Bayanihan 2 and 2021 budget leave millions of unemployed behind

by IBON Media & Communications

The latest July 2020 labor force survey (LFS) figures confirm the inadequacy of the Duterte administration’s response to what is developing into the worst jobs crisis in the country’s history. The Bayanihan 2 and the proposed 2021 national government (NG) budget give the appearance of assistance but will leave millions of jobless and distressed Filipinos behind. The level of aid for the people is much too small for the magnitude of the crisis at hand.

This year will likely see the biggest contraction in employment in the country’s history. Employment contracted by 1.2 million in July 2020 from the same period last year, falling to 41.3 million employed according to the latest LFS. This comes after the reported 8.0 million year-on-year contraction in April 2020. For the whole of 2020, IBON estimates employment to fall by 2-2.5 million from last year. This will far surpass the previous record employment losses of 833,000 in 1980 and 821,000 in 1997.

The crisis of joblessness is unprecedented. The official unemployment rate of 10% in July 2020 brings the average of the first three rounds for the year so far to 11% which is not likely to improve much even when the October round results come out. The 4.6 million officially reported unemployed in July 2020 is already 2.1 million more than in the same period last year.

Adding 4.6 million unemployed and the 7.1 million underemployed means that the government acknowledges at least 11.7 million Filipinos jobless or looking for additional work to increase their incomes in July 2020. IBON however has long pointed out that official unemployment figures since 2005 tend to underestimate the real number of unemployed Filipinos by around 2-2.5 million annually.

Moreover, the labor department has already reported 604,403 overseas Filipino workers seeking assistance of which only a little over one-third (237,778) have been helped so far. In a press briefing today, they also said that they expect another 200,000 to need help until the end of the year.

Official figures likely underestimate the extent of the problem. However, even going by these, the inadequacy of the government’s response to directly help the people is clear.

Bayanihan 2 promises Php5,000-8,000 in emergency cash subsidies and other assistance for poor households, displaced workers and OFWs. However, only Php19.2 billion is budgeted for cash subsidies and other assistance which is just 3.8 million beneficiaries at most. The aid will also just be a mere Php37-60 per person per day for a month or even less than the official Php71 poverty threshold.

In the proposed 2021 NG budget, there is no provision for substantial emergency cash subsidies beyond existing social welfare department programs such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and smaller programs. Indigent pensioners are not getting any increase in their pensions. Even the labor department’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers and Government Internship Program (TUPAD-GIP) program gets just a meager Php3.2 billion increase to Php9.9 billion.

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are also not getting the focused assistance that they need. There are 997,900 MSMEs employing 5.7 million workers aside from hundreds of thousands more unregistered establishments with millions more workers. Formal sector establishments had over Php21 trillion in expenses in 2018. In July 2020, the DTI said that 26% of companies they surveyed closed operations and another 52% were only partially operating. Those partially operating also said their income was down by 90 percent.

The Php77.1 billion Bayanihan 2 budget for production and enterprise support will cover only a small fraction of workers in MSMEs, and is even shared with farmers and fisherfolk. In the proposed 2021 NG budget, the MSME Development Program is even getting a Php416 million budget cut to just Php2.3 billion. The budget of the Small Business Corporation (SBC) stays the same at just Php1.5 billion.

In their press briefing today, the economic managers projected a 12% unemployment rate in 2020 (mid-point of the Development Budget Coordination Committee estimate of 11-13%) improving to 6-8% in 2021 then 4-5% in 2022. These optimistic projections cannot materialize without substantially increasing aggregate demand through meaningful cash transfers to millions of distressed households and more support to hundreds of thousands of struggling MSMEs.

Tens of millions of Filipinos and their families will continue to suffer for years without a genuine stimulus program overriding the misguided fiscal conservatism and reckless optimism of the economic managers. #

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Kodao publishes IBON articles as part of a content-sharing agreement.

PH ‘stimulus’ smallest in region

Philippine spending in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is among the smallest in the region, said research group IBON.

The narrow-minded obsession with ‘creditworthiness’ stops the government from taking the urgent steps needed to restore livelihoods and save the economy. The group said that having economic managers dominated by finance people rather than development experts is the biggest obstacle to real recovery.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Policy Responses to COVID-19 tracker, the fiscal policy response of the Philippines is equivalent to just 3.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP).

IBON noted that this is the smallest among the major economies of Southeast Asia. This is less than in Singapore (19.7%), Vietnam (13.3%), Thailand (9.6%), Indonesia (4.4%) and Malaysia (4.3%). It is also less than half of the global average of around 6.2% of GDP.

The Philippines’ ranking does not change even if the Bayanihan 2 bill recently approved by the Senate is passed into law, said the group.

The proposed Php140 billion stimulus program is worth just 0.7% of the GDP and will bring the country’s fiscal response only to 3.8% of GDP.

The IMF notes that country data are not always strictly comparable but the figures are nonetheless indicative.

IBON said that upcoming national government (NG) budgets meanwhile see the smallest post-crisis ‘stimulus’ increases in decades, further undermining economic recovery.

Department of Budget and Management National Budget Memorandum No. 136 only foresees a 5.7% budget increase in 2021 falling to an even smaller 1.8% increase in 2022, despite the country facing the worst economic decline in its history in 2020 because of the pandemic.

The budget increase in 2021 would be the smallest in a decade and in 2022 the smallest in over 30 years.

These increases also compare unfavorably with budget increases after the 1997 Asian financial crisis and 2008 global financial and economic crisis.

After the Thai Baht collapsed in 1997, the NG budget rose by 9.3% in 1998 and then by 8.0% in 1999. After the Lehman Brothers firm collapsed in 2008, the NG budget rose by 9.1% in 2009 and by 2.7% in 2010.

The economic managers have been blocking larger stimulus packages proposed by Congress since at least May, the group said.

The House of Representatives and Senate took up more meaningful stimulus measures worth at least Php1.3 trillion or more but stopped when the finance department told them to because these were ‘unfundable’ and ‘unsustainable’.

These measures would have been closer to the global average.

Among others, this also affirms that the so-called power of the purse of Congress is illusory and how the president and executive branch are actually in complete control of the country’s finances. The president can implement a bigger stimulus package if he wants to, said the group.

The obsession of the economic managers with ‘creditworthiness’ is misplaced, said IBON.

Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia have lower credit ratings than the Philippines but are spending more to respond to and recover from the pandemic. Financing can be raised by reallocating from less productive infrastructure and debt service, and by a more progressive tax system with higher taxes on large firms and the wealth of the country’s super-rich.

