More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
President Marcos recently visited the USA and touting the Philippines' pandemic recovery before the Philippine-US Business Forum in Washington DC thanked the US for contributing to the Philippines' economy.
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| https://pco.gov.ph/news_releases/pbbm-touts-phs-post-pandemic-recovery-highlights-us-contribution-to-admins-economic-agenda/ |
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday touted the Philippines’ strong post-pandemic economic recovery, being one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia.
“On the economy, I would like to share with you that for 2023, the Philippines achieved a 5.6 percent annual growth in GDP which outpaced other high-growth economies such as China Viet Nam, and Malaysia,” President Marcos said in his keynote address before the Philippine-US Business Forum in Washington DC.
“Despite the recovery time needed to accelerate businesses coming from the–coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to either exceed or match the economic projections of multilateral organizations, such as the IMF, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office, and the World Bank,” he pointed out.
Marcos said the Philippines also saw a significant increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows, surging by 28 percent, reaching US$1 billion in November 2023 from US$820 million of net inflows recorded for the same month in 2022.
In addition, the Department of Trade and Industry-Board of Investments (DTI-BOI) approved PhP1.26 trillion in investment projects last year, which was an increase of 73 percent compared to the previous year recorded at PhP729 billion.
President Marcos also reported that for last year, the US was also Philippines’ 4th largest source of FDI.
“Over the years, the Philippines has acknowledged the significant contribution of the United States to our economic agenda. We have observed the consistent high ranking of the United States, as evident last year, being our third top trading partner,” President Marcos said.
But even thought the US contributes so much Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) the lack of FDI is being touted as a reason so many Filipinos are being deployed as OFW's.
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| https://qa.philstar.com/headlines/2024/04/12/2347168/historic-2023-ofw-deployment-moves-philippines-labor-migration-forward-pandemic |
Migrant worker-sending Philippines has moved forward from the COVID-19 pandemic by posting a 55-year high in the number of deployed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Fresh data from the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) showed that the Philippines had deployed 2,330,720 land- and sea-based migrant workers in 2023, higher compared to the 2,156,742 OFWs deployed in pre-pandemic 2019.
But various countries’ travel restrictions, economic recessions and labor market closures in 2020 plummeted OFW deployment figures in 2020 by 74.5%. Only 549,841 OFWs were deployed that year.
From 2020 to 2023, OFW deployments rose by 323.9%. Meanwhile, the government’s first record of deployed OFWs showed that 3,694 overseas contract workers (OCWs) were deployed in 1969.
Even the numbers of deployed land-based OFWs (1,752,094) and seafarers (578,626) both reached historic highs, DMW data show. Given that the pandemic shut down worker deployments abroad in 2020, the 2023 numbers for land-based and sea-based migrant workers were 426.7 and 166.3% higher, respectively from pandemic-hit 2020.
DMW is now the country’s lead migration agency, it being the merger of seven agencies and bureaus including the former Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) that usually releases OFW deployment data.
From the 2023 data, some 1,244,005 OFWs are rehires and 508,089 others are newly-hired migrant workers.
DMW data also showed that 49.8% of deployed OFWs were female, as “domestic cleaners and helpers” make up 31.1% (or 157,812) of these deployments.
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the return and repatriation of an estimated 2.3 million OFWs who suffered job losses, insufficient incomes and health problems. From March 2020 to August 2022, records from the Inter-Agency Task Force against Emerging and Infectious Diseases (IATF) show that the 2,348,098 returnee OFWs nearly outnumbered the 2020-to-2022 deployed OFWs (Total: 2,498,305).
The droves of return prompted had government agencies to pivot towards providing economic reintegration support to returnee OFWs through entrepreneurial loans, cash grants and skills training.
A 2021 survey by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) of over-8,000 OFW returnees showed that majority of them wish to go back and work abroad if borders re-open and overseas labor markets re-hire foreign workers.
The Philippines felt the overseas job losses given the pandemic while it almost saw the drastic decline in cash remittance flows from abroad. In 2023, the Philippines received record-high cash remittances (US$33.49 billion).
In 2021, analysts like University of the Philippines political scientist Dr. Jorge Tigno think that pre-pandemic migrant deployment “will not return overnight”.
