The country’s finance chief is pushing for the further easing of restrictions in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Calabarzon, or regions which account for a significant chunk of the economy, to support efforts to rebuild and recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
“We should begin opening… NCR, Calabarzon… that is where the economy is based, about 67 percent of our economy is based in that area,” Carlos Dominguez, Department of Finance (DOF) secretary, said in a televised briefing with the President Tuesday evening.
“That should move more to the MGCQ (modified general community quarantine) as quickly as possible, because people have to start working,” he added.
The President announced during the briefing that NCR will remain in general community quarantine (GCQ).
Calabarzon, Laguna, Batangas, Quezon and Lucena City are nder MGCQ, but Cavite and Rizal are still placed in GCQ.
“We have to face the new reality. The reality today is that the virus is not going to go away. And we will have to live with it for a long period of time,” Dominguez said.
The finance chief, in a virtual briefing with reporters yesterday, the country has built up the health capacity and has educated the public about the importance of social distancing and wearing masks.
“It’s important for people (to) be allowed to go back slowly to their normal livelihood, because (their) savings are being severely depleted,” Dominguez said.
“If savings are depleted and you have less money, how can you handle other illnesses that you will be subjected to, like if you have flu or if you have diabetes, or heart disease. How can you address those issues? We should start already beginning to open up. We have given the health authorities quite a bit of time and they have achieved quite a bit,” he added.
Dominguez said the government is also ready such that should there be a spike in cases in any community, that area will be closed.
He added if there are spikes in some companies, those companies will be asked to review their workplace.
