More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/7/30/only-2-sectors-of-economy-yet-to-recover-from-pandemic-neda-chief-1504 |
Only two sectors of the economy--mining and quarrying, and real estate--have yet to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan told the Senate on Tuesday.
"All the sectors of the economy have already surpassed their pre-pandemic levels as of the 1st quarter of 2024," Balisacan said. Only mining and property, which account for 6.4 percent of the Philippines' gross domestic product, have yet to fully recover, he added.
Balisacan told Senators that the country's GDP for the 1st quarter of 2024 is better than pre-pandemic figures.
"Real GDP per capita picked up to 4.8 percent in the 1st quarter of 2024 from 4.6 percent in the 4th quarter of 2023. This now places us to over 10 percent higher than our pre-pandemic levels. So it took us more than 3 years 2021, 2022, 2023 to exceed by 10 percent the levels that we had pre-pandemic," the NEDA chief said.
He added that three years of economic growth were lost due to the pandemic.
"Remember, 2020 we're practically shut down; 2021 partially opened; 2022 that's when we sped up the opening of the economy. That's essentially it and then of course it slowed down in 2023," he said.
He attributed the slow down to global supply chain disruptions "including our own disruption in our domestic supplies."
The Philippines, under then President Rodrigo Duterte, implemented one of the strictest lockdowns in the world to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
This resulted in the country's worst economic contraction since World War 2.
At least they recognize how devastating the lockdowns were. Perhaps they will eventually admit they were unnecessary.
Loans taken out during the COVID-19 pandemic are coming back to bite the Philippines in a big way with increased spending on interest and bank fees.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/economy/915117/ph-debt-servicing-up-to-p877b-in-2025-due-to-maturing-loans/story/ |
The Philippines is set to spend more to service its debt this year due mostly to the maturity of most of the loans made during the COVID-19 pandemic and the depreciation of the Philippine peso, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said Monday.Under the proposed National Expenditure Program (NEP), the Philippines is set to spend P876.7 billion for debt payments next year, accounting for 13.8% of the P6.352 trillion budget the government has allocated for the coming year.(The increase is due to our maturing loans from the pandemic. We borrowed during those times and most of them have matured and at the same time, the forex, exchange rates, and interest rates are a little high.)The latest data available from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) shows that the government’s outstanding debt stood at P15.347 trillion as of end-May, 2.2% or P330.39 billion higher than P15.017 trillion as of April.
The Philippines is set to spend P848.061 billion for interest payments this year, up from P670.525 billion this year, along with P7.068 million worth of bank charges.
That is 200 billion pesos worth of interest payments alone! How is this sustainable?
The business world is still grappling with "the challenges of a post-pandemic world."
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| https://www.smehorizon.com/meeting-the-challenges-of-a-post-pandemic-world/ |
In May 2024, Payoneer hosted the regional Payoneer VIP Connect Manila event. This brought together experts and influencers to share insights and action-oriented strategies for SMBs to overcome obstacles and seize global growth opportunities.
Attendees– founders, C-suite executives, and industry experts – were drawn from SMBs across different industries and regions, liked by their aims to expand their businesses across borders.
In the second of the two panels at the event, business leaders discussed the challenges and opportunities they faced in a post-pandemic world, and how they leveraged new technologies to meet them.
The pandemic opened up a variety of models for a business to run. As Andrew Dingcong, Senior Vice President, Country Manager, CarParts.com, explains, companies now have to ask if their staff will be working from home, or going fully back to the office, and how to maintain “people investment” either way.
There are no one size fits all answers to this question. Andrew felt that as a tech company, his business could run a hybrid model that ensures staff continue to deliver necessary output, while saving personal resources like gas, or hours spent going to the office.
With the boom in e-commerce that occurred after the pandemic, having secure and reliable payment solutions is key to success. As businesses take up more transnational opportunities, these solutions can also be a matter of consolidation. Dingcongdiscussed how, though businesses opportunities in both the US and the Philippines were equally vital, it “just didn’t make sense having to work with two banks.” A payment solution helped to manage the situation. What are some questions companies should ask themselves when seeking out new payment solutions partners?
Again, flexibility and a willingness to seek out the provider that gives the best balance of cost with access is what he recommends. Reliability, of course, goes without question. It only takes one bad experience where money doesn’t arrive, he explains, to prompt an exit.
This seems like old hat at this point. Will the business sector ever figure out how to navigate this new world?
The Pentagon's secret anti-vax program which targeted Filipinos continues to make waves.
