More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
The pandemic has affected not just people but also dogs.
The pandemic has restricted human connections and has driven pet adoptions up in wealthier countries — but, in the Philippines, families faring worse have been forced to give up their beloved pets and animal shelters are grappling with more rescue calls and with dwindling resources.
In Laguna, pit bulls who escaped a life of illegal dog fighting in 2012 have found a home under the care of CARA Philippines. These rescue pit bulls have gotten older and have been needing more intensive care as senior dogs.
Since the pandemic struck, transporting them to hospitals has been a problem and their caretakers only wish for these dogs to retire in loving homes.
Non-profit group Pawssion Project observed more animals were abandoned and donations decreased too since the pandemic. It is understandable, as lives were upended and jobs were lost, but it does not alleviate the heartbreak.
"There were more animals in need since the pandemic happened, more animals being abandoned, more hit-and-run cases, more pet surrenders as people were also losing their sources of income," Malou Perez, founder of Pawssion Project, tells Philstar.com.
"[It] also affected us, given donations slowed down but the needs of the rescues did not just remain the same but actually increased even more," she says.
The lockdown put many people out of work resulting in animals having to be abandoned or given up because they could not be maintained. In fact we know now that the lockdown resulted in the worst economic crash on record.
The Philippine economy expectedly shrank the largest on record last year after the coronavirus pandemic messed not only with the country's hard-earned economic laurels but also with its ambitions to become a middle-income economy under President Rodrigo Duterte.
The health crisis’ impact was so severe that the slump in gross domestic product (GDP), which hit 9.5% year-on-year, beat even the previous record of 7% contraction during the twilight years of Marcos dictatorship 1984. Going way back, last year's performance was the worst since records started in 1946.
Worse, scars left by the coronavirus and lockdowns it proliferated are likely to linger in the economy. In current prices, the pandemic wiped out P1.5 trillion from 2019 GDP, reflecting the daunting task ahead for the Duterte administration that pledged to restore all these losses by 2022, its last year in office.
Last year’s performance fell within a government’s revised target of 8.5-9.5% contraction.
Not all were bleak on Thursday’s report from the Philippine Statistics Authority though. In the fourth quarter alone, GDP contracted 8.3% year-on-year, continuing a slow rebound from recession that started in the second quarter. From the third quarter, GDP gained 5.6% after lockdowns were eased, consumers were allowed to go out and more businesses reopened.
That said, Steven Cochrane, Asia-Pacific economist at Moody's Analytics, believes sluggish pace of vaccine procurement and the lack of convincing fiscal stimulus would still hurt Philippines' prospects this year.
"Given the slow pace of vaccine acquisition, the moderate fiscal stimulus so far, and the very deep downturn in the first half of 2020 due to the extensive quarantines, I expect that GDP will not fully recover to its previous peak in 2019Q4 until the end of 2022," Cochrane said in an email before the data was released.
"To put this in perspective, if the forecast plays out as we expect, the Philippines will be the last of the Asia-Pacific countries to fully rebound and attain a GDP level above 2019Q4," he added.
It seems the economy has a long way to go before it reaches pre-pandemic levels. With the new virus variants making headway in the country there could be more lockdowns and that could further stymie the road to recovery. With such uncertainty it's no wonder suicide rates are up.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar has acknowledged rising cases of suicides in the city, blaming it partly on the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
Salazar said Wednesday she has instructed Dr. Dulce Amor Miravite, City Health Office chief, and City Social Welfare officer Socorro Rojas to study the possibility of strengthening the city's mental health program.
She said the pandemic has caused depression and exacerbated anxiety among many residents, contributing to suicide incidents.
Police reported that 10 people, mostly men, have committed suicide since January 1 this year.
The latest suicide case involved a 65-year-old resident of Barangay Pasonanca. Some of the victims were students, farmers, and unemployed, police said.
The desperation will only continue as the pandemic lingers.
Some areas under MGCQ will be reverted back to GCQ because of an increase in cases.
Some provinces will revert from the lenient modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) to the more stringent GCQ in February, Malacañang announced on Thursday.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, however, did not disclose which areas will shift to the stricter quarantine measures so as not to preempt President Rodrigo Duterte’s final decision.
What to do if you are forced to stay home again? Why not play a pandemic inspired video game?
Think you could have managed the local COVID-19 outbreak better? A free-to-play online game developed by a Pinoy-led team helps players find out by putting them in charge of a community threatened by the coronavirus.
“In The Time of Pandemia (ITOP),” it becomes their job to save lives by testing and isolating citizens while managing scarce hospital resources and opting to place the community under lockdown.