But given the Philippines’ own economic recovery efforts, Tigno wrote that “The Philippines needs labor migration to weather through future economic crises, as well as to address the socio-economic issues caused by the pandemic.”
“In the absence of significant foreign direct investments entering the economy, the overseas employment program represents the only viable economic strategy the country has for some time to come,” Tigno added in a UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies (CIDS) paper.
Yet migrant civil society groups fear that continued labor migration post-pandemic will see persisting labor-related abuses and exploitation of Filipino workers in host countries.
This coming May 1, the country commemorates the 50th year of the 1974 Labor Code (Presidential Decree 442), whose provisions instituted the formalizing of what is called the country’s “labor export program."
How can the economy be recovered and doing so well while at the same time there are so few jobs that pay a living wage? How can a country be expected to survive when "the overseas employment program represents the only viable economic strategy the country has for some time to come?"
Tourism is recovering but without any help from the Chinese.
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| https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/568040/chinese-tourist-absence-hampers-ph-tourism-recovery |
Bank of America’s (BofA) recent report pointed out that the Philippines, along with China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, are still struggling to catch up in tourism recovery compared to other parts of Asia, as tourist arrivals in these destinations have yet to reach prepandemic levels.
The slow return of Chinese tourists specifically has been a major factor in holding back progress.
In the Philippines, BofA noted that foreign visitor arrivals were still 76 percent of prepandemic levels as of February this year, albeit much better than Hong Kong’s 73.7 percent and Taiwan’s January 2024 figure of 69.6 percent.
Among the laggards, BofA said China was an “outlier” after it reopened its economy much later than other Asian destinations. Data compiled by the bank showed foreign tourist arrivals in China were 36.3 percent below prepandemic level as of December 2023.
In turn, the later reopening of China’s economy weighed on tourism recovery in countries that heavily depend on Chinese holidaymakers, such as the Philippines and Hong Kong.
Data compiled by BofA showed Chinese arrivals are only tracking at 20 to 30 percent of prepandemic levels in the Philippines, below trends elsewhere in the region. And the recovery is unlikely to speed up anytime soon, with BofA noting the “changing preferences” of Chinese consumers.
“The typical Chinese traveler these days is increasingly interested in exploring domestic cities that offer unique cultural experiences. This has also slowed their return to international destinations,” BofA said.
“The return of Chinese travelers might be a gradual process,” it added.
Well, there are plenty of POGO workers here and they continue to arrive.
Mental health was a big thing during the pandemic and not the government wants PhilHealth to offer coverage for it.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1929778/govt-eyes-mental-health-under-philhealth-benefits |
The government is considering including mental health care under the packages of state health insurer Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to raise awareness and provide competitive compensation to mental health professionals.
The Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) noted the importance of mental health, which was highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
Some cases of depression, anxiety and traumatic disorders all surfaced during the pandemic, which is why communities must have awareness of mental health concerns, according to Jaime Montoya, executive director of the DOST-PCHRD.
“But even before that, we already did mental health research and development, even prior to the passage of the mental health law in 2018, and that actually helped in raising awareness among Filipinos about the importance of mental health,” Montoya told reporters last week on the sidelines of the DOST-PCHRD’s first mental health research symposium in Pasay City.
He said the PCHRD coordinated with the Department of Health to support mental health “even at [the] primary level.”
Mental health care has always been at the “tertiary level” of health, but Montoya said the PCHRD wants to change this by bringing mental health care to the community level “because this should not be hospital-based only.”
The problem is [that] our barangay health workers don’t even know what mental health is,” Montoya said.
“So, that is part of our objective. We are developing modules that will be adopted. We have separate projects on that which can be used by health workers and not just by doctors and nurses,” he added.
Montoya explained these projects can help in the early detection of mental health problems “and, therefore, to make the appropriate interventions.”
At present, he said the PCHRD is currently working with PhilHealth to include mental health care in its packages so that professionals will receive the proper compensation.
Who would have through that forcing everyone inside for nearly two years, stripping them of their jobs, and scaring them daily with death threats would have made the public go crazy?
Some hospitals have still not received health allowances.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2024/4/16/dbm-chief-urges-doh-to-accelerate-hea-releases |
Department of Budget and Management Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman has urged to fast-track the creation of a mapping system to track hospitals that have not received health emergency allowances.
