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(I am a Filipino citizen)

We have the worst Government in this time of Pandemic, It's not all about the President but the Government as a whole.

what can you say about our situation for being the worst and also as the leading country on ASEAN that has a high  number of Covid Cases. It's been months already and yet, jnstead of recoveries we are getting most of it, and our economy is already falling. Or in other words, how will you react if you're one of us staying on the same country...

If you have any money left then start buying gold or cryptos because the value of fiat is going to get a big hit if the economy falls rapidly.And try to create your own job opportunities don't wait for the government to do it for you which will be really helpful with tacking the unemployment.

But this is not only the issue of Philippines, almost every developing and developed country are into that situation.

The same scenario is playing out in a couple of other nations, especially those which did not react quickly to the rise of the pandemic. The situation in Philippines is however exacerbated by the actions of the government which has little regard for the lives of it's citizenry. With the lower class being worst hit.
• Firstly, you should take adequate precautions to avoid getting infected by the virus, while also building your immune system using vitamins to protect you in case you contract it.
• I will advise also taking precautions to protect your funds. Economies worldwide are contracting and thus would likely lead to inflation and a drop in the value of currencies. To prevent this you could hold your funds in more stable assets.

With all due respect, how did you say that the PH economy is falling? PH economy, the same as in other countries, is slowly recovering now even bit by bit.

Just because the number of confirmed cases in the PH increases every day, it does mean that the economy is falling. But still, there are lots of opportunities to earn. The food industry becomes hit. Delivery becomes hit. Transport becomes hit. Online selling becomes hit. If the economy is falling you won't see this business. Everyone wants Milktea, Pizza, and various food.

PH is still lucky compare to those 1st world countries that the situation is really worst. PH is not totally at its worst and people have lots of options to make savings. Focus on that and everything will be financially secured.

Help ourself. We don't need to rely on the government. There are opportunities everywhere.

I can feel you buddy and I am having the same feeling about the situation towards the Philippine government on which we are seeing numerous cases of infected individuals despite of the couple of months community quarantine that seems nothing is happening. Yes, I understand that the reason why the cases are keep on rising is because of the mass testing being done compared to the previous months which make it hard to identify the infected individuals locally and from those people that just went home from other countries because their jobs are being affected by the pandemic.

The Philippine government as of the moment have already debt reaching almost 10 trillion pesos or accumulated to be 200 million USD which is said to be used for the response this pandemic but the citizens seems not to be feeling where does the fund get into? Lately I have read from the news a very surprising news about the biggest number of recovery being recorded which is 38,000+ that on a first glance is really a good news because it was a great move that many people are now being recovered from the virus but upon reading the classifications to be stated as recovered that includes asymptomatic and mild cases, this makes no sense for the department of health to manipulate such data just to say we are fighting back against the virus.

This pandemic have brought up many job opportunities most specially through online that is pretty good to know but it does not and cannot hide the thing that the economy is struggling due to lots of debts that are unseen to be useful and supposedly to be used this pandemic. Citizens must have concern on this because taxations and income coming from overall production of the country will be used up to pay for that and I think it will take too long for that to be cleared out.

Incompetent indeed but also look at the fact that we are overpopulated, Metro Manila is the most dense city in the world so don't expect that all people will be given a relief coz it is not only the Metro Manila that needs it, there are 110+ cities more and 42,000+ barangays all over the Philippines. Central Government is doing just as fine, its sectors do not including the LGUs, why don't we see a rally just outside the city hall? if the budget was released to them? why don't we question our Local government for not receiving any of the relief? The palace has all the documentation of the budget that has been released to the LGUs, ask them why there are still people who did not get their cash aids.

And those people who compares the entire Philippines to the New Zealand bruh  :-\  NZs total population is just the same as Quezon City and Maynila's combined population, not even the whole Metro Manila. Not even Luzon, just QC and Maynila Imagine how dense the population in Manila.

Having a huge debt has its own side, bad for us coz we need to pay it but good for Philippines reputation coz they are trusting on our economy that we can pay them in the future.

Of course, the economy is not as good as before but still, it tries to rise slowly, and having those job opportunities is one good example that the economy is not literally falling down. There's a light so need to be negative. PH is still lucky honestly.

I'm not against at your thoughts but in the time like this, as I said, help yourself. Even rich countries are struggling today. Stand up!

And take note of this before voicing out concerns about where the debts go. BEFORE pandemic, PH is already facing debts in the previous administration. Where it goes? Debts today were used to SAP (worth 200 billion Php 5,000 - Php 8,000 to 18 million families), nurse salary increases, Covid-19 response, and many more. There's a reason why government debt.