The magnitude of the country’s response has to be commensurate to the crisis at hand. This should span health measures, continued cash subsidies to improve household welfare and boost aggregate demand, and support especially to Filipino and domestic market-oriented micro, small and medium enterprises, said the group. #

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Kodao publishes IBON articles as part of a content-sharing agreement.

Bayanihan 2: Too small, hinders health and recovery

by Sonny Africa

The beggarly Bayanihan 2 bill preferred by the economic managers and imposed on Congress is much too small for the magnitude of the crisis facing the country. It makes health and recovery years away and farther than ever.

The Bayanihan 2 bill passed by the bicameral conference committee and ratified by the Senate is worth just Php165.5 billion. Of this, Php25.5 billion is even just a “standby fund”, only available once “additional funds are generated”.

Every centavo spent of Bayanihan 2 is welcome. There’s no doubt about that because the extraordinary scale of the health and economic crisis demands extraordinary spending. The problem is that the Duterte administration is spending far too little for the problem at hand.

Looked at in aggregate, Bayanihan 2 pales compared to the as much as Php1.9 trillion lost in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 because of the pandemic. This includes not just what is lost from the economy contracting but from what it should have been if it kept on growing.

But the shortfall is even clearer looking at the details. Bayanihan 2 allots Php30.5 billion for health-related responses spanning tracing, treatment, support for health workers, health facilities and pandemic research.

Bayanihan to Recover as One Act

Yet the health infrastructure spending doesn’t even make up for huge budget cuts here since the start of the Duterte administration. There’s Php10 billion budget for testing but this is in the standby fund and made contingent on finding new funds, which the economic managers are so sparing in doing.

The provision for Php5,000-8,000 in emergency cash subsidies is necessary but only Php13 billion is allotted for this. This is paltry compared to how the lockdown-induced recession has already displaced anywhere from 20.4 million to as much as 27 million of the labor force (43-57% of the labor force), according to IBON’s estimates.

Bayanihan 2 will help just 1.6-2.6 million beneficiaries at most and, even then, not by much. At Php5,000-8,000 per household, it will only give the equivalent of a token Php37-60 per person per day for a month. This paucity is little changed even if the Php6 billion budget for social welfare department programs, Php820 million for overseas Filipinos, and Php180 million for national athletes and coaches is added.

The budget for the transport programs includes Php5.6 billion for displaced public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers especially jeepney drivers. But this isn’t even enough to compensate them for the now five months that the government has kept them out of work and driven into poverty.

Much more substantial cash assistance is needed to improve household welfare in these difficult times. This also has macroeconomic benefit of boosting aggregate demand and stimulating a virtuous cycle of spending and production. Economic activity is impossible and production support will be futile if too many are jobless and have nothing to spend.

There’s Php77.1 billion for production and enterprise support. This includes Php24 billion for agriculture which gives the sector an emphasis in Bayanihan 2 that it is due. There is also Php39.5 billion for government financial institutions (GFIs) to support lending, Php9.5 billion for transport programs, and Php4.1 billion for tourism programs.

The total amount is however only going to help a few of the 997,900 micro, small and medium enterprises in the country employing 5.7 million workers – and probably none of the hundreds of thousands more informal and unregistered enterprises. If available, the additional Php15.5 billion under the standby fund for low interest Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) loans will help but still not be enough.

The Php8.9 billion for education is critical to keep the youth educated and eventually productive. But the budget is a mere fraction of the tens of billions of pesos needed to ensure that schools are safe and have internet connectivity, and to help parents keep their children in school. There are some 70,000 elementary and secondary schools and around 2,000 higher education institutions in the country.

The remaining Php3.5 billion for local government units (LGUs) will also certainly help the recipients but, measured against the scale of the intervention needed across the breadth of the economy, are almost tokenism.

The economy will rebound somehow but this will be slight and Bayanihan 2 is too small to hasten real recovery. The government is the only entity in a position to implement the huge stimulus program the economy needs and there needs to be more boldness to spend and, especially, to raise money for this.

The Duterte administration can raise the money needed if it really wanted to. In the short-term it can realign from infrastructure projects and at least some of the debt servicing to development agencies and friendly official creditors.

Big-ticket infrastructure projects that are no longer economically or financially viable, or are too import- or capital- intensive, can be put off or shelved. Debt service to development banks and the like can be restructured on the argument that there are more pressing uses for scarce government funds.

The government can actually wield its creditworthiness to borrow if needed on favorable terms. The best way to pay for any additional debt is not from more consumption taxes on the people but from higher income and wealth taxes on the country’s super-rich. The huge accumulated wealth concentrated in the few is more than enough for all the stimulus the country needs and can be the foundation of a credible medium-term fiscal plan.

A much more progressive tax system with higher direct taxes is the most rational and sustainable source of government revenues. This most of all means a wealth tax on the country’s super-rich (raising Php240 billion annually from just the 50 richest Filipinos), higher personal income taxes on the richest 2.5% of families (Php130 billion), and a two-tiered corporate income tax scheme (Php70 billion).

The economic managers’ obsession with creditworthiness is the binding constraint to fighting COVID-19 and the economic misery in its wake. This self-imposed fiscal straitjacket is misguided. Spending less, not spending more, is keeping the country off the path to health and recovery.

The country is grossly short-changed by Bayanihan 2. It’s all the people are getting not because it’s all the government can afford but rather because it’s all the Duterte administration wants to give.

Beyond capacity and overwhelming incompetence

by Maricar R. Piedad

The Philippines has been in varying intensities of community quarantine for 124 days—a world record in terms of the longest lockdown response to COVID-19. But the fight against the virus is still far from over, and now it seems like the country is back to square one—overwhelmed hospitals, rising number of cases, and overall chaos. All those days in lockdown have been wasted because of the Duterte administration’s louche decisions and inaction on building up the healthcare system’s capacity for COVID-19 response.

The government, more than ever, should acknowledge the graveness of the crisis. It should prioritize implementing solutions to flatten the curve rather than push business-as-usual measures towards so-called recovery when the imminent threat of the pandemic continues to stare every Filipino in the face.

So far, the measures it has taken—lockdowns, limited triage testing, and waiting for a vaccine from other countries—have been passive.

On the verge of collapse

The current healthcare system is now operating close to its maximum capacity with cases exceeding 63,000; already reaching the projection of cases 60,000-70,000 by the end of July and cases is increasing by almost 1,000 daily. Still, government has no clear and concrete plan to expand testing triage and capacity.

The sluggish COVID-19 testing is prolonging the country’s fight against the virus. Only a small portion of asymptomatic cases are being detected because of the absence of mass testing. Compared to the rest of the world, the Philippines has a low number of asymptomatic cases. But this is mainly because less than one percent of the country’s total population has been tested for COVID-19, almost six months after the first reported case. As of writing, only 1,009,511 individuals have been tested.

