Manila will help businesses survive impact of COVID-19 – Moreno

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno assured officials of the FFCCCII nationwide his administration would help business in the national capital survive the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo from his office)

MANILA, Philippines — Manila City Hall will protect economic activity in the national capital from the effects of the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

According to a statement issued on Wednesday, Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso gave that assurance in an online meeting with officials of the 170 chapters nationwide of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FFCCCII).

“I want to reach as many as possible, to help them survive this pandemic. We are now focusing our attention on making sure that there are businesses, jobs, stability,” he said, partly in Filipino. “When business is good, there are taxes, and when there are taxes, we can redirect it to our programs.”

“Your city government will not sleep. We won’t sleep, we won’t stop. We must learn to live with COVID-19. Families, livelihoods, jobs, and businesses will go down to the drain if we are not going to adapt,” he added.

He stressed, however, that people should strictly follow health protocols so that they could return to work safely.

“High-impact projects” in Manila will continue in the spirit of his rallying call, “Tuloy ang Gobyerno,” he added.

He thanked the Department of Finance for granting Manila a P30-billion net borrowing capacity for those projects, some of which had already started.

He said the city had already broken ground for the construction of public housing projects, among them Tondominium and Binondominium. He also recalled the launch of the construction of Bagong Ospital ng Maynila and the renovation of  Manila Zoo.

“We will continue to spend by building long-term programs that address problems and generate income,” he said.

The projects, he pointed out, were part of his campaign promise to rebuild and revitalized the national capital.

“We plan, we do our programs, we envision them for the long-term. We have to govern every day by doing the basics. We govern, we put things in order,” he said.

Domagoso thanked FFCCCII officials and members, led their president, Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong, and government agencies and private sector groups who had been helping the Manila respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also thanked Wilson Lee Flores, chair of the FFCCCII Public Information & Media Committee, for hosting the online meeting.

“The federation helped us a lot on this pandemic. I am grateful as mayor and as a Manilño, and we are grateful here in the city government of Manila,” he said.

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