The Duterte administration can end the lockdown sooner and help\nevery Filipino in need. It can raise the resources needed for this if it lets\ngo of its infrastructure fantasies, prioritizes life over debt, and is bolder\nin tapping the accumulated wealth of elites and large corporations. Not doing\nany of these means making the people bear the disproportionate burden of dealing\nwith the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Funds are available<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In their most recent taped address today, the president and other members of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases took turns lamenting how little funds there are for responding to the COVID-19 crisis. No one doubts that huge resources are needed. However, using this an as excuse for failing to implement the necessary public health measures against the pandemic and for failing to help millions of poor Filipino families not just during the lockdown but amid the country\u2019s worst economic crisis in decades is completely unacceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pres. Rodrigo Duterte declared: \u201cOur country comes first.\u201d For\nthis to mean anything, the Duterte administration needs to take bolder measures\nto raise funds for dealing with the pandemic including letting go of its sacred\ncows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Realigning the national government budget away from items that have\nfallen in priority is a start. However, the finance secretary\u2019s latest declaration\nthat the administration is preserving funds for its Build, Build, Build (BBB)\nprogram is particularly out-of-date. These BBB projects were conceptualized and\njustified at a time of giddy optimism about the economy. The pandemic, global\nrecession, and domestic economic collapse mean that many projects in the Php989\nbillion public infrastructure program for 2020 are no longer viable and of much\nless priority than urgent health measures, emergency relief, and social\nprotection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The finance department\u2019s earlier position that debt servicing will continue unhindered is also out-of-date. The national government is paying Php1.03 trillion to service debt in 2020 \u2013 Php451 billion for interest payments and Php582.1 billion for principal amortization. The current crisis however means that millions of Filipino families are at risk not just from the coronavirus but from disrupted livelihoods and loss of incomes. COVID-19 response spending should be prioritized over debt payments, starting with at least moratoriums on US$1.7 billion in debt service to so-called development agencies and supposedly friendly governments. The government\u2019s human rights obligations to its people far outweigh debt service obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The president said that the government will do everything\nnecessary to raise money to fight COVID-19. This should include tapping the\nhuge concentration of wealth and income in the country\u2019s richest families and\nlargest corporations. The 50 richest Filipinos had a combined wealth of\nPhp4,061 billion in 2019, according to Forbes. The 50 largest conglomerates\nmeanwhile had combined profits of Php856.4 billion in 2018 alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Much of this wealth and income is more socially useful today spent on COVID-19 response rather than accumulated as personal wealth or used for self-interested business purposes. The Duterte administration can take the bold step of issuing COVID-19 emergency bonds on solidarity terms targeted at these elites. There is also the daring step of reforming the tax system to become progressive with higher personal income and wealth taxes on the richest Filipinos and higher corporate income taxes on the largest corporations. The Duterte administration cannot say it has no money if it is not doing anything to mobilize concentrated income and wealth for socially urgent purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lockdown can be ended<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Millions of Filipinos are looking forward to the end of the lockdown,\nespecially the vulnerable majority who have gone hungry and desperate over\nweeks of sparse or non-existent emergency relief from the Duterte\nadministration. However, despite Malacanang\u2019s posturing and government agencies\u2019\nreports, the fact remains that the national government is still being slow in\nputting the necessary health measures in place for the lockdown to be lifted\nsafely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The government needs to accelerate the pace of health measures for\nbattling the coronavirus. At the same time, it needs to immediately arrest the\nenormous backlog in socioeconomic relief and assistance for millions of poor\nand vulnerable households affected by the lockdown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The coronavirus continues to take its toll. As of April 23, the\ntotal number of reported cases has reached 6,981, with 462 fatalities. These\ninclude 1,062 infected health care workers with 26 fatalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Health experts such as from the UP COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team\npoint out that the epicenter of the virus is the National Capital Region (NCR)\nand surrounding regions but also that it continues to spread elsewhere and\nstill needs to be contained. The Department of Health (DOH) concedes that it is\ntoo early to say if the curve of COVID-19 transmission has begun to flatten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While experts attest to the contribution of the enhanced community\nquarantine (ECQ) in controlling the spread of the coronavirus, it has heavily\nimpacted on the poorest sections of the population, especially in Luzon, and\nthe economy as a whole. The ECQ is disrupting 73% of the economy, corresponding\nto Luzon\u2019s share in the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019. IBON estimates\nthat 14.5 million workers and informal earners have been dislocated. The 7.5\nmillion lowest-income families in Luzon are most in danger of deeper poverty\nand hunger since they have little savings or means to absorb the shock of\ndisrupted livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lockdown need not have been expanded or dragged on for so long\nhad the government been more efficient and immediately started putting the\nnecessary health measures in place. Yet three months since the first case of\nCOVID-19 and almost six weeks into the lockdown, the government is still\nill-equipped to contain the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the arrival of donations and test kits, only 55,465\nindividuals have been tested as of April 22. This is too few, according to\nhealth advocates, compared to the potential community and hospital transmission\nof the virus. There are still only 17 COVID-19 testing centers out of 78 that\nthe DOH plans to install nationwide. Only 7,000 have been contact-traced, which\nis low compared to the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Quarantine, isolation, and treatment facilities remain\ninsufficient: the health system is not yet ready for when infections and\nhospitalizations peak in the coming months. Frontline health workers still lack\nprotective equipment. This has already resulted in the Philippines having among\nthe worst infection rate and highest number of COVID-19-infected health workers\nin the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unnecessary suffering<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, the government is failing to ensure that all\npoor and vulnerable families affected by the lockdown get adequate emergency\nrelief. Their rights to food, health, water and sanitation, and social\nprotection are grossly unmet and even violated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Over 13 million of government\u2019s targeted 18 million low income\nfamilies have not received emergency subsidies and are going hungry. Only 264,154 formal workers out of the\nIBON-estimated 10.7 million workers in the country have reportedly received assistance,\nand just 235,949 informal earners out of 5.2 million nationwide. Only 353,037\nof 9.7 million farmers, farmworkers, and fisherfolk are reported to have received\nemergency subsidies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The government claims to have released Php205 billion for\nemergency assistance. However, it is unconscionable for the government to have\ncreated so many bureaucratic barriers before this much-needed aid reaches the\npoor. These should be immediately removed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The ECQ will be extended\nuntil May 15 in selected high-risk areas including the NCR, Calabarzon, Central\nLuzon, Benguet, Pangasinan, Albay, Catanduanes, Mindoro Island, Antique,\nIlo-ilo Cebu, Davao Del Norte, and Davao City. Other parts\nof the country considered \u201clow-risk\u201d or \u201cmoderate-risk\u201d, meanwhile, have been\nput under a \u201cgeneral community quarantine\u201d, where aside from ECQ measures,\n\u201cnon-leisure stores\u201d can partially open, higher education can finish the\nacademic year, some construction projects may resume, and public transportation\nmay operate on reduced capacity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Affected families need expedient emergency relief in the period to\ncome on top of what is due them for the past six weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n