LONELY PARK A street sweeper cleans a section of Burnham Park in Baguio City even as residents and tourists stopped coming due to restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus. —EV ESPIRITU
BAGUIO CITY—To make up for economic losses expected to reach P1.4 billion due to the Luzon lockdown, the city’s retail and service industries will gradually open for business in May once the local government enforces a modified quarantine scheme, Mayor Benjamin Magalong said on Wednesday.
Hotels and restaurants, for example, need to recover from lost opportunities after closing during summer, which is normally part of Baguio’s peak tourism season, Magalong said.
Retail is downtown’s chief enterprise, followed by hotels and inns, and service contractors like restaurants and business process outsourcing companies.
These businesses lost customers and employees starting late March when the enhanced community quarantine was enforced to contain the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), restricting movement in the city.
Not opening soon
The local government allowed commerce to flourish in communities with small businesses—from neighborhood “sari-sari” (variety) stores and “talipapa” (informal markets) to small laundry shops.
But 2,099 enterprises, such as souvenir and coffee shops, clothing stores and salons, have been closed due to health security policies which prohibit “face-to-face contact,” said Allan Abayao, city licensing officer.
Hotels, cinemas, dental clinics and department stores will not be opening soon for the same reason, Abayao said.
With a huge number of businesses idle, the city government expects a drop in tax revenues this year and in 2021, which can cripple its food and cash aid for families locked indoors for the duration of the quarantine.
The proposed resumption of business operations in May will be staggered and “demand-driven,” Magalong said, citing a draft transition plan outlined for the business sector.
‘Baby steps’
“We have an action plan … It will be in the form of baby steps. So if we encounter problems, we can easily adjust. Unlike [in a situation when we] make a big leap or sudden change, it’s too difficult to adjust,” the mayor told a press briefing on Wednesday.
Under the plan, businesses that sell food, medicines, materials required for manufacturing face masks, and agricultural and hardware supplies will make up the first set of commercial activities that will be allowed to operate.
Courier services, private clinics, laboratories and gadget repair shops have been proposed to open next.
Restoring full-blown construction activity is also being studied to speed up completion of building projects before these pose a danger to the public when the monsoon season starts, according to City Administrator Bonifacio dela Peña.
The city government said businesses that would be allowed to reopen must offer “essential necessities” required by most households. But because of a “new quarantine lifestyle,” items falling under the category of “necessities” need to be modified by the city government, Jasper Golangco, manager of Tiong San Department Store said at the meeting with Magalong.
Appliance stores, to date, were not included in the list of priority businesses that would be allowed to reopen.
Some businessmen at the meeting said the curfew might discourage them from opening “since there won’t be any customers.”
Harsher conditions
As of Thursday, the city had 18 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 12 of which had already recovered.
Magalong said the city government and the police had imposed “harsher conditions” on quarantine violators, handcuffing and arresting at least 100 of them on Sunday when the city was on total lockdown.
“There’s no way to be complacent. We have to be very serious about it. We have to send a message that people here in Baguio are disciplined. People here follow the law,” he said.