Putin vows more Sputnik V to Phl
Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised President Rodrigo Duterte that Moscow would deliver more anti-coronavirus vaccine doses to the Philippines in the coming months.
Putin made the commitment in his conversation with Duterte on Wednesday, the second “tele-summit” of the two leaders this year.
“President Putin said that Russia will increase the volume of deliveries of Sputnik V vaccines to the Philippines,” according to a statement from Malacañang.
Meanwhile, Duterte thanked Putin for making Russian-made jabs available in the Philippines, as he reiterated the importance of the “expeditious delivery” of vaccines.
The Philippines has so far received 80,000 Sputnik V doses from Russia, the second government-procured jabs delivered next to China’s CoronaVac.
The shots were rolled out in the cities of Taguig, Manila, Muntinlupa, Makati, and Parañaque, since these areas met the jabs’ temperature requirement of -18 to -20 degrees Celsius.
Filipino officials have been in talks with the Russian government for the procurement of at least 20 million doses of Sputnik V, which may be delivered this month until August, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said.
The conversation between Duterte and Putin coincided with the anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Russia.
Aside from the vaccines, they also discussed the “deepening” partnerships between the Philippines and Russia in terms of trade, investment, defense, energy, space, and people-to-people exchanges.
Putin described the Philippines as a “key partner” in Southeast Asia, saying Manila and Moscow shared similar positions on regional and international issues, which he said paved the way for tighter cooperation in key multilateral platforms in the future.
He added that Russia is ready to import more Philippine agricultural products, as well as support the country’s transportation infrastructure projects, renewable energy facilities, and supply military equipment.
Duterte and Putin also had a 30-minute phone conversation on 13 April, when they vowed to strengthen cooperation in addressing the health crisis, as well in other important issues including defense and security.
The Philippines on 2 June 1976 forged formal diplomatic ties with Russia, then known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
“We are strictly monitoring and reviewing the weekly reports being submitted by the Generation Companies in compliance with our directive pertaining to the Reliability Performance Indices and Equivalent Outage Days Per Year of Generating Units.
“Based on the examination of our technical group, there are GenCos that have breached the maximum allowable unplanned outage days as of April 2021,” ERC chairperson and CEO Agnes VST Devanadera explained.
The erring GenCos were asked to submit their explanations within seven days from receipt of the ERC Notice of Non-Compliance for having a cumulative unplanned outage beyond the maximum allowable unplanned outage days for the year 2021.
The ERC issued in November 2020 Resolution 10, Series of 2020 entitled “A Resolution Adopting the Interim Reliability Performance Indices and Equivalent Outage Days Per Year of Generating Units”.
The resolution sets the maximum or cap for annual unplanned outages per generating plant technology. The subject resolution became effective on 3 January 2021 upon completion of the
Cusi told a Palace briefing that his agency is issuing its long-term strategy of addressing the power supply and demand situation during the summer season, looking forward to the resumption of our country’s economic activities and recovery.
“We have put in place redundancies and even double redundancies to ensure the safe storage of our vaccines especially during this crucial period in our government’s vaccine rollout, and have laid out contingencies for the stable, reliable and accessible power for all,” Cusi assured.
After three straight days of forced outages in Luzon, the DoE said the grid returned to its normal system condition on Thursday.
“There were enough power supply reserves to accommodate the projected demand, which has significantly decreased due to adverse weather condition,” the DoE said in an advisory.
The Philippines has so far received 80,000 Sputnik V doses from Russia, the second government-procured jabs delivered next to China’s CoronaVac.