IS POSSIBLE only in relaxed quarantine measure, even under the GCQ (general community quarantine), but not under MECQ (modified enhanced community quarantine) and ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) or higher quarantine measures.
Bacolod City led by Mayor Bing Leonardia and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran has made another sensical public interest call in appealing the decision of the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) to place the city starting July 16 under a stricter quarantine status of MECQ, asserting that the gains of local economic recovery since the start of MGCQ have eased the pressure on local businesses and the sufferings of the people.
In fact, more commercial shops, restaurants and food shops, public transportation, street vending, other service companies, media institutions and even church services, have been rejuvenated, providing breathing spells for the people to access and meet their needs.
The City leadership has apparently learned their lessons well from the early period of the pandemic, where stress had been on lockdowns and other forms of stricter control of the movement of people, than on people's health and welfare needs.
Since MGCQ, the city has done its best to play the piano well, that is, by giving bigger weight on local economic recovery, attending to people's needs, while enforcing minimum anti-Covid protocols in all levels and sectors, and intensifying the vaccination campaign.
Given the policy shift, it was comprehensible that Covid cases quickly surged in the city in the first few weeks of easing the quarantine measures. But as quickly as it spread, the city leadership responded quickly by mobilizing its different agencies and units to ensure that citizens follow anti-Covid protocols with minimum penalties on violators. Even lockdowns were not only granular and localized but done with restraint and often giving more stress on raising awareness and preventive capacity of the people, especially persistent violators.
The city government, despite the understandable criticisms it gets from some sectors, including the negligible perennial pinpricks, hate and vilification campaign of some ambitious politicians and their cheering partisans and political losers, have not lost its temper and sanity, and instead pursued what it believes as necessary and right response providing good mix of health actions, socio-economic measures, relief operations, education-information campaign, and good governance and administration.
No wonder, the city government garnered praise and commendation from NIATF, MalacaƱang, private health institutions, and social foundations, repeatedly reaffirming that despite its shortcomings, the City still leads as the model in anti-Covid campaign even under MGCQ and GCQ. I hope these do not come to city officials as pure flattery but gratitude and further challenge for its sensical and effective campaign.
There is still so much to do to advance the local economic recovery and ease the burden of both the government and the people, provided the quarantine level of NIATF is proportionate to the capacity of the city to address Covid crisis.
One, more local businesses (forget multinationals), especially the MSMEs (micro, small, medium enterprises), need more support from the city government, like ease in their renewal fees of business permits, ease in their tax obligations or dues, and no less, support for capital infusion to regain their capacity to operate viable and profitable business.
Two, support for different sectoral and community associations significantly affected by the pandemic; this could be on two levels; first level is relief assistance in cash, kind or work for food assistance, just to ease their burden on their basic needs. I was informed that the city government through City Mayor Office for Sectoral Concerns has already given cash assistance and food packs to urban poor, fisherfolks and vendors, and more are up to receive the same. This is truly laudable. This is more than the tokenism, papogi, blitzkrieg, and media-hyped assistance of some unknown individuals.
The other level, which I consider more important is providing the requisites and capacitating different sectors and communities to put up sustainable livelihood and social enterprises, which will better prepare them for long battle with the pandemic and other consequent crises it spawns. The farmers, vendors, odd jobbers and OFWs mostly women, displaced skilled laborers, fisherfolks, and transport groups must be on the priority list because turning them productive will have ripple and trickle effect on other smaller marginalized sectors, and spur widespread and bigger economic activities in the city.
I know there are few other concerns relevant to this that must be addressed in invigorating local economy. But this is only possible in a more relaxed quarantine environment, not in a constricting and terrifying environment like last year that has already caused so much misery and trauma on our people, pressures on our city leadership, and its governance systems.