DTI chief Lopez: Economy can't bear another massive lockdown

The Philippine economy cannot afford another round of a region-wide lockdown where most businesses are in full-scale closure, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said Thursday.

“Nabanggit po natin dati [As I mentioned before], we cannot bear another massive lockdown, unless the situation ay talagang bumubulusok na surge (is an accelerating surge),” Lopez said during state-run PTV’s Laging Handa briefing.

The Trade chief recalled that the reimposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila and its four nearby provinces in late-March to mid-April cost P30 billion in lost wages.

He said that many micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) had closed down.

Lopez said a repeat of ECQ in Metro Manila will translate to a closure of about 16% of establishments from the current 8% to 10%.

This means that 1.8 million workers in the region will be affected if another hard lockdown is implemented, Lopez said.

The OCTA Research group on Tuesday recommended a two-week lockdown in the National Capital Region (NCR) as the region recorded an average of almost 1,000 cases daily amid the threat of the more infectious Delta variant.

Despite OCTA Research's recommendation, the government extended the general community quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions in Metro Manila from August 1 to 15.

“Together with official and reliable health experts and advisers, the IATF recommended keeping the same GCQ with heightened restrictions. Thanks to the President for approving the recommendation,” Lopez said in a separate statement.

“COVID-19 cases are still within manageable levels. Delta has been detected but so far being monitored and contained. It is being closely watched. But we took a more holistic assessment,” he added.

The Trade chief said that as long as the country has intensified vaccination rollout plus strict public health standard and granular lockdown, “we keep the economy going and save jobs and livelihood.”

Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) acting president Edgardo Lacson, for his part, said that “a declaration of another ECQ in Metro Manila will cause the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs again, not to mention business losses of enterprises, which our citizens can ill afford.”

Lacson said the government should focus instead on accelerating vaccination of the population, especially that millions of vaccine doses have recently arrived in the country.

Metro Manila mayors, however, will ask the national government to impose stricter quarantine measures as experts predict another COVID-19 surge caused by Delta coronavirus variant.

According to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, the quarantine status in Metro Manila can still change depending on the outcome of the meeting with the IATF.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) earlier said the government's experience in March to April when it placed the National Capital Region and several nearby provinces in an ECQ bubble will guide its response to mitigate the threat of the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant. 

Lopez said the “key is we allow the economy to reopen in a safe and very calibrated way but we make more restrictions on non-essential activities and mass gatherings and definitely no super-spreader activities.”

“We call on all establishments to ensure implementation of MPHS (minimum public health standards) at all times, each company having a health and safety committee and officers. We need to ensure good ventilation and prevent mass gathering and big crowding situations,” he said.  —KBK, GMA News