“PAGCOR should not condone this P1.36 [billion] debt. I’ve repeatedly called on the government to get rid of POGOs because the social cost of their operations outweigh the shallow gains," Hontiveros said. 

The new cases on Monday mark the highest daily rise for the Philippines since the pandemic hit.

The National Bureau of Investigation has filed criminal complaints against Philippine National Police officers and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency personnel over a botched anti-drug operation in February where four people died.

While the government surpassed its daily target of administering 500,000 jabs daily on September 3, it fell short of the same target on September 4 and 5, administering just 277,995 shots on Sunday. 

"This is more flexible. Where there is an infection, there will be a lockdown. We need a flexible policy, in the sense that while you contain the virus, the others can work."

The additional Delta variant cases pushes the country's overall count to 2,068.

Palace spokesman Harry Roque said guidelines for the granular lockdowns will be released later Monday or Tuesday "at the latest" — a day before the shift to the new system is scheduled to take place.

PAGASA said Jolina is forecast to become a tropical storm on Wednesday, and make landfall over Northern Luzon on Thursday. 

"We should be talking about how the problem is very serious and we should do something about it."

Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday said she is not open to running as senator in the 2022 national polls.