"Business groups urge gov't action to avert 'social tensions'", 21 March 2020

The new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that has left millions of workers suddenly jobless is now turning into an economic crisis, and a large number of business groups fear this might soon lead to social tensions and even violence.

To deal with this, 32 business groups are urging Congress to spend more money and help vulnerable communities, even if this means spending more than what the country earns.

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This fiscal stimulus package is several times larger than the P27-billion COVID-19 relief plan earmarked by the Department of Finance, which would mostly aid the tourism sector.

But as the groups put it, the lockdown on Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon imposed by President Duterte will impact millions of workers, be they regular workers laid off by companies that could no longer support them, or informal workers who suddenly couldn't make a living because of strict quarantine measures.

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This, they said, "is literally a matter of life and death for them and their families."

"A health issue is now also a hunger issue and may trigger violence and longer term social tensions," they warned.
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All that money could be used in many ways, like adding to the conditional cash transfer funds for the poor, more funds to help displaced workers, building temporary hospitals and quarantine areas, and subsidies for the health, the tourism and the transport industries.

"Many companies are doing what they can to keep their employees paid despite their inability to work and drastic declines in sales. But they can only do so much compared with the millions who are vulnerable to the downturn," they said.