The relatively high growth rate was seen because it is the first to be measured against the low base of when the lockdowns were at their worst last year, including a 17 percent contraction in the second quarter of 2020.
While the Duterte administration has implemented a two-week stricter lockdown, other legitimate demands raised by medical experts have been largely ignored. It must be pointed out that many of the recommendations have been articulated by several health NGOs since day 1 but, unfortunately, these have fallen on deaf ears.
Despite these loans, government was only able to spend P98.3 billion for 17.5 million households as of June 27. According to independent think-tank Ibon Foundation, the subsidy amounts to just P53 per family or P12 per person per day for the past 106 days since the COVID-19 lockdown started. By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL Bulatlat.com…
“Regional inequalities in the country can be reduced by providing economic dynamism in rural areas, which have lagged behind the urban areas and growth centers in the previous decades, leading to serious regional disparities.”
“More and more Filipino families will be pushed into deeper poverty under the COVID-19 lockdown if government does not speed up and significantly expand socioeconomic relief and response to reach all those needing assistance.” By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL Bulatlat.com MANILA – It has been a month since Luzon was placed under enhanced community quarantine…
“During an intense crisis, the economic policies that should be implemented are those that are pro-people.”
Four in ten of the almost 2,000 respondents on their online survey claimed they haven’t received any assistance yet from DOLE due to inefficiencies in its process, while 23 percent claimed their applications were not processed by their respective employers.
For Ibon, the widening gap between the rich and the poor illustrates best the state of the Philippine economy. The P4-trillion net worth of 40 richest Filipinos is equivalent to the income of 54 million Filipinos.
“The Duterte administration is attacking IBON because our research, education and advocacy work exposes Philippine economic realities that the government wants to conceal.”
By DEE AYROSO
It aims to “stifle economic analysis that is inconsistent with its (Duterte administration’s) preferred narrative of growth and development.”