Jeepney drivers, to date, have lost some 78 working days over the past 3 months or 13 weeks of suspended mass transport. This translates to a total net income loss of Php78,000 or Php26,000 per month of lockdown, said IBON. Out of work jeepney drivers lose Income with each passing day of transport suspension.
There are studies which indicate that open-air transport may have advantages over enclosed, air-conditioned transport in controlling the spread of COVID-19. Despite physical distancing, enclosed modern jeepneys can become centers for spreading the virus compared to the natural ventilation of traditional jeepneys.
Loans amounting to US$3.95 billion are, at the current exchange rate of Php50.05 to a US dollar, equivalent to Php197.7 billion. This increased the outstanding national government debt which has already risen from Php7.7 trillion by the end of 2019 to an astounding Php8.6 trillion by April 2020. The Php869-billion increment in the last four months far surpasses the full-year increments of the last three years.
The finance department’s Philippine Program for Recovery with Equity and Solidarity (PH-PROGRESO) and stimulus bills in Congress give considerable support to businesses while millions of affected families get token support at best.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported 7.3 million unemployed and 6.4 million underemployed in April 2020. As it is, this is the worst government-recorded unemployment (7.3 million) and combined unemployment and underemployment (13.7 million) in the country’s history.
Have we flattened the curve? No one really knows. The health department has cited the doubling time slowing down from 3 to 5.5 days and wrongly used it as proxy indicator that the government is winning the curve war. Up to this point, we know nothing. We know about daily new cases, like we had 350 new cases on May 26, the highest since April 7. We know about 14,669 cases nationwide and our high 6% mortality rate. But these metrics are based on a government pandemic response where there is only limited testing. Our knowledge thus can only be that – limited.
A wealth tax, higher taxes on large corporations, and higher taxes on the richest Filipinos are the most rational sources of revenues for COVID-19 response and development.
At a time when funds are urgent for the huge COVID-19 response needed, research group IBON said that the Duterte administration is giving up Php667 billion in revenues to boost the profits of the country’s largest corporations.
How many mothers have been forced to leave their little ones at home, walk far, and stand in long lines for ayuda only to go home empty-handed? How many senior citizens and persons with disability (PWD), despite their frailty and limits, still tried to get support but in vain?
Today, it’s incredibly important to put more money in people’s pockets both to help them maintain their welfare as well as to boost effective demand. It’s also important to support rural producers and small enterprises to ensure that the goods and services needed are still available. It’s also important to rapidly expand the public health system to deal with the pandemic and to meet the country’s vast COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 health problems.
