Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20) — The National Economic Development Authority said it is seeing a total of ₱83.3 billion in forgone wages as workers stay at home due to the implementation of strict community restrictions.
During President Rodrigo Duterte’s address on Monday, NEDA Acting Secretary Karl Chua explained that for every one week of strict enhanced community quarantine, ₱19.6 billion in worker’s income is lost, while ₱14.7 billion is forgone for a week’s implementation of a modified ECQ.
“Dahil two weeks ang ating ECQ at may mada-dagdag pa na almost three weeks na MECQ, so total of almost five weeks, ang epekto po sa ating tao ay ₱83.3 billion in forgone wages,” he said.
[Translation: Because of two weeks of ECQ and additional of almost three weeks of MECQ, so total of almost five weeks, its effect on our people is ₱83.3 billion in forgone wages.]
To recall, the government placed the NCR Plus, which includes Metro Manila and nearby provinces Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, under ECQ for two weeks due to the spike in COVID-19 cases. After this, an MECQ was implemented starting April 12 until end of the month.
The implementation of such is meant to limit movement in concerned areas to control transmission of the virus. However, this also means that many Filipinos have been forced to stay at home and have no source of income.
To solve this problem, Chua said everyone should work together to control the virus spike and to start gradually reopening the economy again.
March last year, the Philippines was placed under ECQ after it recorded its first cases of COVID-19, which lasted for two months. Authorities then slowly relaxed quarantine restrictions to allow the economy to function again.
Meanwhile, Chua said the country was able to recover the 8.7 million jobs lost April last year as it recorded the creation of 9.3 million jobs as of February 2021.
However, unemployment rate is still high at 8.8% in February, versus the 8.7% recorded in the previous month. This also means 4.2 million Filipinos are currently jobless based on government data.
To date, total number of COVID-19 cases in the country has breached the 945,000 mark, with more than 141,000 active cases.
