Dangerous proposal

By Artchil B. Fernandez

 

The economy is bleeding PHP2.8-billion daily, cried the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA). The agency said that in 2020 alone, the Philippine economy lost PHP1.04-trillion due to Covid-19 pandemic.  Overall, the country’s economy contracted 9.5% last year.

To slow down the economic hemorrhage, NEDA is proposing that the economy should further open by loosening more the current restrictions to control the spread of the pandemic. Opening further the economy, acting NEDA Chief Karl Kendrick Chua, claimed is a huge boost to the economy amid the pandemic. He specifically proposed that the entire country should be placed under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the most relaxed restriction in March.

Earlier, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) decided to allow the reopening of indoor leisure establishments, such as movie houses and game arcades, to boost economic recovery. This was staunchly opposed by Metro Manila mayors.

Philippine economy along with the global economy was brought to its knees by Covid-19 pandemic. However, the impact of the pandemic on each country’s economy varies and the variation is largely accounted by how the national leadership responded to and managed the plague.

In the case of the Philippines, its economic performance during the pandemic is the worst in the ASEAN region. Du30’s incompetence is to blame for the poor economic performance of the country. Economic experts said his administration did not aggressively spend to stimulate the economy and responded late to the pandemic.

Du30’s own former NEDA secretary Ernesto Pernia sums up the ineptness of his administration. “We attended to this Covid-19 problem late. We should have attended this as early as February [2020] like Vietnam. Tayo March [2020] na. I think the discomfort of the people is that palagi tayong late eh. Slow talaga. Late and slow motion.”

Now the Du30 administration wants to open wide the economy despite the raging pandemic to hide and gloss-over its incompetence. It is a dangerous proposal with disastrous consequences. Instead of reviving the economy, the dangerous proposal will likely worsen the economic condition of the country.

Further opening the economy in the absence of vaccination will not revive or boost the economy as projected by the administration. This will only lead to spike of infections in localities, communities, and business establishments. “Unahin muna natin ang vaccine roll-out. We understand the economy, but the economy will recover more quickly once we’ve started vaccinating more people,” Dr. Guido David of OCTA Research Group argues. “It’s better that we keep things in status quo. We’ll start the vaccine roll-out in few months and once we have that it’s easier for us to talk about the relaxing the economy even further,” he added.

Without vaccination, for example, a business establishment opens but later had a spike of COVID-19 infection. This will force the establishment to close then open again once the infection is contained. Constant disruptions of business operation or localized lockdown of communities due to spike of infections as the result of further opening the economy will only sabotage, not revive the economy.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda accurately captures the likely scenario with the dangerous proposal to expand the opening of the economy. “To be frank with you, even if other places of business are reopened, if we are unable to vaccinate our health-care workers, we will just have to reimpose restrictions once our facilities get overwhelmed and our front-liners start getting sick again,” he tersely warned. Salceda also projects that reopening more sectors will have a “marginal impact” on the economy.

Vaccination is the key in the reopening of the economy. It will provide the public with sense of security and confidence to go out. Without vaccination, people are afraid to venture outside their homes or communities. Opening more sectors in the economy will not attract customers unless there is vaccination.

Du30 and his administration should focus on getting Filipinos vaccinated instead of pushing the dangerous proposal to further open the economy. It is in the area of vaccination that the incompetence of Du30 is once again highlighted. Countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Burma have already started their vaccination roll-out while in the Philippines vaccination is still in limbo.

It was revealed during a Senate hearing that securing vaccines remains in the drawing board. This implies vaccination in the country has to wait for a longer time. Vaccination Czar Carlito Galvez admitted there is still no binding supply agreement between the Philippines and pharmaceutical companies and what had been sealed between the parties is a nonbinding “term sheet” which is a promise to supply and pay.

To conceal its failure to secure vaccines for Filipinos, the Du30 administration has been conducting vaccination simulations to create an illusion that vaccination is about to happen. These simulations are vaccination mirages designed to deceive the public and lure Filipinos into believing that vaccination is at hand when it is not.

Truth is Du30 did not act fast to secure vaccines for Filipinos (late again) naively believing his pivot to China will save him. His masters in Beijing fooled him again.

To cover-up its colossal failure on the vaccines the Du30 administration wants to expand the reopening of the economy hoping that an improved economy will save its skin. This dangerous proposal in the absence of vaccination will only sink the economy.