Overcoming the Pandemic! (First of 2-Parts) ‘Liberate,’ Incentivize Provinces With Low or Zero COVID Cases

Yesterday, after I said that in the face of the worsening economic situation of the country there is a need for adjustments in our strategy in handling the COVID 19 Pandemic, I was asked what adjustments could cushion the negative impact of the lockdowns on the country’s economy?

Today, I prepared a two-part article where I would share my thoughts as a rural development advocate, a field worker and former local government executive on how to keep the country afloat in these difficult times.

Let me start by emphasizing that Governance is just like a basketball game.

You operate within a defined area, follow a set of rules and work towards one objective – shoot the ball to score.

You are allowed to make adjustments and innovate – lay-up, dunk and go for 3-pointers if the situation warrants. What is important is you score.

As the country faces one of the most economically debilitating crisis since World War II, it is important to remember this simple parallelism between governance and basketball.

A few days ago, National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary General Karl Kendrick Chua said that the lockdowns “will result in lost production output of about P150-B per week, affecting more than 600,000 workers and will increase the number of the poor by about 250,000.”

What adjustments or innovations in governance are needed to address this?

I will not venture into the issue of whether lockdowns are good or bad for the economy because that is not my field of expertise, rather I would pitch in some practical innovations in governance which may help ease our economic difficulties.

1. Tactical Area Liberation Strategy.

One of the major blunders in our handling of the COVID 19 Pandemic was declaring right away at the onset a lockdown for the whole country for months and directing the LGUs to feed their constituents.

It was made on the assumption that the whole country was threatened by the virus forgetting that there are remote areas, especially islands, where people do not even know the meaning of COVID.

The national lockdown effectively paralyzed the entire archipelago and sapped the LGUs’ resources in just a few months.

Learning from that mistake, we should now reverse the strategy through the Identification of Safe Zones or areas with the least number of COVID 19 cases or none at all.

While some places are placed under lockdowns, ECQ, GCQ or MECQ, a parallel effort to identify “Safe Zone” should be done, as well.

The Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID 19 and the Department of Interior and Local Government could initiate an awards system for Local Government Units with “Zero” or negligible cases of “COVID 19” and use them as models for other LGUs.

This would not only boost the sagging morale of the nation but also encourage other LGUs to work harder to control the spread of COVID 19.

One suggested “Award” is the prioritization of the “Safe Zones” in the vaccination program targeting 100% of the population after which the area could be declared as a “Liberated Zone.”

(As a poultry raiser, I had learned that you could only ensure protection of a flock of chicken if you vaccinate all of them by batches. You could not vaccinate just 10 heads in a batch of 100 and delay the vaccination for the rest. That would be disastrous. The vaccination should cover one whole flock at one time.)

In the “Liberated Zones,” especially isolated islands which had been fully covered by vaccination, things should slowly return to normal starting with the resumption of face-to-face classes in schools, the opening of work places and offices functioning but still observing the usual health protocols.

The government through the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry and government financing institutions should focus their interventions on the “Liberated Zones” to boost the local economy, produce food and at the same time create jobs and income opportunities.

Targeting 3 to 4 provinces every month, the government in less than two years would just be left with the major urban centers where the battle, admittedly, would be more challenging.

The only consolation there would be that we know where to focus government efforts and resources as the fight to neutralize COVID 19 continues.

Meanwhile, jobs and business opportunities would be available in the countryside which in turn would be churning out the supplies needed by the whole country, especially food.

(Last Part Tomorrow: Focus On Local Production To Boost Economic Growth.)

#GovernanceIsCommonSense!

(Photos downloaded from public websites.)