HEADLINE INFLATION likely eased to a seven-month low in July, and returned to within the central bank’s target range, with analysts noting that improved meat supply and a slower rise in transport costs likely offset higher prices of fuel and other food items. Read the full story.
Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Friday, July 30, 2021.
THE PESO may weaken against the dollar this week due to continued worries over the Delta variant of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but sentiment could improve on expectations of slower July inflation as well as positive manufacturing data.
The local unit closed at P49.97 per dollar on Friday, strengthening by 33.5 centavos from its P50.305 finish on Thursday, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed.
It also gained 37 centavos from its P50.34-per-dollar finish on July 23.
The peso climbed as the government tightened restriction measures in Metro Manila, which reduced demand for dollars, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said.
Metro Manila will be under the tightest lockdown level from Aug. 6 to 20, Presidential Spokesperson Herminio L. Roque, Jr. said on Friday, to prevent the further spread of the more infectious Delta variant, which has already sickened 216 in the country as of Thursday, based on data from the Department of Health.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua on Friday told reporters that latest estimates show each week in lockdown costs the economy about P105 billion.
The policy meeting of the US Federal Open Market Committee last week also affected peso-dollar trading, UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said.
The Fed last week kept interest rates near zero and maintained its asset purchases at $120 billion monthly and said its policy will remain loose until “substantial further progress” is made on employment and inflation.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said they had discussions on how to scale back the US central bank’s bond buying program but had not decided on the timing.
Mr. Asuncion said the spread of the Delta variant will continue to cloud investor sentiment this week.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ricafort said the market will also be monitoring manufacturing and inflation data to be released this week.
IHS Markit will release the July Philippine Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) on Aug. 2, Monday. In June, the PMI rose to 50.8 from 49.9 in May. This marked the first month since March of a reading beyond the neutral 50 mark that separates contraction from expansion as demand and production increased amid looser restriction measures.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Statistics Authority will report July inflation data on Aug. 5, Thursday.
A BusinessWorld poll of 15 analysts yielded a median estimate of 4% for July headline inflation on the back of lower prices of meat following the easing of import tariffs, which is seen to offset higher costs of oil and other food items.
If realized, this would be the first time inflation would fall within the 2-4% target of the central bank since the 3.5% headline print in December. This would also be slower than the 4.1% pace in June but still faster than the 2.7% logged a year ago.
For this week, Mr. Asuncion gave a forecast range of P50.10 to P50.50 per dollar, while Mr. Ricafort expects the local unit to move within P49.70 to P50.20. — L.W.T. Noble
INVESTORS are expected to go bargain hunting this week after the market closed in the red on Friday and are likely to take their cue from the release of July inflation data.
The 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shaved off 226.30 points or 3.48% to close at 6,270.23 on Friday, while the broader all shares index dipped by 107.17 points or 2.65% to end at 3,934.86.
Week on week, the benchmark index lost 250.51 points from its 6,520.74 finish on July 23.
“The market [fell] steeply [on Friday] after the government announced a two-week reimposition of ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) for Metro Manila in August,” China Bank Securities Corp. Research Associate Jason T. Escartin said in an e-mail.
“Market sentiment was weak all throughout the last week of [last] month, as investors stayed cautious ahead of the President’s final State of the Nation Address, and due to participants monitoring the spread of the Delta variant across the globe,” Timson Securities, Inc. Trader Darren Blaine T. Pangan said in a Viber message.
The government on Friday announced that Metro Manila and nearby cities will be put under the most stringent lockdown classification from Aug. 6 to Aug. 20.
The Health department on Thursday reported 97 new Delta variant cases, bringing the country’s total infections of the more transmissible coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) variant to 216.
On Saturday, the country logged 8,147 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 1,588,965. Of this, 60,887 were active infections.
“We think the ECQ announcement sounds the clarion call for aggressive cash deployment [this] week, especially if prices are able to hold at the 6,200 level,” China Bank Securities’ Mr. Escartin said.
“The market had already progressively priced in the lockdown when it started selling off two weeks ago; investors may begin looking past this event toward year-end narratives,” he added.
Mr. Escartin said they are expecting a seven-percent increase when the market recovers once lockdowns are eased.
“We think current PSEi prices indicate limited downside risk… Meanwhile, August 2020’s post-ECQ surge of seven percent gives an indication of the magnitude of the potential post-ECQ recovery in August 2021,” he said.
