1 million workers return to work with MECQ shift — DTI exec

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Commuters queue to ride the EDSA Bus Carousel in Monumento, Caloocan City as some workers return to work after the easing of lockdown status particularly in Metro Manila. INQUIRER file photo / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — Around one million workers were able to return to their jobs when Metro Manila and other areas reverted from the previous enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to modified ECQ, an official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Tuesday.

“Noong nagko-compute tayo, for example sa jobs, we gave a report na from ECQ to MECQ, ang tantsa ng DTI may naka-recover na around one million workers, meaning nakabalik sa trabaho,” Undersecretary Ireneo Vizmonte, of the  DTI’s Management Services Group, said in an online forum organized by the Department of Health (DOH).

(When we computed it, we reported that around one million workers have returned to their jobs during MECQ based on estimates of the DTI.)

“So ibig sabihin niyan medyo lumiit na ‘yung numero ng workers na nananatiling hindi nakakapagtrabaho, dahil alam naman natin na marami pa ring establishments ang hindi pinapayagan under MECQ,” he added.

(So that means the number of workers who have yet to return to work has decreased. We know that many establishments are still not allowed to operate under MECQ.)

Vizmonte said the DTI has yet to come up with an estimate on how many workers have yet to return to their jobs.

According to Vizmonte, most of the business closures observed by the DTI are not permanent but are only temporary because they were not allowed to operate under ECQ.

The government earlier eased tight restrictions in Metro Manila and Laguna and placed these areas under MECQ from August 21 to August 31. Meanwhile, Bataan was also placed under MECQ from August 23 to August 31.

As of May, the number of adult Filipinos who remain jobless was at 12.2 million, according to a survey of the Social Weather Stations.

JPV