According to the adjusted estimates of the University of the Philippines (UP) as of July 13, the mean number of hospitalized patients is 23,747 and it can reach up to 28,024. As of now, the total hospital bed capacity is at 15,548, with 1,661 ICU beds, 10,410 isolation beds, and 3,477 ward beds. There are only 1,938 mechanical ventilators available. This means that hospitals may need to double their total number of beds before the end of July to accommodate these patients.

However, hospital bed capacity only increased by about 2,019 beds since last month’s total bed capacity of 13,529, according to the Department of Health (DOH). There was also no significant addition to the mechanical ventilators available which are important to treat critical cases. There was also no notable increase in the COVID-19-dedicated ward and ICU beds. Considering that more suspected and probable cases will be needing hospitalization, the influx of patients seeking medical attention will be beyond the country’s healthcare capacity. The exponential increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases will overwhelm the healthcare system in no time and hospitals will be forced to deny patients due to the lack of facility.

The ICU bed occupancy rate, which is a huge indicator of critical care capacity, is already at 41.2% as of the latest DOH data drop. Ward beds are at 57.1%, and isolation beds are at 48.4% occupancy. Majority of the ward and isolation beds occupied are also located in private healthcare facilities. This is despite public hospitals having more COVID-19-allocated beds. This could mean that majority of COVID-19 patients are compelled to receive treatment from private institutions charging higher hospital bills and out-of-pocket expenses due to limited benefit packages from the Philippine Health Insurance Company (PhilHealth).

Out-of-almost-empty-pocket

Ballooning COVID-19-related expenses of Filipino patients is another major issue that the government should address. The medical bills of some COVID-19 patients have ranged from hundreds of thousands to millions of pesos, depending on the severity of the case. For instance, the bill of one recovered patient reached Php1.312 million for a 15-day confinement. According to the patient, a huge chunk of the medical bill were charges for laboratory tests, doctors’ professional fees, intubation, and the ventilator and respirator she used throughout her admission. Though all her medical expenses were fully covered by PhilHealth, this is no longer the case for COVID-19 patients admitted in accredited hospitals from April 15 onwards.

At the start of the pandemic, the Duterte administration assured the public that it has individuals infected with COVID-19 covered. However, PhilHealth announced in early April that it would no longer shoulder all expenses and would instead implement case rate packages for confirmed and probable cases effective April 15. According to PhilHealth Circular 2020-0009, patients with mild pneumonia can avail of a maximum coverage of Php43,997, while moderate and severe pneumonia patients can have a maximum amount coverage of Php143,267 and Php333,519, respectively. Critical patients, on the other hand, can access a Php786,384-worth maximum benefit.

But PhilHealth computations for these packages contradict the government’s assurances and may not be enough to cover the numerous medical procedures COVID-19 patients must undergo. Medical expenses in excess of the case rates will be paid out-of-pocket, and the amount could be considerable. If the patient with the Php1.312 million medical bill for example had been confined after April 15, PhilHealth would have just paid the Php333,519 maximum coverage for severe pneumonia patients. The remaining Php978,481 or almost 75% of the patient’s total medical bill would have to be paid out-of-pocket.

The abrupt economic shutdown resulted in most Filipinos losing income and struggling with the recent rise in the cost of living, especially the poor and vulnerable. Many of them can ill-afford to pay for medical expenses and may no longer consult doctors despite having symptoms.

Burning Out

Aside from the health infrastructure, the government also needs to reinforce the country’s human resource for health. Even before the pandemic, Filipino doctors and nurses were already treating patients beyond their capacity.  According to the Philippine Health Review 2018, there are 3.9 doctors and 8.6 nurses for 10,000 people. This medical worker to patient ratio is a far cry from the World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended 10 doctors and 20 nurses for every 10,000 population.

A Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) study also noted that, in a 24-hour set-up, 1 doctor and 2 nurses will be needed to treat 6 ward patients. Critical care patients will need 1 doctor and 1 nurse each as well as other special healthcare workers such as a pulmonologist, intensivist, infectious disease specialist, and mechanical ventilator technicians.

The available healthcare workers in the country will not suffice. With no significant addition to the health workforce, the country’s doctors and nurses will be overwhelmed and exhausted. There will also be a greater risk of infection for medical workers since having more patients could mean more exposure to COVID-19. There are already 3,805 healthcare workers infected and 35 of them have already died. 

The DOH decision to reassign physicians under the Doctors to the Barrios program is another sign that there are not enough doctors in COVID-19 treatment hospitals and reinforcements are urgently needed. However, only 5,216 health workers have so far been hired to fill the DOH-approved 9,297 slots for emergency hire. This slow hiring means medical frontliners continue to work beyond their capacity to treat the piling number of COVID-19 patients. The DOH itself has also noted the difficulty in hiring health workers because many of them have private services that they cannot leave. It also does not help that the entry level salary for healthcare workers is low. For example, a medical laboratory technician—which is under salary grade 6, can only earn up to Php 15,524 per month.

The country’s shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) is also contributing to the huge number of infected health workers. According to the WHO, the global shortage of PPEs is affecting healthcare workers worldwide. This shortage could have been eased if the country had the means to manufacture its own PPEs, such as a local textile industry. But the country is reliant on imported PPEs. The Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (PhilExport) stated that despite factories’ willingness to produce PPEs, they cannot simply do so because of the lack of fabric and other materials. Had there been a Philippine industry for essential health protection needs, infection among front liners and in general would have been minimized.

Overcoming incompetence

The Duterte administration’s failed COVID-19 strategy in ending the current health crisis exposes its incompetence and lack of sensibility. The 124 days spent in lockdown and the opportunity costs incurred during this period have been wasted because the government failed to effectively intervene and keep the healthcare system from collapsing. It should now set its priorities straight and put all hands on deck to amplify health responses.

The government is not prioritizing funding for the healthcare system and social amelioration but it is pushing for ill-timed programs that will allegedly help in the country’s economic recovery. A concrete example is the continuation of the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program despite the more pressing need to reallocate more funds for COVID-19 response.

The Philippine Program for Recovery with Equity and Solidarity (PH-PROGRESO) of the government shows that it is more inclined to save big businesses first before the Filipino people. The huge budget allocated for private corporations’ benefit should be realigned to help the overwhelmed healthcare structure. Fiscal measures for health and economic recovery should go hand in hand instead of pitting one against the other since overall economic performance is very much reliant on the well-being of the Filipino work force.  

