MANILA, Philippines — Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion urged the private sector in Metro Manila to be more vigilant as restrictions are further relaxed under the general community quarantine that takes effect on Monday.
Jose Maria Concepcion III, who led a private sector testing initiative named after the messianic ark in the Bible, called Project ARK (antibody rapid test kits), also said there should be continuous testing of employees on a voluntary basis.
“I’m encouraging everyone to be more vigilant. A second lockdown will be devastating for the livelihoods of our MSMEs [micro, small and medium-sized enterprises] and large corporations,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
“The good effects of the government’s stimulus package will be negated if this happens. And what is worse is that many may lose hope,” he added.
He also called on employers to keep testing their employees for COVID-19, regardless of what tests they use.
Under Project ARK, companies can volunteer to order rapid test kits for their employees. So far, it has partnered with more than 300 companies and raised more than 1.2 million rapid test kits.
“For us to keep the economy continuously open, we need to maintain clear visibility through regular testing of employees and LGUs [local government units] that we are helping,” he said.
“Whether we use RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) or rapid test kits, whatever testing methods are available out there that give us good visibility is what we have to do. We must use all the tools available to us at the moment to protect the lives and livelihood of our people and to effectively fight COVID-19,” he said.
“Let us not be complacent. The war is still on until we find a cure,” he added. INQ