Health and livelihood not a ‘binary choice,’ Finance chief says

MANILA, Philippines — Safeguarding public health and allowing Filipinos to return to their livelihoods should not be a “binary choice,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Wednesday.

Dominguez said this as he called for further opening up the country’s economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic which he referred to as the “toughest economic crisis” for most Filipinos.

“In a country whose median age is below 25, the COVID-19 health emergency is perhaps the toughest economic crisis most of our people will live through. This pandemic is a ‘black swan’ event that no one anticipated and was truly prepared to deal with,” Dominguez said during a pre-State of the Nation Address forum.

While the government “took stock of the situation,” Dominguez noted that the virus will remain and continue to affect the economy until a vaccine is developed.

“The reality is that this virus will not go away until a vaccine is found. In the meantime, we must get back to work while staying safe. We need to strike a reasonable balance between safeguarding public health and restarting our economy,” Dominguez said during a pre-State of the Nation Address forum.

“Health and livelihood is not a binary choice. We must protect lives in ways that do not prevent us from earning a living,” he added.

Dominguez also reiterated the need to further open up Metro Manila and Calabarzon as the regions make up 67 percent of the country’s economy.

Metro Manila is under general community quarantine (GCQ) until July 15.

Cavite and Rizal are also under GCQ while Batangas, Laguna, and Quezon are under modified GCQ, the lightest form of lockdown measure.

“We are asking all Filipinos to cultivate in themselves a renewed sense of confidence through continued vigilance not out of fear, but with the knowledge that most factors of viral transmission are under our control,” Dominguez said.

JE