During a radio interview, Pangandaman called on the Department of Health (DOH) to address the issues that slow down the release of HEA claims.
[ requested that the DOH have a HEA mapping so that they don't have a hard time with the list of hospitals they monitor. From what I see, the most difficult thing is validating the hospitals and their names]
[If they were able to release a few billion, they should know where that billion pesos fund went so it's easier to see who the hospitals that haven't been paid.]
The DBM chief said that the DOH already has a link for the HEA mapping and that it is still subject for adjustment.
[They promised that they would fix that link. So, maybe, let's give them time. I hope they finish it within the month.]
In a meeting held earlier this year, the DBM suggested that the DOH develop a HEA mapping that will capture and present all HEA claims and payments by region and health facilities to aid hospitals monitor the status of HEA releases.
It will also help in expediting the final determination of the actual amount of deficiency to cover the full settlement of arrears, the DBM said.
Of the P91.283 billion released by the DBM for public health emergency benefits and allowances since pandemic, over P73 billion was allocated for health emergency allowance and one COVID-19 allowance, P12.90 billion for special risk allowance, P3.65 billion for COVID-19 sickness and death compensation, and P1.4 billion for other benefits, such as meal, accommodation, and transportation allowance.
[This year, our total budget for the HEA is P19.962 billion. So the GAA has about P20 billion. Our budget this year is being comprehensively released. We have released all to the DOH. So, they are in charge of disbursing.]
Out of the P91 billion budget released by DBM to the agency, the DOH has so far disbursed P64 billion, based on the data submitted to DBM.
Pangandaman also suggested that the DOH consider the use of a blanket memorandum of agreement with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and private organizations to solve bottlenecks in releasing the remaining unpaid HEA claims, mostly from private hospitals and local government units (LGUs).
[However, we assure our healthcare workers that we will continue to act on the matter. President Bongbong Marcos wants the government to settle the unpaid HEA claims of our healthcare workers as soon as possible.]
It's 2024. Will this situation of health allowances ever be sorted out?
Representative Villafuerte hopes so.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2024/4/17/villafuerte-seeks-swift-release-of-unpaid-covid-allowances-to-health-frontliners |
Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte is urging the Department of Health (DOH) to release the unpaid Covid allowances worth at least P27 billion that have been due to healthcare workers (HCWs) since 2021.
“It’s nearly a year after the WHO (World Health Organization) declared the worldwide health emergency spawned by Covid-19 as officially over, and yet many of our HCWs who were at the frontlines of that three-year global war have yet to receive the economic benefits due them for their untold sacrifices to save lives during the pandemic,” Villafuerte said in a statement on Wednesday, April 17.
Thus, the lawmaker said he is backing a proposal from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to address the delays in release through a nationwide mapping of all the due allowances.
According to DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, the mapping will be broken down per region and per health facility to ensure that all HCWs receive their unpaid Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances (PHEBA) in full.
This proposal likewise pushes the DOH to enter a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and private organizations to speed up the release of unpaid allowances in private hospitals and local government units (LGUs).
“Such a fast-tracked mapping and the use of a blanket MOA with the DILG and private organizations to address bottlenecks in the release of HEA claims mostly in hospitals and LGUs—as both suggested by the DBM— would let the DOH come up with a definitive amount as to how much Covid-19 extra benefits exactly are still due our medical frontliners,” said Villafuerte.
Based on an April 16 report of the DBM, a total of P91.238 billion for the PHEBA of all HCWs have been released.
Of this amount, the DOH—as the implementing agency—has so far disbursed P64 billion. This leaves a balance of about P27 billion that is yet to be handed to medical workers.
Villafuerte noted that the DOH will be able to speed up their paperwork for the intended beneficiaries by carrying out a quick mapping system for all claims and payments.
“With the end of the Covid-19 health crisis almost a year ago already, the prompt and full release of the benefits long due them is the least we can do for our HCWs and non-HCWs who were at the forefront of the war to save lives during the pandemic,” he emphasized.Based on the most recent data from the DOH, a total of 4.14 million Covid-19 cases had been recorded, of which 66,864 infections resulted in deaths.
We have not seen DOH COVID-19 data in a while. 66,864 deaths out of a population of 110 million is hardly a pandemic to be worried about!
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