Program, Amount (Billions)

DSWD Emergency Subsidy Program, 200.98
SSS Small Business Wage Subsidy Program, 51
DOH COVID-19 Programs and Procurement of Test Kits, 48.23
Bayanihan Grant to Provinces and Cities and Municipalities, 37.02
DA COVID-19 Program, 11.1
DOLE Workers Assistance Program, 7.44
DOLE OWWA Repatriation Program, 5.15
Other Agencies, 13.99

I am also frustrated on how they talk to people and their decisions being made but that doesn't mean they are letting our country rot. The economy is not that bad, we have a pandemic, it is natural that we will be affected by that but we can relate this to our debt.It is said that we have a good credit when it comes to borrowing money and that is because of the debt to gdp ratio. They let us borrow money because they know we can pay it.

That just means that they know that we can recover from this and we will not be feeling that debt in no time.

I don't think that having debts is normal just because big countries are also having debts and their economy is struggling too. The point is, we can't prevent having debts if they implemented wise decisions and being competent like the neighboring countries, Singapore, Vietnam, and Brunei. I guess that an early travel ban would be an ace decision to avoid this struggle happening to us on this pandemic. If you really are living here in the Philippines, you knew that the time spent on the quarantine is just being wasted for lifting the quarantine without any changes in the statistics of COVID cases. You will also notice that there are unnecessary things that have implemented that aren't related to the pandemic, too much focus on power.

We already knew how COVID-19 is dangerous in early January, and as you can see, some countries already prevented the huge cases by performing a travel ban. It is obvious that sacrificing a few days is better than sacrificing a lot of months that will be resulted into waste.

Wait, Php 10 trillion seems very  excessive (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_Philippines) figure isn't? , I guess it's safe to say almost Php 9 trillion like what most of the article in the internet.
I guess you are misinformed about the cumulative Php 8.6 trillion Philippine debt?
* Gloria Arroyo's term left a Php 2 trillion debt to the next administration.
* Aquino's administration left Php 4 trillion+ debt to the next administration.
* Currently, the Duterte administration have Php 2 trillion+ debt to combat the pandemic and other economical expenses.
And that's how you accumulate the almost Php 9 trillion over all debt of the PH.

Please refer to this link for additional info (this is 4 years ago before the Duterte administration) : https://www.google.com.ph/amp/s/newsinfo.inquirer.net/766619/next-president-to-inherit-p6-4-t-debt-freedom-from-debt-coalition/amp (https://www.google.com.ph/amp/s/newsinfo.inquirer.net/766619/next-president-to-inherit-p6-4-t-debt-freedom-from-debt-coalition/amp)

Now, do you still question the current administration where the budget landed?
Aquino admin made more debt than Duterte admin, WITHOUT THE PANDEMIC.
How much more If the Corona virus blew during the Aquino administration?

Yes you are right that Philippines is the leading country with the most number of positive cases but do not deny that there are also many recovered cases everyday. I think every country are also goes through this circumstances and not only Philippines even rich countries have debts because we do not expect this pandemic to come and get worse quickly. The PH economy is not as good as before this pandemic comes but the most important thing is that the government does not give up and tries to get up slowly.Everyone must also help themselves to find other ways to survive and not rely entirely on the government.

I'm not so sure that's a great idea.  If the economy suffers, you're going to need cash to pay for everything and I'd only invest in gold as a hedge against inflation if I had a serious excess of money.  As far as buying bitcoin, that would be an extremely risky move and I wouldn't advise it if you think your job is in jeopardy or something similar.  It's just too volatile.

OP, I rarely hear anything about the Philippines in the news and I didn't know it had gotten as bad as you describe.  That sucks and I feel for you.  But what else can you do?  If you can afford to, you could emigrate to a different country, but that's a huge life change that most people would be reluctant to do.  I would just say stay hopeful and remember that this whole coronavirus outbreak is going to pass and the economy is eventually going to improve.  You just have to hold on until things start to normalize.

I still think the best method to curb disappointment in governments is to rely on them less.

• Grow food
• Produce water
• Generate electricity
• Build and fix things
• Share knowledge and information
• Improve coordination and communication between communities

If we're able to do these basic things, it gives governments less power and control over us.

As far as corona virus goes.

• Some herbs, plants and fruits carry anti viral properties which can be effective against viruses like corona
• Chloroquine which was affordable and available worldwide is effective in treating it
• Masks are also effective deterrents

The philippines could be in a difficult situation with china over the south china sea conflict. That could be one more thing to take into account.

Almost in every third world country same situation is prevailing. In my country the government will soon announce it is their responsibility to take care of themselves. As a beginning to the same, government has announced testing cost for covid-19. For a single testing it is charged $50, some families don't even earn this in a complete month. I believe it is time to prepare ourselves learning how to cultivate our own foods, if not surely it'll be hard to live.

