CCCI on covid-19 impact: ‘It’s about survival now’

TOUGH TIMES CALL FOR TOUGH MEASURES. Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Virgilio Espeleta says businesses have now been badly hit by the Covid-19 outbreak. (SunStar Photo / Allan Cuizon)
TOUGH TIMES CALL FOR TOUGH MEASURES. Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Virgilio Espeleta says businesses have now been badly hit by the Covid-19 outbreak. (SunStar Photo / Allan Cuizon)

“WAY maayong laki karon. It’s about survival now.”

Thus did Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Virgilio Espeleta express strong conviction for government, industries and the business community to impose drastic measures that the chamber earlier recommended through a position paper, to fight the lingering effects of the Covid-19 global outbreak.

“The Regional Development Council will readily adopt this resolution. We don’t know the bottom of this (Covid-19),” he told Sunstar Cebu Friday, Feb. 28, 2020.

Covid-19 is the disease caused by the new coronavirus which originated in the city of Wuhan in China.

On Thursday, Feb. 27, CCCI called for unity to combat the impact of Covid-19 on businesses. It exhorted the business community to take action to mitigate the social, economic and business disruptions brought on by the Covid-19 epidemic.

“It’s really their option. If everybody will push for it, it will be really an agenda. If one bank or one mall will start with this, the others will follow,” said Espeleta.

If they don’t follow, the CCCI official said at least the chamber has done its part to help in mitigating the damage caused by the virus outbreak.

Espeleta said businesses have already been disrupted and if the outbreak persists, laying off workers would be business owners’ last resort.

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CCCI specifically called for industry players to share costs or cluster themselves to take turns operating, e.g. a group of three to four hotels to take turns operating while their bookings are referred to cluster partners and cut down rates and launch attractive domestic travel packages.

Sought for comment, Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu vice president Alfred Reyes said it is up to every hotel to apply the chamber’s suggestion.

Reyes said they are now strategizing how their workforce could still remain efficient at work and keep the balance amid the low occupancy rate as travel bans to top tourist markets like China, Macau, Hong Kong and South Korea are still in effect.

For their part, the Cebu Alliance of Tour Operations Specialists president Alice Queblatin said they will consolidate the different tourism products of hotels and airlines. She added that the group has already prepared affordable domestic tour packages.

In the area of banking, CCCI appealed to banks to grant a reprieve on amortization and waive interest payments for a six-month period to troubled businesses, especially those just starting but are already challenged and could barely operate.

Cebu Bankers Club (CBC) said the top-level management of banking institutions are now assessing the damage caused by the Covid-19 outbreak in the business community.

However, Neil Yu, president of CBC and senior manager and field sales manager of the Bank of Philippine Islands-Central and Eastern Visayas, said it’s too early to implement the measures suggested by the CCCI.

“The banking industry is aware of the snowball effect down to the businesses of the Covid-19. They’re looking at measures on how we can help our clients but it’s too early to come up with these drastic measures,” he said.

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