Inadequate and relaxed response to COVID-19 hinders the Philippine economy from fully opening. It has only been two months since the gradual operation of businesses and since workers returned to their respective workplaces but the government is already losing control of the situation. Aside from the uncontrollable spread of the disease, hospitals are now reporting that they reached their maximum critical care capacity. Forty-eight hospitals already reported that their ICU beds are now full, and it is alarming that 50% of these hospitals are located in the National Capital Region (NCR). Meanwhile, Cebu City—which is the new epicenter of the disease in the country, is also nearing the danger zone in its critical care capacity. If the population of the Philippines’ major economic hubs keep on getting sick, then it will be much harder for the economy to recover its losses.

The government must protect first the Filipino people from the COVID-19 threat. Majority of Filipino workers are at risk of contracting the disease. The economy cannot recover without a healthy workforce to power it. According to UP’s analysis, half of the Philippines’ major economic contributors are considered high risk spreaders of COVID-19, such as construction workers, security guards and commercial drivers. Many of them are minimum wage earners lacking adequate social benefits and protection. This makes them more vulnerable to infection and with limited means to pay for expensive COVID-19 treatment.

The government should speed up the efforts in broadening and building up testing and hospital capacity.  More than ever, it should make healthcare accessible and affordable for every Filipino. This includes making COVID-19 testing and treatment free for all. The pandemic will not be over as long as infected Filipinos are not isolated and treated due to the lack of facilities and expensive healthcare.

In the end, the entire Philippine economy will suffer if Filipinos are not protected from this disease. The economic downgrade will be far greater if the coronavirus crisis lasts longer. The government cannot afford another lockdown since it will not only endanger the economy but will also bring intense hunger and more hardship. It must act now and prevent the health system from collapsing and the Filipino people from succumbing to both the pandemic and to poverty. #

The unbelievable indifference of the Duterte administration

By Sonny Africa

The Duterte government insists that it is successfully responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The reality is a little bit different – it hasn’t done enough, and is planning to do even less.

The coronavirus is spreading faster than ever. It took over three months to reach the first 10,000 confirmed cases but less than a week to add the last 10,000, at over 57,000 to date. University of the Philippines (UP) researchers forecast between 100,000 to 131,000 cases by the end of August.

Characteristically, the government’s containment measure of choice was a military lockdown – among the fiercest and longest in the world. It justified this as harsh but necessary, repeating a favored talking point used to justify all sorts of sins.

The effect on the economy and the people was certainly brutal.

The country was plunged into the worst crisis of mass unemployment in its history with 14 million unemployed and a 22% unemployment rate in April 2020, by IBON’s reckoning. The combined 20.4 million unemployed and underemployed are over two-fifths (40.2%) of the presumed labor force. These correct for serious underestimation in officially released figures.

The joblessness and collapse in livelihoods are expected to ease as restrictions are relaxed. But whatever improvement will still not be enough to return to a pre-pandemic state.

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to contract by 2.0-3.4% for the whole of 2020, according to the government’s Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC). The World Bank has a slightly more optimistic projection of -1.9% while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) see it worse at -3.6% and -3.8%, respectively.

This will be the worst growth performance in 35 years since the -7.3% (negative) GDP growth in 1983 and 1984. But if the low estimates materialize, it will also be the biggest decline from positive growth ever recorded.

As it is, the economy is well on the way to its fourth straight year of slowing growth. It already contracted at -0.2% growth in the first quarter of 2020 with just two weeks’ worth of lockdowns. The second quarter figures that will come out in August will be much worse.

Unhealthy response

No one is likely to have thought that the worst public health crisis and economic decline in the country’s history would be enough to spur the Duterte administration to reform its anti-democratic and anti-development ways. It didn’t.

The government’s military-dominated COVID-19 response team has proven unfit for purpose and the steeply rising cases today point to the protracted lockdown being squandered. Yet the rise in reported cases do not even give the complete picture.

To date, there’s a validation backlog of over 15,000. The positivity rate of 12.4% meanwhile indicates that testing is still, months into the pandemic, far below the levels needed. Local transmission is still gaining momentum even as other Southeast Asian countries have already stopped theirs.

The hazy picture is a poor starting point for the contact tracing, isolation and selective quarantines needed. But the rise in COVID-19 cases is sufficient to show how social distancing and other precautionary measures can’t go far enough.

Assuming all pandemic-related deaths are accounted for, the 1,534 reported deaths are still relatively few and the number of daily fatalities fortunately fewer than the peak in March. This may however soon change as the virus spreads in the coming weeks and as the health system becomes overstretched even just by those who can afford it.

Hospital capacity hasn’t been beefed up so much as portions of it carved out at the expense of non-COVID-19 cases. The National Capital Region (NCR) and Cebu are the pandemic’s epicenters in the country. As much as 19 NCR hospitals are at or nearing their capacity of ICU beds for COVID-19 patients – 14 of which were acknowledged by the Department of Health (DOH) last week – while Cebu’s hospitals are already overwhelmed.

Hyped assistance

The inadequacy of the health response is more disturbing in how the time for this was bought with lost incomes, small business closures, joblessness and hunger. Tens of millions of Filipinos even suffered more than they should have because of similarly inadequate emergency relief.

At the start of the lockdowns, 18 million beneficiary households were promised Php5,000-8,000 in monthly cash subsidies for just two months. That right there is an immediate problem – the lockdowns are running on four months now, since mid-March, with only partial easing in June.

Emergency subsidies reportedly reaching 19.4 million beneficiaries under various programs of the departments of social welfare, labor and agriculture sounds impressive.

However, the aid was very slow in coming. Most beneficiaries had to wait 6-10 weeks before getting their first monthly tranche.

The aid is also very stingy. Taken altogether, the first tranche of the cash subsidy programs only amounts to an average of Php5,611 per beneficiary family. Over the last four months this comes out to just Php11 per person per day.

The government has even recanted and said that only 12 million beneficiaries will get the second tranche. But the number of those who will actually get this second tranche may be even less than that. The government is invoking bureaucratic difficulties to explain why only 1.4 million of the 12 million have received this tranche to date.

These emergency cash subsidies are also much lower than the latest official poverty threshold of Php10,727 monthly for a family of five. Yet this miserly relief will even seem generous in the period to come because little more is forthcoming. The official government policy was succinctly put by the presidential spokesperson recently: “We cannot afford to give ayuda (aid) to keep everyone alive.”

Business as usual

The Duterte administration’s lockdowns precipitated what may be the greatest economic collapse in Philippine history. The lockdowns per se are of course temporary – indeed, as too the pandemic, even if this will linger for at least another year or more.

Though temporary, the simultaneous demand and supply shock to the Philippine economy, other countries, and the global economy as a whole is unprecedented in the modern era. The world economy is said to be undergoing its worst recession since the Great Depression.

