ANY FORM of easing the quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila and the rest of the Philippines will be good news for every Filipino, especially for our workers who are raring to reclaim their jobs and their modest earnings.
Now is not the time to be complacent and lower our guards against the pandemic, but we should also take a close look at the plight of the ordinary workers and small businesses. They have persevered with the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) directive and heeded the call of the health authorities to stay home. Thus, they should be treated like other frontliners because they are critical to reopening the economy.
The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, in my honest opinion, did the right thing when it placed Metro Manila and other areas under a modified ECQ. This will give the Philippines and the main metropolis a semblance of normalcy, with the New Normal as the guiding principle.
The modified ECQ allows essential industries, certain manufacturing and processing industries to resume operations at half capacity. I just hope the transition to the general community quarantine and modified GCQ phases can be done quicker to pave the way for the full operations of Philippine manufacturers and industries.
Perhaps, it may be wise if we also look at the attempts of other nations to reopen their economy and get everybody back on their feet, and learn some good or bad lessons from them.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, the worst-hit state in the United States, consented to a gradual return to normal life last week, but not yet in densely populated New York City, which may have to wait until June at the earliest. The state of New York has seen declining COVID-19 cases and deaths in the past two weeks.
Spain and Italy are joining other parts of Europe in partially reopening their economy, encouraged by lower daily fatalities. Spain’s daily deaths dropped to 123 last week, while Italy reported less than 1,000 patients in intensive care, the lowest since March 10 before the peak of the country’s outbreak.
France has seen a drop in daily fatalities and began dismantling a military field hospital it built when hospitals were being overwhelmed. News accounts said the French were able to go outdoors without seeking a permit for the first time in nearly eight weeks, while some shops reopened their doors. An Agence France-Presse report noted that the broad boulevards of the Champs-Elysees in Paris were once again back to life “with cars and shoppers waiting patiently to make purchases, but things were not as before.”
Closer to home, gridlock is back in Beijing’s ring roads as China eases its way back to a form of normalcy, while Hanoi in Vietnam has seen the return of mopeds in its busy streets as millions of people in Asia slowly emerge from lockdowns and self-isolation.
In Hong Kong, AFP reported that revelers were slowly returning to the streets of Lan Kwai Fong, a popular drinking area in the central business district that went quiet during a temporary ban on the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants.
Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, lifted a state of emergency across most of the nation, except for Tokyo and Osaka. (To be continued)
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This piece first came out in Business Mirror on May 19, 2020 under the column “The Entrepreneur.” For comments/feedback e-mail to: mbv.secretariat@gmail.com or visitwww.mannyvillar.com.ph./PN
