By Atty. Egay Uy
I recently heard the estimates of the NEDA regional office through RD Cariño that the amount of financial losses of the business sector is expected to run to billions of pesos in at least two scenarios, i.e., MECQ from July 1 to 15 and GCQ from July 1 to 31, and MECQ from July 1 to 31, 2021. I missed the exact amounts but they are in the staggering levels of more than one hundred million pesos daily in either scenario.
While the news report was already in its summarized form, I surmise the losses include lost business opportunities, and lost actual remuneration on the part of the workers as well. These figures are no joke at all. From those amounts, we can also deduce the number of businesses that have to fold up to either temporarily or permanently because of the quarantine restrictions.
And why should these losses be suffered by the local economy? Should business and employment losses necessarily follow? These despite the now more liberal restrictions in the quarantine levels at this point in the pandemic compared to those at the first several months of the Covid19 menace?
Every one of us must know by now that even the most liberal of the quarantine restrictions, or even probably under what may become the new normal, will somehow have corresponding adverse effects, even at their lowest forms, to the local economy, and of course to the lives of people.
Given that, it is up to us to either satisfy ourselves with the least damaging effects by consistently complying with regulations, or suffer more severe consequences by being complacent and contribute to elevating our health risks from the lowest degree to critical.
Many people have wittingly or unwittingly tried doing things that resulted in the present MECQ status. Probably thinking only of themselves and their temporary freedom from restrictions, many have directly contributed to making the lives of the others in the community unnecessarily uncomfortable and to some, even miserable.
I could only hope that lessons have been learned. We don't even have to be reminded that we can always expect the same results if we keep on doing the same things.