Yet apart from a momentary surge in emergency relief and despite lip service to the economic crisis, it bizarrely still seems to be business as usual for the economic managers. There are a couple of reasons for this.

The most basic is how the economic managers – and most of our political leaders – are blinded by the free market dogma imbibed over four decades of neoliberal globalization. There is a rigid faith that market forces will be enough to meet the pandemic-driven economic challenge. This is matched by an inability to grasp that responsible state intervention is needed not just to deal with the crisis but for long-term national development.

But there is also an extreme narrow-mindedness common among many afflicted by that dogma – that ‘creditworthiness’, ‘competitiveness’ and ‘investor-friendliness’ are not just a means to but actually ends of development. The people who make up the majority of the economy are peripheral and ever in the margins.

These go far in explaining the lack of urgency and, apparently, seeing the current crisis as an inconvenient but minor speed bump on the highway to free market-driven progress.

Fragments of a response

Genuine attention would start with immediately coming up with a plan fitting the vastly changed pandemic-driven crisis conditions. Nearly six months into the pandemic, all that the people have are fragments – including fragments which are self-evidently exaggerated to give the impression of substantial action.

The economic team came up with a “4-pillar strategy” in April that was eventually rebranded as the Philippine Program for Recovery with Equity and Solidarity (PH-PROGRESO). Supposedly worth Php1.7 trillion or an impressive 9.1% of GDP, this figure was grossly bloated by double-counting of interventions and their sources of financing, by conflating actual spending with merely foregone tax and tariff revenues, and by including additional liquidity from monetary measures.

The Inter-Agency Task Force Technical Working Group for Anticipatory and Forward Planning (IATF-TWG for AFP) released its We Recover As One report in May. This seemed more detailed, comprehensive and forward-looking. There are some relevant health and education measures.

But some very important measures are missing – expanding the public health system, social protection to help everyone in need, and protecting jobs, wages and workers’ rights. Trade, industrial and agricultural measures also seem oblivious to unsound fundamentals, the global crisis, and accelerating protectionism. On the other hand, unfunded feel-good platitudes are aplenty.

The economic managers started working with Congress on a Bayanihan 2 bill in June. This replaces the Php1.3 trillion package that Congress originally proposed but which the finance department summarily shot down ostensibly for lack of funds. The Bayanihan 2 proposal is now just one-tenth in size at Php140 billion.

At present, the stinginess of the economic managers is the biggest binding constraint to addressing the pandemic, alleviating economic distress of poor households, and economic recovery. The Php140 billion is much too small compared to the magnitude of the crisis at hand. At the same time, the sweeping insistence on infrastructure as a magic bullet and on sacrosanct debt servicing means continued unproductive spending rather than on what would have the greatest development impact.

A Philippine Economic Recovery Plan was supposed to be made public at the pre-SONA forum of the economic and infrastructure cluster on July 8. But this was not presented and is still strangely kept secret. Neither the Department of Finance (DOF) nor the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) websites share this with the public, and a direct request was declined.

It’s five-and-a-half months since the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the Philippines, and about four months since declaring a public health emergency, a state of national emergency, and the start of lockdowns. The Duterte administration has throughout portrayed itself as doing everything it needs to.

In reality, it seems to be doing as little as it can. A new anti-terrorism law was apparently even seen as more urgent than clinching a stimulus program. This languid COVID-19 response is bringing us to the edge of the precipice on both the health and economic fronts. #

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Kodao publishes IBON articles as part of a content-sharing agreement.

IBON opens to gov’t inspection days before anti-terrorism law effectivity

With the Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL) soon coming into effect, research group IBON opened their office for inspection by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and Bgy. Sacred Heart officials last Wednesday, July 15.

The group said they requested the ocular inspection to show their transparency and prove the absence of illegal materials and equipment on the premises.

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“This is an important contribution to IBON asserting its character as a legitimate organization that does not, never has, and never will have the guns, explosives, and other illegal items that are wont to be planted to justify spurious search warrants and bogus charges against activists and human rights defenders,” the group’s executive director Sonny Africa said.

The group said that it also wants to protect the rights and ensure the safety of IBON staff and tenants.

IBON Foundation said the inspection is in anticipation of the ATL which is presumed to become effective on July 18.

The group recalled the Duterte administration’s continued disinformation drive about IBON which appears to be laying the groundwork for using the ATL against it.

Africa expressed concern that the draconian and oppressive law will be used to try and hinder IBON’s research, education and advocacy work.

The CHR first inspected IBON premises in November 2019 after a reported imminent police operation on its building.

It confirmed the absence of anything illegal, irregular, or prohibited on the premises.

IBON is among many non-government organizations actively red-tagged by the National Task Force to End Local Communism and Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) since late 2018. 

The group has repeatedly refuted allegations by the government task force that it supports terrorism.

The IBON building also houses AlterMidya and IBON International who are also targets of government harassment and red-tagging.

Last February, IBON lodged a complaint at the Office of the Ombudsman against NTF-ELCAC officials: National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon; Armed Forces of the Philippines Deputy Chief of Operations Brigadier General Antonio Parlade; and Presidential Communications and Operations Office secretary Lorraine Badoy. This was for their malicious and baseless red-tagging of IBON since 2018.

IBON said that it supports petitions against the Anti-Terrorism Law filed at the Supreme Court.

The law must be declared unconstitutional for being overly vague in its definition of terrorism. It gives room to target economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights defenders and in doing so undermines prospects for economic democracy, human rights and social justice. These are if anything more crucial than ever at this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, said the group. #

On the BBB fix: Why do you build me up?

by Jose Lorenzo Lim

In its recent pre-SONA forum, the economic team spent the most time talking about four years of infrastructure accomplishments. On the other hand, there was next to nothing about the government’s plans for economic recovery from the serious crisis brought on by the pandemic. The misplaced emphasis on infrastructure during the pre-SONA forum only reflects the misplaced emphasis on infrastructure as some kind of magic bullet for the country’s development.

The Philippine economy has a basic problem – it is dependent on external and temporary drivers of growth. These include overseas remittances and foreign investments especially for business process outsourcing (BPOs) and manufacturing. Yet COVID-19 wreaked havoc on these. Overseas remittances fell by 5% in March as thousands of OFWs were repatriated back to the Philippines. BPO investments are slowing down more than ever and export demand is weakening from a sluggish global economy.

The economy lacks substantial and sustainable internal drivers of growth such as from developing the core productive sectors of agriculture and manufacturing. Yet, instead of developing these, the government is looking to infrastructure spending to spur growth even if this is superficial and short- term.

