Chua: MECQ in NCR+ could lead to 2.1B loss in daily income, increased hunger and unemployment

In a statement to the press last March 23, 2021, Socio Economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said that Manila and its nearby provinces could lose up to PHP2.1 billion per day if the government placed these areas under stricter lockdowns. Moreover, Chua added that under the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), which would close non-essential businesses, another 58,000 people will experience involuntary hunger (in the addition to the 3.2 million who are already in extreme poverty), and 126,000 more will become unemployed (in addition to the current 506,000 unemployed).

Editor’s Note: When will the Philippine government awaken to the fact that there is no need for lockdowns? When will our president listen to science and common sense? How much more hardship will our marginalized Filipinos be subjected to? Is the -9% contraction of the Philippine economy and the increasing suicide rate, not enough for the president to look at alternative solutions? It feels as if we are now the puppets of the World Health Organization, our government leaders are no longer thinking.