Veteran Liberal Party
senator Franklin Drilon is blaming the Duterte administration for the impending
economic recession after the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) failed to address
the worsening health pandemic brought by the global coronavirus disease.
Drilon in an
exclusive interview with ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel), advised the country’s
economic managers that next six months “would be crucial in setting up the
stage for economic recovery.”
He explains that the strategies and policies rolled out by the IATF to
avert an impending recession have failed, taking into account the pandemic’s
multiple impacts including surging unemployment and involuntary hunger that hit
5.2 million Filipino families.
“The IATF has failed. Let’s call a spade a
spade. Look at where we are today: 70,764 Filipinos were affected as of
yesterday, deaths running to 1,837, 5 million of our people unemployed, 40
percent of our MSMEs closed, and, the worst, 5.2 million Filipino families
suffered hunger in the past three months,” said Drilon.
As per the latest
Social Weather Station (SWS) survey, 20.9 percent or an estimated 5.2 million
of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past
three months—the highest hunger rate since September 2014 according to Drilon.
He also said it also
worsens the situation that the Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco
Duque III “lacks the credibility to be able to command people to do things.”
“He cannot influence
decisions,” said Drilon.
The Philippine
economy contracted by 0.2% during the first quarter and the forecast for the
second quarter is even worse, Drilon noted.
A recession is defined by economists as involving economic contractions for
two succeeding quarters.
“This means that the next six months will be a
question of how to survive. They say that to survive in today’s situation is
already a success. We must be able to survive so that we can set the stage for
economic recovery,” said the LP senator Drilon.
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