More than any other government since the Marcos era, the Duterte administration is extremely dependent on public infrastructure spending to boost growth. It has been relying on infrastructure as a major economic stimulus long before COVID-19. The longest lockdown in the world delayed implementation of various infrastructure projects around the country.

Yet the government is still hell-bent on pursuing a grand infrastructure program amid the pandemic and despite its actually bleak accomplishments so far. The government says it will revise its list of infrastructure projects to adapt to COVID-19. But does it really have the will to shift the focus of its infrastructure program, or even the capacity to fully implement this?

2 out of 75

The Philippines was said to lag behind its neighboring Asian countries in terms of infrastructure. The Duterte government dreamed of building high-impact infrastructure projects through the Build, Build, Build (BBB) program.  BBB aims to build more railways, urban mass transport, airports and seaports, more bridges and roads, and new and better cities. The program is estimated to cost Php8 to 9 trillion from 2017-2022.

The BBB program originally had 75 infrastructure flagship projects (IFPs) composed of transportation (53), water resources (15), power/energy (4), and social infrastructure (3). The government said these projects would facilitate efficient movement of goods and help bring down production costs in the country. They would also improve the income of rural families, encourage countryside development, and create 1.7 million jobs by 2022.  These are grand claims considering that the 75 IFPs were mainly concentrated in the National Capital Region (NCR), Region III, and Region IV-A and IV-B which are the trading centers of the country.

Altogether, the 75 IFPs were estimated to cost around Php2.1 trillion. The government planned to tap official development assistance (ODA) and the private sector to fund these. Of the 75 IFPs, ODA would fund 57 worth Php2 trillion, public private partnerships or PPP would fund 6 worth Php23.3 billion, and government budget would be allocated for 12 IFPs worth Php138.5 billion. This means that most of the 75 IFPs would be funded with loans from various countries.

The status of the projects was telling of its progress. Data from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) shows that only two out of the 75 IFPs were completed in November 2018.  These were improvements along the Pasig River from Delpan Bridge to Napindan Channel (Phase IV) and the selective dredging of the Pulangi River. It is also worth noting that the Pasig-Marikina River Channel Improvement Project has three other phases that started as early as 2009. Only Phase IV was constructed during the Duterte administration. NEDA’s last update on the status of the 75 IFPs on July 2019 reported the same two projects as being completed. 

38 out of 100 before Duterte steps down?

In November 2019, the Duterte government announced that it revised the list of IFPs from 75 to 100 in order to ‘streamline’ the list and make it ‘more feasible’. This was due to the slow rate at which projects were going. With their new list, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) expects only 38 of the 100 IFPs to be completed by the time Pres. Duterte steps down.

The 100 IFPs are composed of projects for transport and mobility (73), water resources (10), urban development (9), information and communication technology or ICT (6), and power and energy (2). The list is primarily composed of economic infrastructure to make the country more palatable to investors, which has basically been the basis of infrastructure planning for a long time. Noticeably, the current infrastructure program lacks social infrastructure, which is much needed by Filipinos to live humanely and decently.

The 100 IFPs are worth around Php4.3 trillion and ODA is the biggest funding source. There will be Php2.4 trillion funded with ODA, followed by Php1.2 trillion through PPP, and Php172 billion funded solely from the General Appropriations Act (GAA). The glaring over-reliance on loans and private sector funding reflects the sore absence of government capacity for these.

Leading the ODA funders for the 100 IFPs is Japan with a total of around Php1.3 trillion in loans, China with Php700 billion, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with Php273 billion. Data from NEDA as of June 2019 show that the Philippines has already received US$8.1 billion worth of ODA loans from Japan, US$2.8 billion from ADB, and US$273 million from China.

The short-sightedness of the government’s infrastructure program was really highlighted during the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government had to scramble to convert evacuation centers into quarantine facilities to absorb the rising number of COVID-19 cases. More alarming is how just recently 11 hospitals in Metro Manila have reached full capacity for their COVID-19 dedicated beds.

The government announced a few weeks ago that construction of some road projects under the 100 IFPs will resume. Still, COVID-19 has to a certain extent compelled government to announce that it will come up with a revised list of the 100 IFPs to cater to the country’s health needs.

In line with reviewing the current list of 100 IFPs, the government could reconsider large projects such as the Metro Manila Subway Projects Phase 1 and the Safe Philippines Project Phase 1. Instead of spending on these import- and capital-intensive projects, the budget could instead be used for subsidizing jeepney modernization. This would benefit more Filipino commuters as well as support the employment of thousands of jeepney drivers.

The controversial Kaliwa Dam should also be reconsidered for the environmental and community impacts combined with the nature of the onerous loan agreement.  Another project that could be shelved is the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge. The huge amount spent to shorten travel time may not deliver commensurate returns, and the money is likely spent better on more urgent pandemic-related needs. Additionally, the Safe Philippines Project Phase 1, a CCTV surveillance system project, may just make Filipinos more unsafe especially in the current repressive political environment.

The ODA loans are specifically for these projects but the government can negotiate with Japan, China and the ADB to realign these towards the country’s more urgent needs. These lenders say they are focused on promoting development so the Philippine government should not be afraid to hold them up to that intent.

The government has not yet released its supposedly revised list of projects because of the pandemic. The public is waiting to see how much of the revised list includes health, housing, and education-related infrastructure.  COVID-19 may also have pushed the implementation of some projects back, and the public deserves to know about delays and how many would be completed before President Duterte steps down.

Complementing the New Normal

The BBB program gives the impression that building more infrastructure per se is the key to sustained long-term economic growth. This notion is reinforced by the visible short-term stimulus that large-scale construction provides. New bridges, roads, airports, and railways also seem to give palpable gains. The real economic question however is not just whether there are benefits but if these benefits are worth the costs.

Improving mobility around the country, which comprises majority of BBB projects, is not in itself enough to improve the country’s economy. Without active promotion of agriculture and manufacturing, the improved infrastructure will mainly benefit just the service- and trading-oriented sectors that dominate our shallow economy.

Infrastructure can contribute to long-term economic growth if it helps push the country’s agricultural and manufacturing potential. Policy changes are needed for this to happen. The government has to protect and support agriculture which unfortunately has been backsliding especially with rice liberalization. Additionally, the Filipino manufacturing sector is waning due to investment liberalization that favors foreign investors at the expense of nurturing domestic capital. The country’s policies are even more misguided amid increasing protectionism and departures from liberalization globally.