Of course I am sorry about the situation in your country, but I can say that you are not the only one in it, we have here in my country the worst government also and failure in everything, wars, poverty, famine and Corona virus is spreading every day, the economic situation is collapsing and the government is not doing anything to relieve the citizens, They don't do anything but steal and put pressure on citizens through taxes and crazy high prices.

I really doubt our economy will have  a chance to rise up again, we have already so many debts even before this outbreak, and here it goes another debt for us to take.
And yeah, it really sucks to be here, if only I have a chance to pick a country where to stay to I would go to Singapore/Japan/Canada - any of those three.
Cases that really pissed me off:
-Imagine your Health Secretary just announce 38k of recoveries in one day? will you believe that?
-IATF gives a f*ck on letting the motorcycle run again, but what's with the barrier thing? you can be on an accident anytime just because of that, can't see their logic especially if the backrider was your wife/partner
-President has another plans  for other issues instead of focusing on this pandemic and giving us a hard lockdown.

Shitty country, I almost quit Facebook just to stop seeing those things everyday.

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You can do those basic things here, they limit the transportations, jobs, foods/medicines to take, even the Online opportunities they're restricting the people to get more money by giving out taxes on all the things and transactions. Imagine you're just selling for a mere Php100-1000 and you still need to register and pay tax? That's insane IMO!

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I really can say now that the real nature of a human will come if there is a crisis. (Survival of the RICHEST not the fittest)

I am also a Filipino, living here in NCR...where covid-19 cases was extremely higher.
Just like you, I am much disappointed with the Government in handling this Crisis. Though, I can see the highest leaders struggle to fight this virus and give aid to people despite our limited resources...but still, severe political attitude of many leaders are interfering behind this Country's battle. Instead of focusing on the recent issue, the unknown enemy that killed the lives of Filipinos, some leaders keep on arguing and pointing fingers at each other.
And the worst, is the unending corruption that tormented the people. No wonder, the covid-19 cases grows higher each day. The economy is definitely at its worst. And how will people survive without economy? We are all at risk. But, I guess, we can still find some ways to survive. Let's just keep our faith and stay safe.

A citizen here, definitely the government is a shit and we are slowly sinking together with their shitty decisions, the fact that they are focusing more on making their grip on power more stronger rather than the welfare of their is an indication of apathetic government, corruption and discrimination against the poor has never been so rife ever since this pandemic, poor people are arrested and the privileged get away with a slap on the wrist. The problem with government right now is endless, and I think that this also should serve as a lesson for us citizens to vote wisely and seriously because the masses are the most at fault here because they got enticed by the words of these fools who have empty promises, remember that the masses are in power when it comes to choosing who they want to lead, we also should not depend our whole life to the government because you are not the only citizen in the country, do something for yourself, give back what you can to the community and treat everyone with respect.

I am also disappointed on how this turned out.

A lot of cases and still increasing, manipulated recoveries being shown to people by the DOH adds more disappointment. The economy will obviously be affected by the pandemic and that is the same with other countries as well. They handle this very bad that the SONA of the president can't even be called a SONA.

I hope we people can just do the things we can do in order to lessen the burden of the country. That is the least we can do.

Just like most of my fellow Filipino citizens, I'm also disappointed with the things happening in our country. Well, the most recent thing is the sudden increase in the number of recovered patients. The Department of Health stated that those with mild symptoms and asymptomatic were included in the recovered ones which resulted to a total of 39k+ recoveries in just a day! That's shocking, right? Well at least for me though. So many disappointing things including those said before me.


That's indeed the least we could do — not add to the burden of our country. Our economy is down, but so in other countries. I'm still positive and hoping that we got this. I know we, Filipinos, are resilient and we can bounce back from this crisis. There's always light at the end of the tunnel.

The united states has done the same for decades.

Its everywhere.

I, too, am a Filipino citizen.

Of course, I won't say this government is the worst but I sure would say that this is a bad government with or without pandemic. The problem about bad governments like ours is that it worsens when bigger problems arrive.

But we are not the leading country in terms of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia. We haven't yet entered the 6-digit threshold while Indonesia has already surpassed 100,000 cases. In fairness, our recovery of 65,178 out of 93,354 overall cases is 69.8%.^[1] That is not hopelessly bad considering that the surge in cases has greatly increased just lately. And our mortality rate remains at a little more than 2%.^[Ibid.]

On the overall, though, I would consider our approach terribly wanting. For one, there seems to be very low sense of urgency among those at the top. Another is that we are too centralized in our approach despite the fact that we are an archipelago, with islands locking down on their own, and with cases greatly varying from one to another.

In terms of economy, we are just slowly recovering. We are now gradually opening up economic activities all over the country. And I guess we are not the worst hit country in terms of the economic effect of COVID-19.

