Business leader cites need to move to selective quarantine

MANILA, Philippines — The presidential adviser for entrepreneurship on Sunday backed a recommendation to put Metro Manila under a modified quarantine, where certain barangays could be locked down when necessary.

“I have been consistent since the first day of the lockdown. We need to move toward a selective barangay quarantine approach. This has been the private sector’s position, which I had presented during the meeting with the President three weeks ago,” said Joey Concepcion, who is also founder of the business advocacy group Go Negosyo.

Under the Go Negosyo banner, Concepcion is leading a civic effort with business groups called Project ARK to push mass testing in the country.

Sought for comment, the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines said it was also supporting the move for a selective quarantine.

Calibrated way

Executive director Coco Alcuaz of the Makati Business Club said in a text message that “from a purely economic standpoint, there is a strong case to open up in a calibrated way sooner than later. But we also want the safest possible outcome when we do open up.”

A modified general quarantine was the third recommendation that the 17 mayors of the Metro Manila Council came up with on Saturday, along with their option to lock down certain villages when necessary.

The first recommendation was to extend the lockdown until May 30, and the second, to adopt a more relaxed general quarantine.

Concepcion said that the third option offered the best balance between two interests—protecting public health and restarting the economy.

“Balancing buhay (life) and kabuhayan (livelihood) is not easy, that is why we must gradually and cautiously lift the lockdown and safely bring people back to work. This is what needs to be done to save lives, as well support the livelihoods of our MSMEs [micro, small and medium-sized enterprises],” he said.