The government should release the revised infrastructure list immediately. As healthcare has become the priority, the government should add more social infrastructure like hospitals to help deal with congested health facilities. More socialized housing units could also help decongest urban settlements in the country and help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Moreover, policy reforms such as protecting agriculture and the manufacturing sector to complement the country’s revised infrastructure plan can result in long-term economic growth to benefit Filipinos. Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in a way that prioritizes the people’s well-being should be the present challenge and government should realign its infrastructure program to complement this. #

Gov’t should check SAP’s gross failure as COVID cases rise – IBON

by IBON Media & Communications

Research group IBON said that the Duterte government should correct the huge shortfall of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) especially amid a continuously increasing number of COVID-19 cases.

Aside from getting the stingy first tranche of emergency subsidies, 9 million of the 18 million target recipients and 1.5 million more “wait-listed” beneficiaries will no longer get the second tranche.

This is as the government limits distribution to residents in enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified ECQ (MECQ) areas. Yet, the country reaches a record of 36,438 cases as of June 29.

According to the recently expired Bayanihan law, the Philippine government was supposed to provide emergency subsidies to low-income families and vulnerable sectors whose jobs and incomes were disrupted by the lockdown.

Support amounting to Php5,000-8,000, depending on regional minimum wage rates, was to be given to some 18 million poor households for two months.

The first month-tranche came in the duration of three months, making the already stingy aid even much delayed.

The second month-tranche, on the other hand, according to an inter-agency joint memorandum, will be distributed now only to beneficiaries in the ECQ and MECQ areas.

This reduces the original 17.7 million target beneficiaries to just 8.6 million households in the following areas: Central Luzon except Aurora, the National Capital Region (NCR), Calabarzon, Benguet, Pangasinan, Iloilo, Cebu province, Bacolod City, Davao City, Albay province, and Zamboanga City.

This leaves 9.1 million of the original target SAP beneficiaries affected by the three-month lockdown to make do with the meager first tranche, said IBON. This is even if economic activity cannot fully resume in now general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ areas.

Considering that Php98.3 billion has been distributed to 17.5 million households as of June 27, IBON computes that the first tranche averages out to Php5,617 per family.

Without the second tranche supposedly for the second month of lockdown, the subsidy amounts to just Php53 per family or Php12 per person per day for the past 106 days since the COVID-19 lockdown started.

Even those who will receive the second tranche will still end up stretching a small amount over three months of lockdown, IBON said.

Some Php6.79 billion in second tranche aid has already been distributed to 1.3 million recipients, or an average of Php5,047 per family.

Combining both tranches, these 1.3 million families each got only a total of Php10,664.

This amounts to Php101 per family or Php23 per family member for each of the 106 lockdown days.

IBON also noted that 5.28 million low-income households even continue to wait for the first tranche of SAP.

This figure includes the remaining 278,206 beneficiaries out of the target 17.7 million according to Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) data as of June 27.

The rest are the families declared by the DSWD in mid-May as also eligible to receive aid but have not received any.

Yet, the government retracted and said that only 3.5 million of the wait-listed beneficiaries in MECQ and ECQ areas as of end-May are to get two tranches of emergency subsidy.

This means that the remaining 1.5 million in GCQ and modified GCQ areas are getting only one tranche.

The country does not seem to be winning the war against COVID-19, but the government has remained indifferent to the impact of the pandemic on the millions of poor families, said IBON.

The Duterte administration has continued penny-pinching even as people’s livelihoods and incomes are already irrecoverable and public health is at risk.

People’s socioeconomic welfare along with an efficient health response are the urgent matters that the Duterte government should be focusing on instead of staying apathetic to the mounting health and economic crisis, IBON said. #

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Kodao publishes IBON reports as part of a content-sharing agreement.

Higher inflation for poorest Filipinos underscores urgent need for continued cash subsidies

by IBON Media & Communications

Research group IBON said that the higher inflation is problematic but particularly burdens the poorest Filipinos. Inflation rates for the 30% poorest households are higher than the national average.

Especially amid historic joblessness, this affirms how the government should continue giving cash subsidies as income support, the group said.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), headline inflation rose to 2.5% in June 2020 from 2.1% in May 2020.

Behind this uptick are price increases in: transportation, particularly tricycle fares; alcoholic beverages and tobacco; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels; and communication.

However, the 3.0% inflation rate in June for the poorest 30% of households was higher than the headline inflation rate of 2.5 percent.

This means that the cost of living is rising fastest for the country’s poorest households.

IBON said that this is troublesome for millions of poor families suffering interrupted incomes and stingy emergency relief. 

IBON said that the rise in inflation despite repressed consumption during the lockdown is worrying and points to problems in supply and production.

The government is primarily responsible for ensuring these especially during a public emergency.

For instance, the group said, the notable increase in the transport index shows the government’s weakness in ensuring this vital public service.

Rising prices especially for the poorest affirms the urgency of continued income support, IBON said.

The number of beneficiaries getting the second tranche of emergency subsidies should not be limited. The 18 million poorest Filipinos, including the 5 million wait-listed beneficiaries of the Social Amelioration Program, should receive both the first and second tranches of the Php5,000-Php8,000 per-month emergency aid, said the group.

The government said that only those residing in enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified ECQ areas will be getting a second tranche.

This is only 8.6 million families of the original 18 million target beneficiaries, and 3.5 million households of the five million wait-listed.

This also means that 10.6 million beneficiaries now in general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified (MGCQ) areas will have to make do with just their first tranche.

With the cost of living fast rising amid an even worsening pandemic, limiting the number of beneficiaries getting the second tranche of emergency aid is unconscionable, IBON said.

The government should even consider additional tranches for vulnerable households that continue to reel from lost livelihoods and income, said the group. #

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Kodao publishes IBON articles as part of a content-sharing agreement.

Hatid Probinsya and Balik Probinsya, more harm than good?

by Casey Salamanca

The national government’s program of sending people back to their hometown recently came under fire for spreading COVID-19 in the provinces. For example, Tanauan town and Baybay City in Leyte each recorded their first respective confirmed COVID-19 cases last May 28. Both confirmed cases were among the first and so far only batch of beneficiaries of the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program (BP2). Meanwhile, in the war-torn city of Marawi, nine confirmed cases are beneficiaries of the Hatid Probinsya program.

BP2 and Hatid Probinsya

BP2 is a pet project of President Duterte’s long-time trusted aide and now Senator Bong Go. Executive Order 114, which enabled the said program, came two days after the Senate adopted Go’s resolution urging the executive department to formulate and implement a Balik Probinsya program.

BP2 is a “long-term program of the government intended for Metro Manila residents who want to go home to their provinces for good”. It reportedly aims to decongest the National Capital Region (NCR) and is mostly targeted at people from urban poor areas. It is also packaged as “redistributing wealth” by bringing development to the countryside.

