DOF, NEDA, Business Groups Back 2-Week Circuit-Breaker Lockdown

Business leaders are backing a proposed two-week lockdown amid the threat of the highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus disease.

Presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said at a forum on Wednesday, July 28, that the private sector is backing the proposed two-week lockdown as a circuit breaker to the spreading Delta variant.

“We are in total agreement that if we are going to do a lockdown, let us not wait. Let’s nip it while we can,” the Go Negosyo founder said.

Concepcion disclosed he had met with the OCTA Research group, which recommended to the government the imposition of a two-week lockdown as early as next week.

“According to OCTA in their presentation, the chances of success of a shorter lockdown are far greater (now) than if we do it much later on. If we do it much later on, it would require a longer lockdown,” he explained.

The presidential adviser said it is wise to implement the lockdown in August, which is usually a slow period for businesses and given the heavy rains that force consumers to stay home.

He stressed it is important to protect the fourth quarter which is the most profitable period of the year for businesses.

While he supports a two-week lockdown, he said the private sector would want vaccine rollouts to continue when this is imposed.

“I have asked [Health] Secretary [Francisco] Duque [II] to give us time to prepare for this two-week lockdown to allow the continuation of our vaccination program. Despite the lockdown, that cannot stop. We have to continue to vaccinate our employees and the LGU (local government unit) will have to continue to do that,” he said.?

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said his department also supports the recommendation of health and data experts to enforce the lockdown in Metro Manila.

“Sometime last year I made the observations that this contagion would most likely not disappear quickly and that sometimes we may have to take a step backwards after taking two forward, to protect our gains achieved in combating the virus,” Dominguez said.

“I believe the new variant has forced us to do exactly that. I cannot predict the future with any accuracy, but we can prepare ourselves for any eventuality by protecting our financial capacity to react appropriately for developments,” he added.

President Duterte himself, in his last State of the Nation Address last Monday, July 26, warned authorities may tighten restrictions in the nation’s capital.?

The Department of Health (DOH), for its part, warned against calling the recent increase in COVID-19 cases as a surge, in spite of OCTA’s warning that hospitals may be overwhelmed yet again if the government denies the resurgence.

It also denied that messages circulating on social media that the lockdown would already be imposed starting Aug. 1. 

OCTA fellow Ranjit Rye said Metro Manila is now facing a surge in COVID-19 infections with its reproduction rate, or the number of people a positive person can infect, reaching 1.33, from just 0.6 in June.

Rye expressed belief the government would be compelled to impose a month-long lockdown if it just tightens mobility rules when daily cases reach an average of 5,000 a day.?Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua acknowledged that risks from the Delta variant are much higher.

“Still, our response is to manage the risks by ensuring a much faster vaccination rate and limiting more stringent lockdowns in local areas or sectors of highest risk while allowing the rest of the people, especially those already vaccinated, to earn a living,” Chua said.

“On the type of quarantine, both economic and health sides will need to see the full analysis before we make a recommendation,” he added, but his office has yet to provide how much another round of lockdown is projected to cost the economy.?

Preparation needed

Senators said the government must be fully prepared in implementing another lockdown to contain the spread of the Delta variant.?

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto cautioned that “lockdown without food aid are meds on empty stomach.”

“First, government should listen to scientists, the ones who matter. Join them in making the prescription. Just be mindful that if lockdown is the cure, then like any medicine, an overdose can be lethal,” Recto said.

“It is all about the right dosage and duration. It should go with ayuda, which is a good painkiller,” he pointed out.

Sen. Joel Villanueva, on the other hand, stressed the importance of contact tracing to arrest the spread of COVID-19.

“We’re working with the Department of Labor and Employment to look for additional funds for TUPAD which can be used for our government’s contact tracing efforts. Contact tracing remains one of the more effective tools to stem the spread of COVID,” Villanueva said. TUPAD or Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers is a community-based package of assistance that provides emergency employment for displaced workers, underemployed and seasonal workers, for a minimum period of 10 days, but not to exceed a maximum of 30 days, depending on the nature of work to be performed.

Business groups

Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FCCCII) president Henry Lim Bon Liong, who shares the same view on the temporary lockdown, recommended that companies provide salaries to their employees during this period if they have the capacity to do so.

“For companies that can afford salary for their people, we would like to recommend giving them salary or if not, 50 percent. But of course, this should not be compulsory. A lot of companies are bleeding at the moment,” Lim said.

If the lockdown would be prolonged, Barcelon said the government would need to consider providing cash assistance.

Despite backing the proposed lockdown, both Barcelon and Lim expect the imposition to affect the country’s economic performance.

Metro Manila moves ahead

As Metro Manila awaits policy decisions from the national government, the mayors are already looking into enforcing more aggressive measures to prevent the spread of the virus through granular lockdowns.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Benhur Abalos asserted that localities in Metro Manila have been enforcing circuit breaker lockdowns through area-based or granular lockdowns.

“At least four or five LGUs are doing (granular lockdowns),” he told radio dzBB on Wednesday, explaining that these moves cover a particular area like a street or barangay or building.?

In Manila, Mayor Isko Moreno said the city government is preparing for a return to lockdown and that he has sat down with various city agencies concerned to prepare for the “worst-case scenario.”?

“We do not want to hear again that there are people dying in parking lots because there is no more space in the hospitals. That will be an additional burden,” Moreno said.?

Like Manila, Valenzuela City has also prepared for a possible surge of cases of the Delta variant as well as a circuit-breaker lockdown.

“Whatever the decision of the national government, we will be ready,” Mayor Rex Gatchalian told The Philippine STAR.?San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora said he favors the strictest possible approach to contain the spread of the virus, following the meeting between the Metro Manila Council and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on Wednesday.

“I’d go for the more aggressive approach. I want to thwart the spread and do precautionary measures rather than being reactive,” he said as he lamented an underreporting of the number of Delta variant cases because of the limited capacity of the Philippine Genome Center.

However, militant labor rejected calls for the imposition of hard lockdown to control the spread of the Delta variant in the country.

Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said many workers will go hungry again if the government will impose a hard lockdown without assurance of social measures.

KMU insisted that hard lockdown will only lead to massive displacement of workers like what happened last year. – With Elijah Rosales, Paolo Romero, Ghio Ong, Neil Jayson Servallos, Jose Rodel Clapano, Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Mayen Jaymalin