(Eagle News) – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is pushing for the entire country to be placed under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) starting March.
NEDA Acting Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua told President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night, Feb. 15 that as a “balancing act,” the country should be placed under the more relaxed MGCQ to save the economy from further bleeding, but with the strict implementation of minimum health protocols to prevent an upsurge of COVID-19 cases.
Chua said that total income loss in 2020 reached P1.04 trillion. On the average, as much as P2.8 billion is lost each day due to lost income of workers. An ordinary worker also loses P23,000 in annual income. Lost income translates to more people going hungry, he said.
“Iyong aking ibabahagi ‘yong kailangan po natin mag-shift sana sa lalong madaling panahon to MGCQ for the entire Philippines. Sana starting March 1, 2021 para i-address po ‘yong hunger or ‘yong mataas na antas ng mga Pilipino po na nagugutom,” Chua noted.
The NEDA chief also observed that there are businesses that remain to be closed or not operational because of the GCQ protocols. Because of this, many workers have lost jobs. Some businesses have folded or closed shop.
“Kaya ‘yong ibang workers po mas malaki po ang tama sa kanilang sahod, sa kanilang kita at sa kanilang mga kabuhayan. So ang recommendation po namin ay dapat ibalanse po natin,” Chua said.
He also cited a Pulse Asia survey that reportedly showed more people, as much as 73 percent, opting to “balance the opening of the economy and the control of the virus” during a poll in November 2020, when there were more people going hungry.
“So hindi po naman natin sinasabi na ibukas lang natin ‘yong ekonomiya at huwag na nating pakialaman ‘yong COVID cases kailangan po natin both,” he said.
Chua also noted that there was no spike in COVID-19 cases since the reopening of the economy last October, and even after the year-end holidays.
He claimed that the UK variant or variant B.1.1.7, which is up to 70 percent more infectious than previous strains based on scientific studies, had more or less been “controlled” in the country.
“So given progress on the health side and no spike in COVID-19 cases from the reopening of the economy last October and the year-end holiday, ang recommendation po namin: Number one, we further open the economy to MGCQ for the entire Philippines, especially NCR starting March 21,” he explained.
He said that the main reason for this is to mitigate hunger and poverty, and job and income loss arising from non-COVID-19 cases.
-Localized lockdowns in case of COVID-19 surge-
In case of a surge in cases, Chua said that localized lockdowns in the barangay or municipal level could be resorted to.
Chua is also recommending pushing for relaxing the limit for the public transport capacity, from the current 50 percent to 77 percent capacity.
He is also pushing for the relaxing restriction on the ages which could go out – from the current 15 to 65 years old, to allowing children as young as five years old to seniors aged 70 to go out of their homes.
“At puwede nating gawing dahan-dahan in increments of five years, also with appropriate safeguard,” said the chief economist.
His recommendation is still to be studied by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) as a whole.
(Eagle News Service)