Meanwhile, Timson Securities’ Mr. Pangan said investors will be taking their cue from the upcoming release of July inflation data.
“We’ll have to see next week if the support at 6,160 holds, otherwise 6,000 seems to be the next major support to watch,” he added.
The Philippine Statistics Authority will report July inflation data on Aug. 5, Thursday.
A BusinessWorld poll of 15 analysts yielded a median estimate of 4% for July headline inflation on the back of lower prices of meat following the easing of import tariffs, which is seen to offset higher costs of oil and other food items. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte
A TELECOMMUNICATIONS industry more open to foreign participation is expected to improve the Philippines’ efforts to contain the pandemic and stimulate a recovery, economists said amid hearings in the Senate on amendments to the Public Service Act (PSA).
“The pandemic has revealed the gaps in telco services as Filipinos became more reliant on internet services during the pandemic. Essential activities in commerce and education, as well as accessing government services like vaccination and financial assistance require access to telco services. We need foreign investment to come in to ensure that Filipinos get the services that they need,” economist and former Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said in a statement.
Mr. Teves noted that continuing to restrict foreign investment in the telecommunications sector has had the unintended effect of protecting oligopolies.
The chamber is hearing arguments on the amendments contained in Senate Bill No. 1441 seeking to alter the Public Service Act or the Commonwealth Act No. 146, which limits foreign ownership in telecommunications companies to 40%.
The National Economic and Development Authority estimates that 64% of barangays do not have telecommunication services, 88% have no free WiFi zones, and 70% have no fiber optic cable. The International Telecommunication Union ranks the Philippines in the lower 40% in terms of access to the internet in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Telecommunications is a capital-intensive sector. All our current local telco companies have foreign partners because domestic capital is inadequate to fund the needed infrastructure. There is also the matter of technology transfer to consider,” Mr. Teves said.
According to the 2020 Digital Quality of Life survey, the Philippines was 66th out of 85 countries. The study attributed the poor showing to expensive, low-quality internet and the need to upgrade infrastructure.
John Paolo R. Rivera, an economist from the Asian Institute of Management, said in a Viber message that more foreign involvement could greatly “improve communications and enhance the Philippines’ digital capacities.”
If amendments to the PSA are approved, Mr. Rivera said he expects heightened competition in the industry, which tends to improve services, facilitating productivity gains for their users.
“On the consumer side, everyone just wants better and seamless services. Regulatory frameworks should ensure competition is fair for all players (and that) consumers benefit from reasonable prices. The last thing we want is squabbles and/or collusion among players that makes the industry inefficient,” he added.
Economist Calixto V. Chikiamco expressed support in a separate statement for the amendments, arguing that telecoms cannot be considered public utilities because of the absence of a natural monopoly.
“There are currently three telco companies that are profitably operating in the same area here in the Philippines, Globe, SMART, and DITO. This goes to show that several telecom firms can operate in the same area without leading to higher costs and economic inefficiency,” Mr. Chikiamco said.
The co-sponsor of the bill, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, has said that based on the proposed definition of public utilities in the amendments, only natural monopolies will be considered public utilities.
Natural monopolies are industries in which the most efficient number of companies providing the required service is one.
US company Space Exploration Technologies Corp., which uses satellite technology, has expressed interest in investing in the Philippine market, along with Japanese companies KDDI Corp. and Softbank Telecom Corp. Australian company Telstra Corp. Ltd. also attempted to invest in the Philippine telco industry, but partnership talks with the San Miguel Corp. collapsed in 2016. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan
By Arjay L. Balinbin, Senioir Reporter
AN ELEVATED walkway with at-grade bike lanes along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) Northbound and Quingua Street, connecting Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) Buendia Station (Northbound) to Bonifacio Global City (BGC) Bus Depot, is expected to start full operations next year, the Transportation department said.
The Makati-BGC Greenways project is expected to be fully operational by the “third quarter of 2022,” according to a document obtained from the Department of Transportation (DoTr).
It said the detailed architecture and engineering design process is “ongoing.”
The project involves the development of pedestrian networks to connect Makati to BGC through covered, elevated walkways and bike lanes.
The department said the first phase of the project will run from MRT-3 Buendia Station (Northbound) to BGC depot.
The DoTr and Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) have signed a memorandum of agreement for the planning, implementation and funding of the project, which is included in the overall Metro Manila Greenways Project.
