BUSINESSMEN, EX-DOH CHIEFS BACK MOVE TO GCQ

PROMINENT business leaders and former Department of Health (DoH) chiefs have backed President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to place Metro Manila under general community quarantine (GCQ) starting June 1, easing restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Presidential Adviser ( PA) for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Jose Maria “Joey” Concepcion 3rd stressed that the economy should be reopened whether the country was “ready or not” to save livelihoods as well as micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“Ready or not, I think we should reopen the economy because this time we have to save the livelihoods of many of our MSMEs that are on the brink of great danger at this point in time,” he said during Go Negosyo’s “Balik Kabuhayan” webinar on Friday morning. Concepcion is the founder of Project ARK-PCR (antibody rapid test-polymerase chain reaction) testing, whose objective is to conduct mass testing to reopen businesses safely. To date, Project ARK-PCR has procured around 1.2 million rapid antibody kits, while the procurement of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test kits is underway. The private-led initiative is expected to help the country meet its goal of conducting 50,000 confirmatory RT-PCR tests a day by the end of June.

“It’s our obligation, as the private sector to conduct testing, to ensure that if found positive, we will trace, isolate, and treat,” Concepcion said.

Ayala Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala echoed Concepcion’ statements, but said the gradual reopening should be done “in a safe, prudent and very cautious way.”

“It is a balancing act between the need for the economy to come back to life. It is a period of zero income and there’s only so much that can last without massive economic support from the government,” he said.

He stressed the importance of private-public partnership during the pandemic.

“There are moments of crisis where you cant sit back and say, ‘It is not our responsibilities, it’s yours.’ We don’t have a role to play. I think that is something the PA Joey has always believed, this duality,” Ayala said.

Former Health chiefs have also shared their insights as to the country’s preparedness in lifting the restrictions.

Former DoH secretary and now Iloilo First District Rep. Janet Loreto Garin pointed out that prolonged strict quarantine could have prevented a “few cases” of the virus, but non-Covid-19 diseases might “increase.”

“If we don’t reopen, we might be able to prevent a few cases of Covid, but then we will have more of nonCovid illnesses, so this is a balance between the two,” said Garin, who is also the ARK-PCR Private Sector chief implementor.

Another former health secretary, Dr. Esperanza Cabral, said the country’s health system had “enough time to prepare,” making the country “ready” for reopening.

“Well, I’d say that we are as ready as we can be to open business again. We have had two months to prepare, I mean the healthcare system. And if we have not prepared over the last months, we will never be prepared,” she continued.