Restarting the economy won’t be easy

Like what I pointed out yesterday, Cebu City and Mandaue City have insisted on being under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) rather than shifting into a modified ECQ. I don’t really care if they have any scientific reasons for not following the MECQ as ordered by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) because the local government units (LGUs) know better what is happening within their jurisdiction than the IATF.

However, allow me to warn the City of Cebu and Mandaue that they should no longer allow for another extension into June simply because we still have many citizens to be tested or those who are supposedly infected with COVID-19. Again let me say that our political leaders must strike the proper balance in dealing with this virus. On the social media you get all sorts of analysis from the people who know or people who think they know.

For instance, I read an article that facemasks cannot really help if you do not have any virus. That it can allegedly even suppress your immune system by lowering your breath. Another article insisted that disinfecting the ground is utterly useless because the virus only stays a few minutes on the ground and disintegrates. In another twist, no matter what the World Health Organization (WHO) officially announces, I can no longer believe them as an organization because clearly they are playing into what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants them to announce. In my book, the United Nations (UN) has become a corrupt organization corrupted by Red China. Just imagine Red China is now the head of the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) when we know they do not respect anyone’s human rights.

Let me reiterate that the cities of Cebu and Mandaue should now focus on restarting our failed economy, regardless of whether we still have people infected with COVID-19. After about 60 days of lockdown, people need to return to work, otherwise we would have violence on our streets when people can’t pay for food anymore.

Allow me to focus only about restoring our tourism growth, which was phenomenal last year. If by June 1, we reopen our tourism industry, mind you it won’t be with a bang simply because if for instance Shangri-La’s Mactan, Plantation Bay or White Sands reopen, they would need to hire their old employees. However, I don’t think that they would immediately have all their rooms filled simply because they would rely on what the airline operators can bring any number of tourists into our shores. This gives you an idea that these tourist resorts would probably open half of their operations and we can only hope that they would fill at least half their rooms with tourists.

Now remember many of the tourists who come here rely greatly on tour buses so they could visit the various towns in their calendars. So the question is, are these faraway tourist sites already opened by then? For instance, I would like to know whether the whale sharks could still be found in Oslob after a three-month lockdown. Bohol is a bit lucky in the sense that the Chocolate Hills will still be there for tourists to see.

We can only sympathize with the so many tour agencies because I’m sure they are not going to get any inbound tourists soon because COVID-19 has affected the whole world. They may return to the Philippines but in trickles, unlike what happened here last year when tourists came in great numbers to visit Cebu.

Now what about outbound tourists? That means homegrown Cebuano tourists who want to travel abroad. With the Philippine economy in a three-month lockdown, this means many Cebuano entrepreneurs had their business closed or shut down. This tells you that many businessmen would no longer travel or vacation abroad unless something dramatic happens within their businesses. Perhaps if our tourist resorts would come up with a great promo fare for local tourists, they may be able to capture the local businessmen and their families. I guess this is something Department of Tourism (DOT)-7 Director Shalimar Hofer Tamano can look into. Perhaps a Tourism Industry Forum should be done as soon as possible.

What about the restaurant industry? With the need for social distancing, this means that they cannot return to the old order but adopt new scheme so their customers can be confident in eating in their restaurant where they cannot get infected.

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