Covid data swayed managers to accept ECQ
@caiordinario
THE return of the National Capital Region (NCR) to enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), which would trigger a new round of business closures, is necessary to eliminate the possibility of an uncontrollable surge, which would cost lives and further damage the economy.
On Monday, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said the country’s economic managers were initially against the imposition of the ECQ.
But upon examination of the data, Lopez said the economic team agreed to impose more stringent mobility restrictions. The ECQ will take effect on Friday, August 6.
“We take the view that the economy will again be affected, which would delay the recovery of our nation. We know that the economy and MSMES cannot bear another lockdown as this could raise closures again. We were against it. But the new set of data shown to us last Thursday was a concern,” Lopez said.
“By imposing this ECQ, we can remove the possibility of an uncontrollable surge like what happened in our neighboring countries that claimed thousands of lives,” he added.
Lopez, however, assured businesses that the government will allow agriculture, industry, and services to operate to preserve jobs and incomes.
This is part of the efforts of the Duterte administration to help MSMES grow and develop amid the throngs of the pandemic.
Lopez said, for one, the government continues to vaccinate the country’s economic frontliners who are classified under the A4 priority category.
20-M vaccinated
HE said the number of fully vaccinated are poised to outpace the number of those infected with Covid-19. As of August 1, Lopez said the government has vaccinated 20.8 million Filipinos.
The Trade and Industry Secretary said this comprises 11.7 million who received their first dose and 9.1 million who were fully vaccinated.
He said the government is delivering over 515,000 jabs per day or 3.6 million a week. The record highest was 659,000 jabs per day and this capacity continues to increase.
Apart from these, the DTI is also helping MSMES by pushing for the amendment of the Magna Carta on MSMES, Lopez said. The amendment aims to extend the mandatory allocation of credit resources to MSMES.
Another bill he cited is the One Town, One Product (OTOP) bill which aims to institutionalize the OTOP program to guide LGUS on the comprehensive assistance and holistic approach to support MSMES.
Lopez said the 62 OTOP hubs nationwide have helped 50,323 Otopreneurs and generated sales worth P5.5 billion.
The DTI, Lopez said, is also pushing to legislate the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) program which aims to fight loan sharks and improve MSMES access to credit.
The P3 program, Lopez said, has released P8.8 billion worth of loans to over 200,000 microenterprise borrowers. This was provided to MSMES even before the pandemic.
Economic toll: P105B
LAST Friday, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) estimated that placing Metro Manila under ECQ will cost the economy some P105 billion.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua told reporters on Friday that this will also increase the ranks of the poor by up to 177,000 people and render 444,000 Filipinos jobless.
However, Chua said the impact would be mitigated by cash assistance that the government will be providing those who will be adversely affected by the lockdown.
“These can be partly reversed if we use the 3 weeks to accelerate vaccination of everyone in the high risk areas,” Chua said. “This way, the ECQ will be an investment to pave the way for a recovery once we control delta spread,” he added.
Last year, Chua said, quarantine restrictions and the fall in consumption translated to a total income loss of around P1.04 trillion in 2020 or an average of P2.8 billion a day.
Quarantine restrictions led to an average annual income loss of P23,000 per worker. However, he said this average masks wide differences across sectors and jobs, and some workers are hit much harder, especially those who lost their jobs.
Nonetheless, he said the government’s response this year has improved visits to public transport stations to a contraction of 40 percent this year from a decline of 80 percent last year.
More Filipinos, Chua said, have also started going back to work. Those going to work are only down by 25 percent this year compared to a decline of over 40 percent last year.