The project will be financed by the DoTr’s budget. Some P962 million was downloaded to BCDA to implement the project.
“P952.1 million was remitted to the Bureau of Treasury last 30 March 2020 (as authorized by the) Bayanihan to Heal as One Act,” the department also said.
“P9.9 million remains as the balance to be used as the consultancy fee of the detailed architecture and engineering design,” it added.
The department said the project hopes to promote walking and cycling, reduce congestion, improve road safety for all users, help businesses along the greenways corridors, increase tourism and recreation potential, and promote social inclusiveness and improve health.
BUDGET SUPPORT extended to state-owned firms declined by 80.1% year on year to P8.34 billion in June, after government significantly lowered subsidies to major non-financial government corporations and supplied no funds to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), the Bureau of the Treasury reported.
Preliminary data from the Treasury also indicated that subsidies dropped 81.33% from their May levels.
The National Irrigation Authority received the largest allocation of P2.645 billion or 68% of the month’s total. This rose 7.96% from year-earlier levels.
The National Housing Authority received P2.123 billion, down 71.5% from a year earlier.
Budgetary support was received by trade-related government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) such as the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (P4 million), the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (P12 million), the Southern Philippines Development Authority (P6 million), the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (P30 million), and the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone (P24 million).
Support was allocated to non-PhilHealth government health institutions such as the Lung Center of the Philippines (P34 million), National Kidney and Transplant Institute (P107 million), Philippine Heart Center (P164 million), Philippine Children’s Medical Center (P87 million), and the Philippine Institute for Traditional and Alternative Health Care (P18 million).
GOCCs in the agriculture sector receiving subsidies were the National Dairy Authority (P30 million), Philippine Coconut Authority (P597 million), and the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (P277 million).
Government-led research institutions were also granted subsidies such as the Philippine Center for Economic Development (P5 million), Philippine Institute for Development Studies (P16 million), and the Philippine Rubber Research Institute (P35 million).
Other GOCCs that received budgetary support in June are the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (P270 million), Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (P903 million), Cultural Center of the Philippines (P33 million), Light Rail Transit Authority (P85 million), Credit Information Corp. (P7 million), People’s Television Network, Inc. (P9 million), and IBC-13 (P6 million).
The National Government did not provide subsidies during the month to the National Food Authority, Philippine National Railways, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, Development Academy of the Philippines, Philippine Crop Insurance Corp., the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, and the Small Business Corp.
In the first half, GOCC subsidies fell 28% year on year to P88.282 billion.
Subsidies to GOCCs are meant to cover operational expenses not supported by their revenue. — Luz Wendy T. Noble
A PROPOSED LAW overhauling the tax regime for the mining industry is considered critical for the economic recovery because of its potential to generate revenue for the government and make the investment climate more certain.
Albay Rep. Jose Ma. Clemente S. Salceda, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the bill is important because of current “deficiencies” in how the government manages its natural wealth.
“We still need a fiscal regime for mining, as a baseline or downside protection for whatever negotiations are entered into by the government (with investors),” he said in a speech at the Philippine Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative National Conference on Thursday.
Mr. Salceda said that he sees the mining industry as “a potential job creator post-pandemic” and crucial for the economic recovery because of the tax revenue it will likely generate.
“The proposed regime will generate P7.2 billion in incremental revenues in the first year and P37.9 billion over the next five years,” he added.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau estimates the mining sector accounted for P102.3 billion in output, equivalent to 0.6% of gross domestic product, in 2020.
However, Mr. Salceda said that there is a “lack of a coherent fiscal regime” that would set aside funds for rehabilitation and investment.
House Bill 6135 seeks to “introduce corporate governance structures” such as the imposition of royalty payments, margin-based windfall profits tax, and (will discourage) businesses’ dependence on excessive debt funding.
The measure also seeks to create a national resource trust fund from royalty payments of large-scale metallic mining operations outside of mineral reservations to fund projects by local government units that are affected by these activities.
“If we don’t set aside anything from the mining revenue for those externalities, the costs will (manifest) in some form, sometimes in tragedy. There has to be a dependable reserve of financial resources for timely rehabilitation of mines and for mining communities,” Mr. Salceda said.
Chamber of Mines of the Philippines Executive Director Atty. Ronald S. Recidoro said Friday via Viber that the group supports the proposed law, calling it necessary to “create a more stable investment environment.”