Of course, the population can always say “No!” to health protocols and carry on partying and spreading the virus.
"Six months before the release of a vaccine, the pandemic threatens to engulf your hometown," read the game's opening text.
From there, a nightmare unfolds as the player attempts to contain the crisis in real-time.
The game can be found here at Newgrounds.
Have you noticed all the face masks littering the ground? Cebu City has and they have passed a new law penalizing people for not properly disposing of their face masks.
Photo documentation by the zero waste advocacy group EcoWaste Coalition, including posts by concerned local netizens, showing used face masks, as well as empty containers of rubbing alcohol and hand sanitizers, littered the streets and creeks, has prompted the councilor to propose the ordinance.
On their regular session on Wednesday, the council has decided to pass the ordinance in order to address the growing wastes brought by the use of personal protective equipment during the pandemic.
“The reckless disposal of COVID-19 protective gears and products, particularly potentially infectious face masks, poses a threat to human health and environment and goes against the efforts of the government to clean up the city,” said the councilor.
In the passed ordinance, households and establishments are mandated to treat all used face masks as hazardous and contaminated waste. Proper disposal of used face masks generated from both households and establishments shall be observed.
Used face masks must be cut in half to avoid their possible reuse and must then be disposed of by putting these in a small garbage bag, ideally yellow in color, and disinfecting them with the recommended bleach solution.
Bags containing the discarded masks must then be properly closed or sealed before disposal. The bags should then be segregated and labeled properly with a written mark that reads “USED MASKS”, or by any yellow color indicating the international color code for hazardous waste.
Interchangeable, replaceable disposable filters utilized in reusable face masks should also undergo the said disposal procedure.
This passed ordinance also prohibits the littering, throwing or dumping of used face masks, face shields, hand gloves and other PPE, and related COVID-19 discards in public places such as streets, sidewalks, parks, canals, esteros and other water bodies.
Violation of the said ordinance would incur fees on the individuals from P1,000 to P3,000 depending on the number of violations. Multiple violators may face jail time upon the discretion of the court.
What a ridiculous burden that Cebu City has placed on the necks of all citizens. You have cut your make in half, bleach it, and put it in a yellow bag with "USED MASKS" written on it. What a total joke! There are laws about recycling and no one does it because there is no system in place to enable recycling. There are no trucks which go around picking up segregated waste. So who is going to take these bags which are to be treated as hazardous waste? Not to mention there are already laws on the books against littering. But no one follows them and no on enforces them.
It's been a year since the first COVID-19 case was diagnosed in the Philippines. Health care workers say it has been a dismal year.
In a statement, the Alliance of Health Workers described government's response to their plight as having "remained extremely slow, numb and deaf" and that there had been no difference in their working conditions from the grueling year that was 2020.
"Nothing has changed in our situation," said Robert Mendoza, AHW's national president. "Many health workers from the regions still lack of protective gear, severe understaffing in public hospitals and health facilities that lead to health workers to extend long hours of duty, low wages, over delayed of payment of miniscule and selective benefits such as actual hazard duty pay and special risk allowance."
Some of the difficulties Filipino health workers have had to grapple with are violence and discrimination, as well as delay in compensation and release of their hazard pay.
Many have also protested the administration's move earlier to halt their deployment abroad. And while the rule has since been relaxed, there remains a cap of only 5,000 medical personnel allowed to leave the country in the hopes of better wages at a time when the economic impact of the COVID-19 had been harsh at home.
"If the DOH and the Duterte administration are really sincere in our well-being, they will not make it difficult for us to get the benefits that are for us," Bonifacio Carmona Jr., a national officer of the AHW, said. "What is happening is that we still have to protest before they will give our hard-earned benefits."
The group had hit as well the administration's pronouncement in telling the public to "not be picky" on vaccines, especially with health workers at the top of government's list to be prioritized for the jabs.
Palace's remarks, which were backed by President Rodrigo Duterte, came following criticism over its apparent preference for the Chinese-made Sinovac whose price and results remain unclear.
"Many health workers declare that they will not present themselves to be vaccinated until there is proof that the government can ensure their safety. What we want is a vaccine that is safe, high efficacy and effectiveness rate, and with reasonable price without tongpats. Along with this is a massive testing, contact tracing and proper isolation,” Mendoza said.
No benefits, a lack of PPE, and sever understaffing are only a few of the problems health care workers are facing.
The Philippines will be facing unique challenges when it comes time to distribute and administer the vaccine. One of those challenges is ensuring the electricity does not go out.
