ILOILO City – The provincial governors of Western Visayas and Mayor Jerry Treñas of this city identified five “areas of cooperation” to rev up the region’s economy slowed down by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
A technical working group would be created to further flesh out the doable details for immediate implementation.
These areas of cooperation are the following:
* strengthen intra-regional market linkages and supply chains of local producers
* scale-up production of high-demand products
* facilitate free movement of people to enable labor mobility and promote domestic tourism
* improve health system capacity primarily in COVID-19 testing and contact tracing
* invest in backbone information communications technology (ICT) infrastructure to support electronic governance
The sooner these are implemented, the better for Region 6’s economy, said Treñas.
“I think timeline is soon. By June 15 basi magkambyo quarantine classification ta,” he explained.
The region transitioned to modified general community quarantine on June 1. The national government’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases is expected to make another announcement on the quarantine level on or before June 15.
At the meeting Wednesday morning at Treñas’ office were governors Arthur Defensor Jr. of Iloilo, Samuel Gumarin of Guimaras, Rhodora Cadiao of Antique, Esteban Evan Contreras of Capiz, Florencio Miraflores of Aklan, Eugenio Jose Lacson of Negros Occidental and his economic adviser former Negros Occidental congressman Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, former Guimaras congressman JC Rahman Nava, and former Bacolod City congressman John Orola representing Mayor Evelio Leonardia of Bacolod City.
“We understand that the adverse economic impact of the pandemic is the billions,” said Benitez.
These areas of cooperation should not be difficult to implement, according to Benitez. These were identified and agreed upon two years ago yet by governors and congressmen of the Visayas bloc, he pointed out.
INTRA-REGIONAL MARKET
* promote goods and products from the region and have preferential trade treatment for these
* local chief executives should study the supply and demand of products in their areas to determine which products from other areas could be allowed to enter the region
* look for alternative markets
SCALE-UP PRODUCTION
* local governments units should provide assistance in terms of new equipment, supply of raw materials and training
* relevant government agencies may be tapped such as the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
FREE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE
* intra-regional travel
* enable labor mobility
* promote domestic tourism
Public health safety precautions, however, must be observed. All passengers disembarking at any port of entry in Western Visayas must register at StaySafe.ph app for COVID-19 surveillance and contact tracing purposes.
All in-bound individuals from any point of origin outside Western Visayas are subject to the following:
* repatriated overseas workers – reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test at port of entry, then quarantine (until the release of test result)
* locally stranded individuals – rapid test at port of entry; 14-day quarantine if test result is non-reactive; if reactive, RT-PCR test must be conducted
All symptomatic and/or reactive individuals at any point of entry must be isolated in designated quarantine facilities.
IMPROVE HEALTH SYSTEM
* enhance testing and contact tracing
* formulate policies and protocols to address efficiency and ensures less than 24-hour quick turnaround of results
* assist laboratories throughout accreditation process
* identify needs of laboratories
* facilitate bulk purchasing of consumables
* ensure sustainability
ICT
* use digital technology for systematic contact tracing
* all in-bound travelers must register at StaySafe.ph app
* set up contact tracing center with full manpower complement
* local government must digital technology to report and monitor COVID patients and contacts, and analyze data
* visual data to establish patterns and trends, and identify clusters
* model different scenarios
“We must work together para mapadasig ang economic recovery sang region,” said Treñas. “We have to prove that we have economic resilience. Ang aton pumoluyo waay trabaho. Nabudlayan ang private sector mag-venture. The government should step in kag mangita projects nga may economic returns.”
Western Visayas shifted to modified general community quarantine on June 1 from 73 days of being under enhanced community quarantine and general community quarantine since March when there were restrictions on the movement of people and operation of businesses and industries.
Region 6 is the fifth largest economy in the Philippines outside the National Capital Region (NCR) in 2018.
The region registered a gross domestic product of 9.4 percent in 2015, 8.4 percent in 2016, 8.6 percent in 2017, but it slowed down in 2018 at 6.1 percent.
Ilonggo senator Franklin Drilon recently urged the Western Visayas Regional Development Council to craft a roadmap aimed at sustaining the region’s growth and development that has been slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The formulation and implementation of this roadmap is very timely and critical. This roadmap will provide us a clear direction of where we are today and where we are headed. No province should be left behind. We will move forward as one region,” said Drilon./PN