“We expect this policy to impact laws such as the tax code that properly governs revenue sharing in all mineral agreements,” he told BusinessWorld. — Russell Louis C. Ku
(First of two parts)
While many organizations had previously embarked on implementing more agile, people-centric and digitally-enabled workplaces, these same enterprises were not sufficiently equipped to deal with the rapid proliferation of COVID-19. After more than a year of adapting to the new normal and transforming how we work, it became evident that employees, workplaces, and the future of work have changed in significant ways that we could not have previously imagined.
According to the EY 2021 Work Reimagined Employee survey, which compiles the input of more than 16,000 employee respondents across 16 countries, the workforce has positively adapted to the uncertain circumstances in real time. On a 1 to 10 scale, almost 75% of employees rated their job satisfaction at a 7 or above. Employees are fully embracing the flexibility that has made remote work possible, with 54% indicating that they would leave their company if the same flexibility in work location and scheduling is not extended post-pandemic. Despite the lack of physical connection between employees, 48% of respondents believe that their company culture improved during the pandemic.
Because the data indicate that workforce needs are changing to adapt to the present circumstances, there is an opportunity for leadership to reimagine the future of work. Though employees value their new levels of flexibility and appear to be equally productive working from home, we’ve yet to determine the long-term effect of remote working. There is also less clarity surrounding how much is lost from the lack of in-person engagement and interactions, especially in terms of coaching and mentoring.
To deliver long-term value for employers and their employees, organizations will need to consider three critical courses of action: gaining deeper insight into the transformed employee experience; enhancing the collaborative needs of employees through remote and hybrid working environments; and supporting leadership with workforce insights.
UNDERSTANDING THE NEW NORMAL WORKER
Virtual collaboration has become the norm in enterprises across multiple industries and internally across functions from operations to innovation, with organizations leveraging technology to shift manual processes and workflows to a virtual platform. With an increase in adoption rates, user data and resources, tech companies have capitalized on the opportunity to evolve and enhance their offerings. Tools enabled by cloud technology are now ubiquitous, with new collaboration software features such as reactions, cross-platform sharing, and image filters digitizing the human connection. Organizations are exploring how to better leverage cloud technologies to deliver enhanced employee experiences to retain high employee engagement rates.
Employers who initially expressed skepticism about maintaining the productivity of tech-enabled remote work can now objectively view the data that indicates that productivity remained high after a full year of working from home, according to the 2020 Harvard business review study, “Research: Knowledge Workers are More Productive from Home.” While the long-term productivity implications of working remotely remain uncertain, EY survey participants responded positively: 65% agree that remote work enables better productivity, and 66% believe that their productivity can be accurately measured regardless of where they work. Now that employees are aware that their work does not have to be limited to specific locations, they want their employers to provide them with more technology, benefits, and support to further improve their remote working experience. They have expressed their desire for reimbursement for hardware and home office setups, followed by training for remote presentations. In certain countries like the Philippines where a stable internet connection is not always guaranteed, some employees are also looking to their leadership to provide solutions to their data needs so they can work more effectively.
With a vast range of tools, technology and platforms available to the workplace, HR and technology leaders should assess which of these add the most value and identify which of these are the most pragmatic to deploy given their unique culture and business model, while mapping out their new enterprise tech stack. EY Global Technology Consulting Leader Dan Higgins believes that leaders will likely uncover surprising findings that show how new tech impacts employee experience and retention. He added that 40% of employees want their organizations to offer better communication and collaboration tools to boost their productivity.
To achieve this, Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) need to collaborate to assess their workforce and garner insight into how tech enables and transforms the employee experience. They will need to understand how tech enhances inclusive contributions and ideation in areas of collaboration and team dynamics, while also remaining aware and prepared as new cybersecurity and technology-related risks arise.
After assessing how the new ways of working and rapid adoption of technology impact employee productivity, leaders will also need to better understand and potentially expand employee expectations around flexibility. The transformational journey will have implications on how office spaces can be configured to encourage certain work practices and better support the physical and mental well-being of the workforce.
In the second part of this article, we discuss how to optimize work in the use of remote and hybrid workspaces, and the necessity of making data-driven decisions fueled by workforce insights.
This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional advice where the facts and circumstances warrant. The views and opinions expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of SGV & Co.