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| https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2024/07/30/the-secret-us-anti-vax-scandal-in-philippines-is-boiling/ |
In the Philippines, the Reuters investigation spurred a Senate investigation led by Senator Imee Marcos, head of the Foreign Relations committee. In the hearing, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said they had contacted the US and were told that the US is looking into the matter. There had been no subsequent US response.
Particularly interesting was the exchange between Senator Marcos and Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez in the US. Over a year ago, Romualdez acknowledged “Washington was holding back all their vaccinesbecause President Biden back then wanted all Americans to get it first [before exporting US-made vaccines to other nations] but we had already paid for our Moderna vaccines and, to put it frankly, I basically begged the White House to give us [the vaccines].”
So, Romualdez turned to then-president Duterte saying that “we need to give VFA [Visiting Forces Agreement] a chance, because it will help us get our vaccines to our people.” Shortly after, [then Foreign] Secretary Locsin called me and said the president had decided that [due to our conversation] we will go ahead and restore the VFA. So that’s the story, that’s how it happened.”
Presumably, the restoration of the VFA was “conducive” to the delivery of US vaccines. After the cancellation of the VFA in February 2020, Duterte restored it after meeting with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on July 30, 2021. That is, when the disinformation campaign again the Philippines was still fully operational by the Pentagon – led by Austin.
U.S. military told Filipino officials that operatives “ceased Covid-related messaging related to its origins and vaccines in August 2021”; right after the restoration of the VFA.
In turn, the VFA set the stage for the dramatic U-turn and the enhanced military cooperation with the US by President Marcos, Jr.
A week before the hearings, Marcos said she was eyeing to invite former health and security officials. Yet, a day before the Senate hearing, Marcos admitted “we are having a hard time getting witnesses regarding the Pentagon black propaganda discovered by Reuters against vaccines such as Sinovac.”
At the hearing on June 25, Marcos asked Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire about the casualty count at the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, when the Pentagon plan was launched. According to Vergeire, the deaths soared drastically and the death toll was at its worst during the third quarter of 2021 because of the deadly Delta Covid-19 variant, with 1,117,896 illnesses and 21,424 deaths. “These are shocking numbers,” Marcos concluded. “Mortality and morbidity rates are terrible, and this is the period the Reuters article referred to.”
Marcos described the U.S. military campaign as “evil, wicked, dangerous, unethical.” She questioned whether it violated international law and looked for legal remedies under international law so that the Philippine national security and public health would never again be violated in such a manner.
Marcos thought the disinformation campaign against the more accessible vaccine at the time – Sinovac – discouraged the Filipinos from taking the Chinese jab and made them more vulnerable to the illness. “Disinformation had its malign effects. We’re talking about millions, hundreds of thousands. This is much worse than the body count and casualties of war.”
Millions, hundreds of thousands of what? Casualties? Ridiculous! The official death toll from COVID-19 stands at 1.82% with 66,864 dead. Marcos is clearly lying.
Cebu Pacific is restoring more flights as travel demand surges. International flights have been restored in Davao.
Cebu Pacific (PSE: CEB), the Philippines’ leading airline, continues to expand its regional network as it restores international flights and launches additional domestic routes from Davao, making air travel even more accessible and affordable from the largest city in Mindanao.Starting October 28, 2024, CEB will operate direct 3x-weekly flights between Davao and Bangkok-Don Mueang.
The airline is also launching daily flights from Davao to Caticlan and Puerto Princesa on October 27, 2024, while 3x-weekly flights to and from Tacloban will operate starting October 29, 2024.
“We are excited to restore international flights and operate additional domestic routes from our hub in Mindanao. Through Cebu Pacific’s extensive network and value-for-money fares, more travelers from Davao will now be able to discover what the Philippines and the rest of the world has to offer,” said Xander Lao, CEB President and Chief Commercial Officer.
Local routes have been restored from Clark.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/7/8/cebu-pacific-resumes-clark-flights-to-4-local-destinations-1408 |
The budget carrier said flights from Clark to Puerto Princesa will resume on October, while flights between Clark and General Santos and Clark and Iloilo restart on October 21.
Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific flights from Clark to Davao will reopen on October 22.
Once these routes reopen, Cebu Pacific will be the largest airline serving Clark International Airport, the budget carrier said in a statement.
"This resumption underscores our commitment to offering greater accessibility to travelers from north and central Luzon and provide every Juan with more opportunities to discover the beauty and diversity of the Philippines, one destination at a time,” said Cebu Pacific president Xander Lao.
Why has it taken so long to resume these flights?
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