.
This year, 68 ladies from various places around the archipelago competed for the coveted Miss Earth Philippines crown. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to scourge many areas, especially Metro Manila, the whole pageant was entirely done through a virtual setup. It is also the second consecutive year that Miss Earth PH was conducted in such a way.
By the end of the competition, five candidates got titles, including Miss Earth Philippines.
Ameera Almamari hailing from Atimonan, Quezon was named Miss Philippines Air. Next up, Miss Philippines Water is Angelah Songano from Iloilo City. Mandaluyong’s Roni Meneses takes Miss Philippines Fire. Miss Philippines Eco-tourism is none other than Sofia Grace Galve of Tanay, Rizal.
The representative of the country in the upcoming Miss Earth 2021 will be Miss Philippines Earth Naela Alshorbaji from Parañaque City.
The final date for Miss Earth 2021 pageant is yet to be announced.
Philippines ends 2020 Olympic campaign with best placement in 3 decades
The best in Southeast Asia.
The Philippines capped the games with 4 medals, consisting of 1 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze. That was able to push the country forward in the final ranking as it placed 50th overall, ahead of its peers in the Southeast Asian region. For context, Indonesia placed 55th, Thailand is at 59th place, and Malaysia at rank 74.
This is also the Philippines’ best placement at the games since Barcelona 1992, when it placed 53rd overall.
Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games come to an end; Paris welcomes hosting 2024 games
After two weeks of competition, the flame at the Tokyo 2020 games had been extinguished.
On August 8, the biggest sporting event in the world drew to a close with the effects of COVID-19 still vivid in many aspects. One of the biggest effects would be that of no outside spectators were allowed at the venue, thus resulting to a rather solemn closing ceremony. This is further felt by a smaller attendance of athletes at the venue, as many of them have already gone back home days leading to the final event.
Nevertheless, there still plenty of visual and auditory treats for the athletes and viewers at home as fireworks, a drone show, and musical performances (live and taped) were part of the program. Apart from that, a parade of flags was also included, with Nesthy Petecio hoisting the Philippine flag.
The biggest change would be the passing of the baton to the next host of the Summer games. For Tokyo 2020, not only the ceremonial passing of the flag to the next host city was done. But rather, a street party at the heart of Paris — set to host the 2024 games — was beamed live, together with an airshow near the Eiffel Tower.
In his speech, the director of the International Olympic Commitee Tomas Bach said in his closing speech that Tokyo 2020 was indeed the “most challenging Olympic journey,” especially as the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to be delayed by a year.
Check out some of the night’s other highlights below.