OPENING up the economy and removing restrictions would not only allow the economy to recover but also address the inequalities created by the lockdown imposed in the country.
In a presentation at the virtual Pilipinas Conference 2020 on Monday, Social Weather Stations (SWS) President Mahar Mangahas said mobility restrictions have prevented many Filipinos from earning a living in the past few months.
This, Mangahas said, was opposed to the experience of Filipinos who had their own cars and were free to move around and conduct their daily lives. Imposing mobility restrictions were also not founded on research and should already be removed.
“They [mobility restrictions] have nothing to do with infection, they have to prove first that there is infection before you start changing, restricting people like that. To me that’s so unfair to the ordinary people,” Mangahas said.
“As compared to the people with cars, [they] went out without restrictions and do their ordinary thing. That’s so exclusive to restrict transportation like that,” he added.
Mangahas said removing restrictions on public transport means allowing all Filipinos to have access to jeepneys and tricycles so they can get back to their ordinary life.
This was supported by data they collected at the SWS. In 2020, Filipinos who thought their life is worse now than before shot up to 82 percent and only 6 percent saying their lives are better now than before.
This, he said, is linked to the performance of the economy. In the past 38 years, Mangahas said, more Filipinos became optimistic about their lives when the economy was inclusive, particularly between 2015 and 2019.
During this time, Mangahas said, the country experienced benign inflation which allowed wages to increase in real terms and the government continuously provided Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) to poor households.
“Let go of unnecessary restrictions to the economy. Let go of curfew, let go of the rules about jeepneys and tricycles,” Mangahas said. “Let go of the [restrictions] where people can’t go back to their ordinary hanapbuhay.”
Health-care risks
While lifting restrictions is one way to bring back the lost vigor of the Philippine economy, the lifting of some restrictions threatens the economy, particularly healthcare.
Ateneo School of Government (ASOG) Dean Ronald U. Mendoza said efforts to “build back better” the Philippine economy should include ensuring the stability of the health-care system.
Mendoza said that with the ban on the deployment of health workers lifted, the country could undermine its ability to fight the ongoing pandemic. About 5,000 health professionals have already been allowed to leave for various parts of the world.
“If this is a war then we’re losing the main fighters in our war because they’re going to fight in other fronts, not in our front, and so this is quite troubling,” Mendoza said.
Given this reality that the country must face, Mendoza said, efforts must be exerted to strengthen the healthcare industry and put it on a par with health systems the world over.
This could make the Philippines a preferred option not only for Filipino and foreign patients but also health workers needed in the fight against pandemics. This, Mendoza said, will also prevent the country from sending a wrong message to investors and the world that Philippine institutions could crumble under the weight of just one disaster or pandemic.
“I agree with Mahar [Mangahas] that we should have greater mobility at this stage but if our healthcare sector is not able to absorb a sudden upsurge of Covid-19 cases then we’re going to be an on again, off again type of recovery. And we’re going to send a negative signal to all investors very quickly that we are unable to handle this crisis because of the weakness of our systems,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza said these efforts must also extend to other institutions such as education and social protection which are necessary in uplifting the lives of millions. He added that these efforts must be backed by evidence-based measures that will, in turn, guide the government’s policies and objectives.
“I think this is part of what may create a negative push back against such a laudable goal of opening up the economy, creating investments, creating lots of jobs if we don’t want that stopped, we have to set up institutions to protect that strategy in the longer term,” Mendoza said.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza