"The report is a must-read for all."
"The report is a must-read for all."
It’s now September the start of what has always been known as the “ber” months when the festive air of the Christmas season sets in. But instead of cheers of joy, we have faces of gloom. The pandemic’s spread remains unabated, affecting heavily the push for the lockdown’s easing to the more tolerable MGCQ.
In the meantime, efforts to fast track our economic recovery is encountering headwinds. While Congress has passed Bayanihan 2 which forms part of the NEDA proposed “Recovering As One” restart package, the other components ARISE and CREATE remain in limbo, waiting for the much-needed push to get it out of Congress before it is mired in the budgetary battles for the 2021 annual appropriations—otherwise known as the election budget.
And while everybody else is focused on Saving Lives While Saving Livelihoods, other sections are busy rousing public ire over the reported misuse of COVID response funds. The allegations center on the allegedly plundered PhilHealth billions. There are billions more in emergency procurement under Bayanihan 1, including the woolly disbursement of social amelioration funds.
So the festive mood that usually introduces the “ber” months will have to be suspended in the meantime as the public and our policy makers struggle to find ways to put into play the "We Recover As One" 76-page paper which NEDA Acting Director General Karl Chua and his staff recently issued for immediate consideration.
This document is a must-read for all, especially administration critics who have been haranguing us with all kinds of asides about the government's lack of planning punctuated by their charge of rudderless leadership.
Of course, this should be mandatory reading for those in government especially its media and information officers who have the principal task of convincing the public of the merits of this undertaking and ensuring that the directions and tasks proposed in this recovery plan are implemented.
So important is the need to provide the right information that the plan dedicates one whole chapter detailing the protocols for information gathering, dissemination and management. But the report's main features should be imbibed in its entirety by those advising the Vice President and her economic team—if she even has one.
The report details a comprehensive set of measures to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and enable the economy to recover and transition to a new normal.
Acknowledging that a lot of changes have happened and a new environment has set in, Chua noted that the report “provides guidance as to what priority policies, programs, and projects the government can undertake to facilitate the transition not just to a new, but a better normal.”
Noting the need to enhance our ability to limit transmissions and provide health care to those needing them as a continuing priority, the report also estimates the social and economic costs of the different grades of quarantine across the country. The lockdown has definitely stunted growth at all levels. The report also provides a set of measures, policies and programs meant to rebuild consumer and business confidence—and ensure the country’s resiliency under a new normal.
Again, we urge all those concerned to studiously look into these measures if only to ensure that any discussions on how to make the “ber” months festive yet again be on the level and redound to the public interest.