Lisa Marie T. Escaler is the People Advisory Services – Workforce Advisory (PAS WFA) Leader of SGV & Co.
By Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Reporter
RESEARCHERS from the country’s premier university on Sunday flagged a fresh surge in coronavirus infections in Metro Manila, which they said suggests that a more contagious Delta variant was freely moving in the community.
“The rapid growth rate suggests the possibility of community transmission of the Delta variant in the National Capital Region (NCR),” the OCTA Research Group said in a report.
The capital region reported 1,740 infections on July 31, the highest since May 10, it said.
The weekly average of new coronavirus cases in the region rose by 40% to 1,279 from a week earlier, OCTA said.
The increase “cannot be easily explained by Alpha or Beta variants which have already been managed,” OCTA Research fellow Fredegusto P. David said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
There might be 300 new Delta variant infections daily in Metro Manila, he told ABS-CBN Teleradyo separately.
OCTA said the reproduction rate in NCR had increased to 1.52 from 1.29 a week earlier.
Hospital occupancy rate in the capital and nearby cities increased to 45% from 38%, while intensive care unit use rose to 52% from 45%, it added.
The researchers said as much as 70% of the region’s hospital beds will have been occupied in less than five weeks, while 70% of ICU beds will have been occupied in less than three weeks “if there are no changes in quarantine restrictions.”
OCTA said 13 local governments in the capital region were now considered high risk.
Metro Manila will be placed under an enhanced community quarantine from Aug. 6 to 20 to contain the Delta coronavirus variant, the presidential palace said last week.
Philippine health authorities on July 31 said 97 more people had been infected with the Delta coronavirus variant, pushing the total to 216.
Of the 97, 88 got the virus locally, six were returning migrant Filipinos, while officials were still verifying how the three got the virus that was first detected in India, the Department of Health (DoH) said in a statement.
Of the six migrant workers, two were seafarers of MT Clyde and Barge Claudia, now anchored in Albay, while four were crew members of MV Vega that arrived from Indonesia, the agency said. Ninety-four people have recovered, while three died, DoH said.
The Delta variant has been reported in about a hundred countries and the World Health Organization expects it to continue to spread amid increased social mixing, relaxed health protocols and inequitable vaccine access.
DAILY TALLY
The Department of Health (DoH) reported 8,735 coronavirus infections on Sunday, bringing the total to 1.59 million.
The death toll rose to 28,016 after 127 more patients died, while recoveries increased by 5,930 to 1.50 million, it said in a bulletin.
There were 63,646 active cases, 94.0% of which were mild, 1.3% did not show symptoms, 2.1% were severe, 1.45% were moderate and 1.2% were critical.
The agency said 11 duplicates had been removed from the tally, eight of which were tagged as recoveries. Seventy-five recoveries were reclassified as deaths. Four laboratories failed to submit data on July 30.
Also on Sunday, the presidential palace said Cebu City, which is under a modified enhanced quarantine, would be placed under a more relaxed general lockdown with heightened restrictions from Aug. 1 to 15.
Laguna, Aklan and Apayao would be under a modified enhanced community quarantine, presidential spokesman Herminio L. Roque, Jr. said in a statement.
An inter-agency task force also shortened the isolation of patients who have tested positive for the coronavirus to less than five days.
The body also approved a policy that will prioritize facility-based isolation and quarantine to prevent household transmission.
The task force likewise sought increased vaccination of seniors, seriously ill people and essential workers, he said.
Aside from enforcing a stricter lockdown until Aug. 20, the government also extended the travel ban on India, where the Delta variant was first detected, and its neighbors until mid-August, Mr. Roque said last week.
The Philippine economy could lose more than P200 billion during the two-week enhanced community quarantine, the National Economic and Development Authority said on Friday.
It would also increase the number of poor people by as many as 177,000 and add 444,000 jobless Filipinos, it said.
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte’s reinstatement of a military pact with the US on the deployment of troops for war games is unlikely to anger China because it never looked at the tough-talking leader’s anti-American sentiment as permanent, political analysts said.
“China has always viewed the Philippines as being in the US corner,” Jay L. Batongbacal, head of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said in a Viber message at the weekend.
“China has a much more stable and consistent perspective about the Philippines and the US, and Duterte’s antics have never impressed them to change their strategic views or postures,” he added.
Mr. Duterte, who led a foreign policy pivot toward China away from the Philippines’ western allies, recalled a plan to end the visiting forces agreement (VFA) with the US after meeting with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last week.
China is aware that the Philippine Defense department had always remained supportive of the US, said Renato C. De Castro, an international studies professor at De La Salle University.
Mr. Duterte’s decision won’t damage Philippine ties with China because “there is really very little substance to the relationship beyond mutual declarations of friendship expressed by the Chinese government for the President and vice versa,” said Herman Joseph S. Kraft, who heads the University of the Philippines Political Science Department.
“One cannot gain the vaccine diplomacy of China,” he said in a Viber message. “But despite those expressions of great mutual friendship even at the personal level, China has not given the Philippines any special attention and treatment on vaccine rollouts compared with other countries in the region.”
Early in his presidency, Mr. Duterte got about P1.2 trillion in investment and loan pledges from China to boost big-ticket infrastructure projects. But critics said few have materialized.
The reinstatement of the VFA showed that the China appeasement policy did not have full support inside the administration,” Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco, a lawyer and research fellow at the Ateneo de Manila University, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
“The national security group in particular, clearly bore a deep mistrust of China and likely continued to have the inclination to rely on our traditional ally, the US,” he added.
China has warned the UK’s Carrier Strike Group, led by the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth not to carry out any “improper acts” as it entered the contested South China Sea, according to the BBC. Britain is also set to hold military exercises with the US, Australia, France, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea in the Philippine Sea.
The Philippines is expected to take a neutral stance on the UK, Mr. De Castro said, noting that the Philippine policy is to “let the more powerful countries deal” with the sea dispute with China.
“The term is free-riding. You want to free-ride, which means we can benefit from it without being involved,” he said via Zoom Cloud Meetings.
While the multilateral exercise may create tension in the disputed waterway, the country stands to benefit from it, the experts said.
“The Philippines benefits indirectly, because for as long as the South China Sea is used multilaterally and all countries exercise their rights in accordance with international law, it can never become subject to China’s expansive claims of sovereignty and other rights in excess of what is allowed by international law,” Mr. Batongbacal said.
“This ensures that the Philippines will still have the freedom of mobility and access that it needs to protect its interests in the Kalayaan Island Group and its sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea,” he added, referring to parts of the sea within the country’s exclusive economic zone. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
By Jenina P. Ibañez, Senior Reporter
THE FEDERATION of Philippine Industries, Inc. (FPI) is calling on the government to gather public health leaders and listen to their expertise experience on the country’s coronavirus response as the capital prepares for renewed lockdown measures.
FPI President Jesus L. Arranza said the Health department and the inter-agency task force on the coronavirus should organize an event with the leaders of medical institutions to share best practices that led to the country’s high rate of recovery.
“Our doctors and other health experts have never really come together to formally discuss how we achieved such a number of recoveries. What we are only hearing are anecdotal accounts of how people were healed, rather than factual and science-based,” he said in a statement on Saturday.
FPI said that a report mapping hospitals’ coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) responses according to each comorbidity would help ease public anxieties.
“This will also give everyone the needed information to prevent them from relying on mere rumors or recommendations of people identifying themselves as experts on social media on how best to treat COVID,” the business group said.
Metro Manila will again be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the strictest lockdown level, for two weeks starting Aug. 6 as more cases of the more transmissible Delta variant are recorded.
FPI said that it would respect the government’s decision “as long as it is based on science and sound analysis of relevant statistics.”
While the business group is concerned about the effect of another lockdown on the economy, Mr. Arranza said that the government could help curb a surge in coronavirus infections.
He added that the government needs to ramp up inoculation to protect Filipinos and support unhampered economic recovery.
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), which had spoken against more lockdowns, said that businesses will comply as the Health department finds it necessary due to the Delta variant cases.
“With the Delta variant, we have no alternative but go back to ECQ,” PCCI Chairperson Alegria Sibal-Limjoco said in a mobile message on Saturday, adding that restrictions could cost jobs as businesses shut.
“We just hope September will be the start of full recovery,” she said.
Henry Lim Bon Liong, president of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Inc., said in a text message on Sunday that the lockdown will cause setbacks for the retail, manufacturing, and services industries.
“This is a bitter pill for us to swallow. Hopefully (with) the ECQ, we can starve the virus and prevent it from spreading. We will just have to make it up in the last quarter,” he said.