According to BP2’s website, the first batch was composed of 112 individuals from the province of Leyte. Leyte Governor Dominic Petilla said that most of them are workers who lost their jobs due to the Luzon-wide lockdown. BP2 has three phases of intervention, namely short-, medium-, and long-term.

The short-term intervention provides beneficiaries transport, cash assistance of Php15,000, and livelihood opportunities. All government programs, activities or projects with funding will be adapted for the program.

The medium-term intervention involves projects or programs for implementation after the lockdown and lifting of travel restrictions. This includes establishing new special economic zones in Visayas and Mindanao, among others. The long-term plan includes passing of laws deemed important for rural development.

The program’s goals look good on paper but its pretentious character is exposed by the absence of concrete plans for strengthening rural production. Beyond the program’s promises, what work will people going back to their hometowns really have?

Likely not much, because the program’s vision of developing the countryside is still under the framework of neoliberalism which continues to destroy the country’s agricultural sector. The special economic zones the program envisions to build will, if anything, just cater to the needs of foreign capital but with scant domestic linkages and contributions to national development.

The long-term plan includes the passage of the Duterte administration’s priority bills like the National Land Use Act and giving tax incentives to tourism industries – both have the potential to hasten land conversions. Even legislation supposedly giving incentives for agriculture is more inclined to push for more destructive corporate plantations. There is also the self-serving political logic and push for shifting to a federal system through Charter change.

On the other hand, Hatid Probinsya is intended to help individuals stranded in Metro Manila by quarantine travel restrictions go back to their home provinces. This includes overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). The program arose after reports of thousands of OFWs stranded for more than a month in quarantine facilities. BP2 trips have been temporarily suspended to prioritize the Hatid Probinsya program.

Infecting the provinces

In the absence of a mass testing program, BP2 and Hatid Probinsya are turning out to be additional sources of COVID-19 transmission in some provinces. It is a disaster slowly unfolding especially with the healthcare capacity in rural areas much lower than in NCR.

Mass testing means testing all suspected cases whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, testing all close contacts of positive cases, regular testing of all frontline healthcare workers, and testing for surveillance of high-risk communities or vulnerable populations. Testing is crucial to detect cases, isolate carriers, and trace contacts to contain the spread of the virus.

The Department of Health (DOH) claims that its expanded risk-based testing broadens the coverage of persons to be tested. However, according to the Department Memorandum No. 2020-0285, RT-PCR testing is still based on a prioritization scheme.

RT-PCR is the gold standard for COVID-19 testing. In the Hatid Probinsya program, locally stranded individuals (LSIs) are tested only using the rapid test method. Scientists and medical groups do not recommend relying solely on rapid tests to check if individuals are positive for COVID-19. Their results are not that reliable and hence of very limited use in infection control.

The country’s current healthcare capacity is also still not suited to respond to pandemics like COVID-19. It is very much privatized and uneven between regions; thus access is an issue.

As of June 27, the NCR recorded 17,450 total confirmed COVID-19 cases surpassing scientists’ projection of 16,500 cases by the end of June. As of June 26, the region has 2,487 isolation beds, 1,071 ward beds, 569 ICU beds and 879 ventilators dedicated to COVID-19. The 10 doctors per 10,000 population and 12 nurses per 10,000 population in the region generally meets World Health Organization standards (10:10,000 for doctors and nurses). However, there are much fewer physicians and nurses in regions outside Metro Manila.

According to DOH Region 8, there are 499 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Eastern Visayas, of which 68% or 341 cases are returning residents, as of June 27. Of these returning residents, 293 are LSIs, 45 are OFWs, and three are BP2 beneficiaries. Leyte, which accounts for 40% of the cases in Region 8, is the destination of most of the returning residents who tested positive with COVID-19.

Meanwhile, in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), there are 58 confirmed cases, with the province of Lanao del Sur having the highest number of cases at 35. This includes the nine returning residents confirmed to be COVID-19 positive in Marawi City.

Eastern Visayas has only two COVID-19 testing centers, both are located in Tacloban City. Of the two, one is a private testing center and the other one, the Eastern Visayas Regional COVID-19 Testing Center, is a public facility. BARMM, on the other hand, has only one testing center, the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center, located in Cotabato City, Maguindanao.

The majority of licensed COVID-19 testing centers in the country are in the NCR, accounting for 29 of the 67 total centers. This could be a factor why Metro Manila is the top region with total number of cases—higher testing capacity results in more cases detected.

In terms of facilities, the province of Leyte only has nine ICU beds, 203 isolation beds, 50 ward beds, and 10 mechanical ventilators dedicated to COVID-19 cases, as of June 26. Data from the 2018 Field Health Service Information System (FHSIS) shows that there are only 57 medical doctors in Leyte, including 7 doctors in Ormoc City, 4 doctors in Tacloban City, and 117 public health nurses.

Quarantine facilities in Region 8 are currently running on full capacity prompting the Regional Task Force 8 and local government units to request for a 14-day moratorium on the national government’s Hatid Probinsya program.

Lanao del Sur meanwhile reported 3 ICU beds, 30 isolation beds, one ward bed, and four mechanical ventilators exclusive for COVID-19 cases. There are only 31 medical doctors and 16 public health nurses. In the city of Marawi there are only 2 doctors and 2 nurses.

In the whole region of BARMM, the doctor and nurse ratio per 10,000 population are 0.8 and 3.8 respectively. For Region 8 the ratios are 2.5 doctors per 10,000 population and 6.6 nurses per 10,000 population.

The increase of confirmed cases in Leyte is disproportionately affecting healthcare workers. On June 16, of the 59 new cases reported in Region 8, 22 are hospital workers. Of the 59 new cases, 52 are from Leyte. As of June 27, there are already 94 healthcare workers infected with COVID-19 in the region.

Ill-conceived plan and self-serving agenda

The Hatid Probinsya and Balik Probinsya programs are proof of government’s ill-conceived COVID-19 response. The less able rural areas are now bearing the brunt of the lack of a cohesive response plan that addresses the gross socioeconomic and healthcare incapacity of the country.

The government failed to maximize the three months of lockdown to start the mass testing, tracing of all contacts of positive cases, and isolation and quarantine needed to contain the spread of the virus. It also did not increase the health system’s capacity to treat all COVID-19 cases.

Instead of focusing on boosting the country’s healthcare capacity, the government apparently even used the pandemic to boost the political career of Palace favorites and to push for more neoliberal and authoritarian policies. Injecting a self-serving political agenda undermines the competent health response so needed by the people.

The administration’s prescriptions and practice to deal with the health crisis are not working. This only makes the call for an alternative approach that contains the virus and cures patients, instead of compromising them, even more urgent. #