Duterte signs 10-point economic recovery plan

MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte administration has adopted a 10-point policy agenda designed to fast-track and sustain economic recovery from the pandemic, including expanding health care capacity and safely resuming business activities and in-person classes.

President Duterte approved the policy agenda recommended by the government’s economic development cluster through Executive Order No. 166 dated March 21.

“There is an urgent need to adopt policies on economic recovery to sustain current economic gains, minimize the pandemic’s long-term adverse effects and restore the country’s development trajectory,” Duterte said in the order.

He ordered government entities under the executive branch to ensure that all policies, measures and programs are aligned with the 10 principles contained in the policy agenda, subject to strict compliance with health protocols.

These principles are: strengthen health care capacity; accelerate and expand the vaccination program; further reopen the economy and expand public transport capacity; resume face-to-face learning; reduce restrictions on domestic travel and standardize local government unit (LGU) requirements; relax requirements for international travel; accelerate digital transformation through legislative measures; provide for enhanced and flexible emergency measures through legislation; shift the focus of decision-making and government reporting to more useful and empowering metrics, and medium-term protection for pandemic resilience.

Under strengthening health care capacity, the national government will work to expand capacity nationwide and align with global standards of health workers and other health resources to population ratios.

With regard to accelerating and expanding the vaccination program, the government will ensure that inoculation sites are expanded, artificial barriers to vaccination are reduced and related procedures are streamlined. It will also seek to reduce the restrictions on the use of vaccine stocks by the private sector subject to existing laws and regulations.

To further reopen the economy, the government plans to safely resume economic and social activities while maintaining the alert level system, removing age-based restrictions on mobility and further expanding public transport capacity.

Also, the government will strengthen efforts toward the safe resumption of in-person classes and capitalize on the gains achieved in the conduct of pilot face-to-face learning.

With regard to reducing restrictions on domestic travel, the administration will streamline and standardize requirements for domestic and local tourism and maximize the use of information and communications technology solutions to ease processes.

Domestic travel requirements will be limited to vaccination cards or negative RT-PCR test results for unvaccinated persons or an inter-scannable quick response (QR) code, except as otherwise required by the LGU of destination, the order said.

Under relaxing international travel requirements, the government will provide quarantine exemptions for vaccinated persons to boost international tourism, increase foreign investments and restore jobs in the tourism sector.

The government will also prioritize the passage of key legislation on digital transformation to improve connectivity and facilitate the country’s digital transformation.

It will also rely on legislation to allow the efficient roll-out of emergency programs during pandemics.

The proposed measures will complement the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 and may include the establishment of a stand-by fund to be used during pandemics; the granting of authority to reallocate funds for pandemic response; lifting of ceilings on the use of quick response funds; easing of data privacy requirements; and the standardization of special risk allowance, hazard pay and other forms of compensation given to health care workers.

With regard to shifting the focus of decision-making and government reporting to more useful and empowering metrics, the government will ensure that economic recovery policies and pandemic case reports will consider total severe or critical cases, case fatality ratio and total vaccinations.

The policy shift aims to avoid unnecessary changes in alert levels and to encourage Filipinos to get vaccinated.

To achieve its goal of coming up with a medium-term preparation for pandemic resilience, the administration will develop a comprehensive pandemic response framework that will consider international best practices and the Philippines’ experience in handling the COVID-19 crisis. The government will also aim to strengthen health and social protection systems.

The government’s pandemic policy and implementing bodies were directed to ensure the proper implementation of the 10-point policy agenda.

Endemic

For the Department of Health (DOH), COVID-19 becoming endemic is a reality that the country has to face.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said there are a lot of endemic diseases in the country “that we have been able to live with,” citing measles, malaria and tuberculosis as some examples – all of which can cause death.

“This is our reality, that we know SARS-CoV-2 virus is here to stay and we have to live with this,” Vergeire said, referring to the virus that causes COVID-19.

She stressed that there are already “adequate preventive measures” that can be used to combat the pandemic, such as vaccination.

Also, safety protocols must be observed strictly to be able to live with COVID-19 and “go back to our usual lives,” she said.

“We should not be complacent. We should not take for granted this illness because we know doing so can cost lives,” she added.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that COVID-19 is now on its way to becoming endemic. It said this is a “huge tragedy” because endemicity means the world failed at eradicating or eliminating the virus.

The WHO warned that the virus has the ability to evolve and produce a variant which is more lethal and more transmissible than the previously known variants.

Go: Increase hospital beds

Increasing hospital bed capacity will help more Filipinos and hospitals comply with the physical distancing protocol to avoid the spread of contagious diseases, Sen. Bong Go said yesterday.

“Apart from the problem of how to speed up their recovery, the transmission of the disease as well as the health and security of our health care workers are also becoming an issue. Let’s pay attention to them and not leave them alone,” Go said.

The chair of the Senate committee on health, assured the public that he would prioritize the improvement of the health care system.

Earlier, he successfully pushed for the passage of 24 laws that seek to upgrade the existing public hospitals and establish new ones nationwide.

“Another 15 measures upgrading and establishing Department of Health hospitals are pending signature of the President,” Go said.

The Senate committee on health on Tuesday deliberated on 27 local hospital bills.

Go stressed the need to invest better in public health care system and make it more responsive to the ongoing pandemic and future health crises. – Sheila Crisostomo, Cecille Suerte Felipe