June

Think June.

That is probably the closest realistic time we can get the domestic economy significantly moving back on track. Our economic managers have chosen this month to begin delivering assistance to the small and micro enterprises that employ the bulk of our people.

In the interim, through the month of May, it is likely that the IATF could modify restrictions and open up areas of the country where it is relatively safe to do so.  Enterprises should begin developing procedures to protect their workers when they do return to work. Our quarantine managers should really crack down on those stupid checkpoints that are hampering the flow of food and vital supplies.

The onset of this pandemic exposed all the weaknesses in our health and logistics systems. In one comparative study of 20 countries struck by the pandemic, Israel was rated the safest and the Philippines ranked last. We do have the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the ASEAN region and the highest number of deaths relative to the confirmed cases.

Somehow, over the past month of “enhanced community quarantine” we managed to stagger along, keeping the epidemic from collapsing our already challenged health care system. The number of confirmed cases continued to climb although a catastrophic spike appears to have been averted. We keep our fingers crossed.

Remember that all we are doing is to keep a spike in infections at bay, preventing our health system from cratering. Although we have increased our testing capacity, we are basically doing diagnostic tests on patients with evident symptoms. This is the reason why the mortality rate seems higher.

We are preparing to move into surveillance testing that will enable health authorities to trace, test and treat infected persons – especially the suspected high degree of asymptomatic persons who are spreading the virus without knowing it. Surveillance testing will involve quick blood tests to screen for antibodies that indicate infection.

We will need more time to fully roll out surveillance testing. Production capacity for those tests is being ramped up. But the whole world needs these tests as well.

In the meantime, we will have to ask our population to be more resilient. The lockdown is toughest on the most vulnerable communities. Available resources for directly subsidizing poor households are finite, notwithstanding the immense generosity of our private sector.

The worst we could do at this difficult time is to trip into haphazard policy decisions that might seem politically profitable in the short term but catastrophic over the longer term.

Sen. Imee Marcos proposed earlier this week that the country declare a moratorium on our debt payments. That is a horrible idea.

Right now, 100 countries are lined up for emergency borrowing to fight the pandemic. If we declare a moratorium, we get thrown out of that line. Our credit rating falls through the floor. Even private companies will not be able to access financing to restart. Our financial system, key to delivering subsidies to the poor, will simply freeze up.

Sufficient

What could make the already unhappy conditions of community quarantine doubly unbearable would be water and power interruptions.

The National Water Resources Board has kept the flow from Angat Dam normal, betting we will get enough rain in June to refill it. Meanwhile, Meralco assures the metropolitan area uninterrupted power supply.

The power distributor deferred its scheduled maintenance activities to help ensure against disruption. Highest priority has been given to providing uninterrupted power supply to hospitals and DOH facilities. Only a few critically loaded areas, approved by the Department of Energy, will experience very brief interruptions if ever.

Like most of our large companies, the giant distribution utility has been actively contributing to the fight against the epidemic. In partnership with Concepcion Industries, Meralco helped provide cooling systems to the tents set up by the National Kidney and Transplant Institute to accommodate a possible surge in COVID-19 patients. The company likewise provided 16 floodlights for tents at the Lung Center of the Philippines.

The power distributor boosted the energy capacity of the three main COVID centers: the PICC, the World Trade Center and the Rizal Memorial Complex. This involved installation of additional electrical systems to cope with the power demand accompanying the influx of patients.

Meralco energizes Quezon City’s regional evacuation center, along with the lodging facilities for health care workers set by the St. Luke’s Medical Center at BGC. Vital transformers and other electrical equipment were installed in several areas in Cavite as well as at the offices of the Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office. Metered electrical services were installed at the PNP checkpoints in Meycauayan and Pasig to support their law enforcement activities.

As a direct assistance to our heroic health workers, Meralco has deployed a fleet of eJeeps to ferry them from lodging to their places on the frontlines. The ferry service supports health workers at The Medical City, Robinson’s Galleria, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, St Martin de Porres Charity Hospital, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, the National Center for Mental Health and the VRP Medical Center.

Meralco president (and Philippine STAR chair) Ray C. Espinosa says: “Going beyond the power and light we deliver, this current crisis calls for us to be beacons of reliability and hope.  We are keeping the lights on for our frontliners and affected Filipinos, and we are one with government in overcoming this crisis.”

The power distributor’s commitment gives us great comfort in this moment of tremendous difficulty.