The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) called on the government to be prudent in switching quarantine policies as this has a tremendous impact on business and people’s lives.
The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) and the Makati Business Club (MBC) in separate statements have expressed support to proposals to give vaccinated individuals greater mobility and to the plan to shift to granular lockdowns as long as these are backed by stronger contact tracing, testing and vaccination measures.
PCCI in a statement said authorities must be prudent in prematurely announcing half-studied policies or policy shifts, as there is a huge financial cost on business enterprises when plans and preparations are dislocated by the last-minute cancellation or postponement of the anticipated relaxation of the quarantine protocols.
“Authorities must be careful in recklessly raising public expectations that will not be matched by the outcome. There is a risk that it might cause disappointment followed by frustrations and could trigger depression and despair,” said Edgardo Lacson, PCCI acting president.
Lacson said the cancelation of the implementation of granular lockdown diminishes the credibility of official policy announcements and could be extremely disastrous in future reversal of official policy pronouncements.
“It may be apropos to remember the learnings from Aesop’s fable about the boy who falsely cried wolf too often that nobody in the village of sheep farmers believed until all their sheep were lost from the pack of wolves,” Lacson said.
Earlier, PCCI said the implementation of a granular lockdown would have positive implications on business — removal of the intermittent and harmful regional lockdown protocol and discrimination between essential and non-essentials business as both will now be allowed to operate under certain relaxed health guidelines.
PCCI hopes for the full opening of the economy even if the herd immunity threshold is unmet due to the moving and elusive target of 50 to 100 percent inoculation of the population.
The MAP in a statement expressed support to the granular lockdown but said this should be complemented with the ability of fully vaccinated workers and consumers to partially enjoy the fruits of 18 months of community quarantine hardship.
“We must immediately change the ‘health mostly’ narrative and action plan to combat the COVID-19 (new coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic after 18 futile months of using a community quarantine lockdown approach,” it said.
It reiterated the need to balance vaccination with preservation of jobs in safely reopening the economy.
For now, MAP said, the “bakuna bubble” approach seems to be the appropriate middle ground for the Metro Manila mayors and the long-suffering National Capital Region which is the country’s economic engine. The group also called on the need for additional treatment capacity and improved contact tracing.
“We appeal to the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) to consider this new pilot proposal immediately,” the MAP said.
MAP expressed fear that the ECQ in the enhanced community quarantine to be “economy casualty quotient” with a positivity rate of increased poverty and hunger in the 20 to 50 percent range.
MBC in a statement expressed support to the reopening of the economy with science-backed policies so more Filipinos can work and take care of their families.
“We welcome strategies like Bakuna Benefits and granular lockdowns provided they are adequately supported by contact tracing, quarantine, isolation, hospitalization, and a testing system that will help avoid recurring surges and broad lockdowns. This will take a lot of work but the private sector is, as always, prepared to help the local and national government to craft measures that can enable the safe reopening of our economy,” MBC said.
