Filipino Chinese business group supports “circuit breaker” lockdown in NCR

Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry supported the proposal of OCTA Research to put Metro Manila under stricter “circuit breaker” lockdown.

President Henry Lim Bon Liong said they are warier of the COVID-19 threat when it comes to the “-ber” months, the part of the year with the strongest consumer spending.

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“This is also a bitter pill for us to swallow. Once there’s a lockdown there’s a complete stop in business and once you want to restart again medyo mahirapan na but because of this Delta variant na ito, I think it’s okay na for us to sacrifice 2 weeks itong ghost month to ensure that we will have a stronger and safer 4th quarter or the -ber months ng September to December,” he said.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry opposed this, supporting the DOH’s statement that there was no need for a lockdown.

“‘Yung premature warning nakakatakot po ‘yan. Pabayaan natin ang DOH na mag-handle ng announcement kasi po official po ‘yun eh. Sa OCTA di naman official, kung lahat ng tao magsasabi ng ganyan na. Mahirap pong magkaroon tayo ng ganyang warning kung kani-kanino, hindi naman ho tama ‘yun,” said PCCI acting president Edgardo Lacson.

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Filipino Chinese business group supports “circuit breaker” lockdown in NCR

They added that OCTA should not be alarmist or intimidate and leave the decision to the DOH because they are the ones who know the real situation.

David answered, “Ito ‘yung strategy na ginamit natin noong early this year, February to March. Noong February, nakita namin tumataas na ang kaso, nagbigay na kami, hindi naman kami nag-alarm noon or naging alarmist. We were very cautious, sabi namin tumataas na ang kaso, kailangan may gawin tayo. And nagkaroon ng response, 1 month later. Noong March 28, nag-MECQ kasi sobrang taas ng kaso. At noon, medyo napupuno na ‘yung mga hospital. Kung ganoon ang strategy, I encourage, ire-examine nila the way we identify mga indicators natin.”

NCR will be kept in general community quarantine or GCQ with heightened restrictions until August 15.

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