‘I blame the entire government, not the economic managers’

I write to correct an article published in BusinessMirror on March 22, 2021, titled “Economists: government miscalculated in loosening government restrictions.”

I was quoted as saying that “the economic team made their decisions without science and data.” I never said such a thing. What I said was that “government made their decisions without science and data and also oblivious of their own mismanagement of the pandemic.” That is in my written Viber answer to your reporter.

I blame the entire government, including the DOH, and other officials, not the economic managers, for the situation we are facing now. The loosening of the restrictions is the correct one, but there was a failure to manage the loosening of restrictions with the proper implementation of a testing, tracing, and treatment strategy. Moreover, the mixed messaging coming from government officials, who were shown to be violating health protocols, also contributed to the spike in cases, and not to the loosening of restrictions per se. The failure to secure vaccines earlier has also pushed the government to resort to more restrictions as a response to the spike in cases. 

In fact, in the same viber communication with your reporter wherein she quoted the Socio-economic Planning Secretary about the need to balance livelihood and public health, I expressed agreement with Secretary Chua.

Kindly publish this letter to make the correction known.

Calixto V. Chikiamco

President, Foundation for Economic Freedom