Local and foreign investors have warned the poor will suffer most if Metro Manila reverts—something medical professionals are pleading for—to enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). The businessmen said work will be restricted again to essential services to the detriment of millions of income earners.
Private-sector leaders interviewed by the BusinessMirror argued the losses outweigh the gains in a U-turn to ECQ. Business operations are just beginning to reopen, and shutting them down again will leave millions of workers jobless, they said.
Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council Private Sector Representative George T. Barcelon said it will be costly to reimpose ECQ measures in Metro Manila, as it will require the government to roll out another round of social amelioration.
“[T]here will be more losses if we revert back to ECQ because only essential sectors would be allowed to operate. Less people will be working, public transport will again [be] locked down,” Barcelon explained.
“The marginalized sectors will suffer more losing their livelihood; government must be ready to revive social amelioration ‘ayuda’ programs,” he added, warning that the peace and order situation could deteriorate if people are left to fend for themselves.
Barcelon acknowledged, however, that infection rates may go slower if households were instructed to stay at home again. As such, this will give the state and the health- care sector the breathing room to reassess their strategies in containing the spread of the virus.
John D. Forbes, executive director at the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, said reverting the nation’s capital to ECQ will result in “delayed recovery, less business activity and less income for basic needs.”
In terms of quarantine protocols, businessmen prefer barangay-level lockdowns over a region-wide ECQ, Forbes said. What should be focused on, he added, is the implementation of health protocols, particularly the wearing of face mask and social distancing.
For Forbes, the coronavirus crisis in the Philippines is not as much of a problem as it is in the United States, where more than 150,000 have now died from Covid-19.
“Also, we should feel safer that the fatality numbers are low in Southeast Asia,” Forbes said. “In the Philippines, the death toll is less than 2 percent of the United States, which has three times larger population.”
In a letter on Saturday, various health groups from all over the archipelago called on President Duterte to place Mega Manila (National Capital Region, Calabarzon and Central Luzon) under ECQ for a period of two weeks from August 1 to August 15.
They said medical practitioners are now exhausted from the overwhelming rise of infections of Covid-19, citing the July 30 case where nearly 4,000 new positives were recorded. Many health-care workers have also been infected, subsequently infecting their families.
As such, it is necessary to impose a two-week ECQ in the nation’s capital to give health workers the time to “draw up a consolidated, definitive plan of action,” they argued.
During this stretch, problems in containing the virus spread should be addressed, particularly on hospital work force deficiency; failure of case finding and isolation; failure of contact tracing and quarantine; transportation safety; workplace safety; public compliance with self protection; and social amelioration.
DTI chief: No going back
Among the first to oppose the plea of health workers is Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez. His agency is responsible for the reopening of business operations nationwide, of which the latest move allowed gyms, Internet cafes and drive-in cinemas to resume activity areas under general community quarantine, such as Metro Manila.
“[We] cannot go back to ECQ,” Lopez told reporters on Saturday. “[It is] damaging to people’s health, with unemployment and poverty affecting health and wellness and nutrition intake. [It] will affect long-term health and capacity to learn for children.”
At least 5 million Filipinos lost their jobs when the whole of Luzon was placed under lockdown in March. Based on the April Labor Force Survey, unemployment rate swelled to 17.7 percent—from 5.1 percent last year—translating into more than 7.25 million jobless Filipinos.
Aside from the threats of income crash and permanent closure, business owners are expected to reject a return to ECQ after investing in health equipment to comply with state protocols on reopening.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases will convene on Monday to discuss the health sector’s proposal to reimpose ECQ in Metro Manila. They will have to consider, among others, the public health situation of the country, as the Philippines is now nearing 100,000 cases with over 2,000 deaths.
DOJ chief weighs in
Meanwhile, the business leaders got an ally in Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who expressed apprehension that placing the entire Metro Manila anew in a hard lockdown or enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) would result in more deaths not due to coronavirus infection but due to hunger and other circumstances.
Guevarra, however, said he agreed that the government should take all the necessary steps to protect the welfare of medical frontliners seeking a two-week lockdown in order for them to recover from physical and mental exhaustion caused by the rapid rise in Covid-19 cases in the country, now close to 100,000.
“I understand where our medical and health professionals are coming from. They are expectedly getting weary. I agree that they need all the support and care that the government can provide,” Guevarra said.
“But everyone else is getting weary. Millions of people need to go back to work and earn a living, or else they die of hunger. We need to stir the economy back to life, albeit gradually, lest we reach a point where it will be doubly difficult to recover,” he added.
Guevarra urged people to continue making sacrifices which he assured will not go unnoticed when the Covid-19 pandemic is over.
“All of us have to make personal sacrifices for the common good. All these will come to pass, and when it’s all over the nation will remember with gratitude those who were heroes during this dreadful pandemic. Our doctors, nurses, and other health workers surely top them all,” the DOJ secretary explained.
Guevarra’s sentiments are aligned with the position of DTI Secretary Lopez who said that the economic cost of tougher quarantine measures could also affect Filipinos’ health and well-being.
Lopez is pushing for other measures to stop the Covid-19 spread such as granular lockdowns of buildings, streets or barangays with high infection rates, along with massive tracing, testing, isolation, treatment.
He also stressed the importance of complying with health protocols by business establishments.
With Joel R. San Juan
Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/08/03/local-foreign-biz-poor-to-suffer-more-under-ecq/