“Given the importance of successfully implementing the vaccination program, the government must ensure that the program will not be disrupted by power interruptions or any other incidents that could result in power loss,” Vargas said in the resolution.
The lawmaker stressed the need for uninterrupted power supply especially as large batches of vaccines are set to arrive from the United States during peak electricity consumption in May.
“Any power interruption occurring during this period will affect the viability and efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines in cold storage facilities, thus putting them to waste,” Vargas said.
“Should these circumstances occur, taxpayers’ money will be misspent and millions of Filipinos will be denied the opportunity for health protection from the coronavirus,” he added.
In a separate statement, Vargas advised local government units (LGUs) to ensure there are available generators and to craft other contingency plans.
“Hindi lang Plan A at Plan B (It should not just be Plan A and Plan B). We need to install as many back-up plans as possible, ensuring that all bases are covered,” Vargas said.
With regular maintenance and a stronger grid this kind of problem would not exist. Hopefully it is a wake up call to strengthen the power grid in the Philippines.
The pandemic has hit the tourism industry hard because of travel restrictions. Airlines have also felt the pinch and many of them are facing bankruptcy.
Most airlines operating at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) will go bankrupt due to the COVID-19 pandemic unless the government and the industry make some coordinated steps to avert it, a report from the aviation industry revealed.
It noted that many airlines have been driven into technical bankruptcy or have substantially breached debt covenants.
A source who requested anonymity said some carriers are already at the stage where cash reserves are depleted quickly as their planes either continue to be grounded or are flying more than half empty.
Before the pandemic, for instance, Philippine Airlines (PAL) flew around 290 to 300 flights per day including those of their hubs at the Clark and Cebu-Mactan international airports.
Now, the company flies only 90 flights per day and carrying only 40 to 60 passengers in an aircraft that could load up to 300 and 400 passengers, respectively.
PAL has seen a considerable slump in business due to protocols and restrictions. As a result thousands will be losing their jobs.
Philippine Airlines (PAL) will cut 2,300 jobs in mid-March—the single-biggest manpower reduction in the local airline industry since the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in 2020, triggering the collapse of travel demand in the country and overseas.
Citing fewer flights and prevailing travel restrictions, the flag carrier said the cuts represented about 30 percent of its workforce and included both voluntary separation and retrenchment.
“This has been an extremely difficult and painful decision. For our colleagues who are leaving, rest assured that we are committed to support you through this transition,” PAL president Gilbert Santa Maria said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We extend to you our deepest gratitude for your years of hard work and dedicated service, and we will always cherish the ties you have established with the PAL family,” he added.
Owned by taipan Lucio Tan and Japan’s ANA Holdings as a minority shareholder, PAL is Asia’s oldest airline and the local carrier with the largest international network, which includes nonstop flights to the United States and Europe.
It suffered more severely than domestic competitors amid travel bans and fears of a virus that was first detected in China and rapidly spread around the globe.
Financial losses at its parent company, PAL Holdings, had ballooned to P28.85 billion as of September last year.
Total financial loses due to travel restrictions have reached P400 billion.
The Philippines lost around P400 billion in income in 2020 after foreign tourist arrivals plunged amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Department of Tourism (DOT) reported Wednesday.
During the hearing of the House committee on Northern Luzon quadrangle on the status of the tourism sector in the region, DOT OIC-Undersecretary Roberto Alabado said that the country only had 1.3 million foreign tourism arrivals last year, way lower than the 8.3 million foreign visitors recorded in 2019.
“This is a very big blow for us. We actually approximately lost around P400 billion in income because of the missing foreign tourists,” Alabado said, adding that the decline in foreign tourist arrivals affected 5.7 million jobs in the country.
To help revive the tourism sector, Alabado said DOT has set its sight to focusing on domestic tourism.
“If we compare the income in 2019 earned from the domestic market, we are counting on a P3 trillion market. This was what we heard in 2019,” Alabado said.
“So the easiest way to revive our tourism is through the domestic market. That’s why, right now, we are promoting and at the same time developing new products, timely and efficient institutional support, and effective strategic communication,” the tourism official added.
If they think the domestic tourism market is still a P3 trillion market they must be crazy. People have lost jobs and moving around is a nightmare. From forced quarantines upon arrival to all kinds of paperwork it's just not worth the hassle. Perhaps what the Philippines should be doing now is cleaning up popular tourist sights and getting ready for whenever the pandemic ends. But of course that kind of activity is baed on tourist dollars. It's a real jam.