[1] https://www.csis.org/programs/southeast-asia-program/southeast-asia-covid-19-tracker-0

I don't know, I can't make a clear conclusion on my mind right now because I'm having a hard time considering the stance of our government as well as the voice of the opposition. Both of them got good points to be honest, they are right in their own ways however I think this will never help our country — it actually makes the situation even worse. There's no unity :-\.

I remembered a statement from a frontliner regarding this issue (I found it on FB post AFAIR), "Buhay muna, bago politika". Direct to the point! This is the thing we must all realized.

Philippines numbawan! (and it s*cks) :-\.

The structure of the Philippine economy is manufacturing, the economy is supported by domestic consumption and stable macroeconomic conditions thanks to tax reform policies and large infrastructure spending. The high growth of the Philippine economy is more caused by capital inflows from abroad (capital inflow). This is what plays an important role in encouraging investment in the country. The amount of Philippine capital inflow is caused by qualified and certified Filipino migrant workers compared to other ASEAN countries, especially in health workers and construction workers.

The pandemic hit all the countries in ASEAN but some countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia were very controlled because they had been well prepared because they had confronted directly and suffered from the bird flu pandemic. Certainly, after this corona pandemic ends and due to the massive and massive effects of suffering and damage, each country will have the ability to detect pandemics early and make better preparations, even though no one hopes for a pandemic to come again.

If you are the people and you do not have capabilities in economic and government matters, you should not have to think about what the government should do, in order to avoid stress. All you can do is try to survive while still helping people around you to get through this situation together.

Like Indonesia, the Philippine government has begun to open up economy and tourism with the covid protocol, with the aim of fending off the potential for depression. Many people around the world feel hopeless, wherever their country, I think all experienced a decline in the economy evenly, even Vietnam although the case is small but Vietnam as a trade hub with China and America also experienced the same thing.

yeah, it is. the only difference is the Government who handles it all. I'm pretty sure some Countries already made a wise decisions for their people, but look at us, day by day it gets worse, worsen by people of the government ho only thinks shitty suggestions without considering the out comes.

How can you say that the Phillipines has the worst economy?

Haven't you seen how the United States is getting hit worse than anywhere else? They're on a second wave already and will probably have a third and fourth after it.

Even European countries like Spain and Italy are getting smashed. Every economy is crumbling right now, except the ones that were adequately prepared for this, like China, South Korea and Singapore.

Care to list why you think Phillipines is doing the worst?

here's a list:

people cant get out.
there is no ABS CBN anymore.
and we can't watch FPJ ang probinsyano anymore. i hate Philippines i wanna go to bohol.  ;D

If only our Government has thick ball during the first day to impose travel ban, then we would not suffer heavily with this pandemic. Its not only the government's fault but our community has lack of discipline. During locked down, you can still see people lurking even its not allowed to stroll, ignoring the deadly virus to easily contract people.

Anyway what done is done. Infairness, somehow some business have started to progress but of course there is sacrifice needed in order to stay of the game, unfortunately the consequence beared by poor filipinos. Infairness werent that worst but not that good either. Its just matter of handling the worst scenario. Read this, [1]

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[1] https://rappler.com/business/coronavirus-drives-philippines-toward-recession-duterte-4th-year-ends

other countries actually allow people travel but forcing them to go home to their respective home town before locking down is implemented. vietnam did this.

our government did the opposite. but this is probably one hard thing to do because Philippines is archipelago. the government can;t provide money right away for the people who wants to go home because it has to be decided by officials first and officials can vote NO as always.

to blame, its really the kind of government we have and this is why it need constitution change (cha-cha).

Yep, it might somehow help to avoid stress. But sometimes you can't help but to raise your concern about their poor management towards the problem at hand, considering that -- first, you're paying tax, and second one, you're a citizen under them. And, one more thing, you never know, your oppositions, someday might turn out to be the catalyst to see some positive adjustments from them.

I just saw a picture in social media and it came from one of the Spain's doctors praising the response of our government towards the pandemic so... yeah :D.

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In every situation, I always see the positive and negative side of it. In this case I will share my opinions in both sides.

Our country is a developing country and considered overpopulated too. Most of the cases right now came from Metro Manila which has around 18 Million People and the population density in that place is very high because of the low area and high number of people that is why the virus can easily spread in Metro. This is the problem right now of the government. Include also the fact that people are too hard-headed and don't want to follow the protocols.

On the other hand if I will see a good thing that the government has done towards the pandemic, I think it will be the stimulus package and the SAP (Social Amelioration Program) but still it isn't enough. There are some instances too that some of the councilors and the chairmen are not giving the correct amount towards those people in need.

In my opinion, not only our country's economy is falling but every country in the world. Its just that developing countries are the ones who got hit very hard. With the current situation right now, I think that I will not react at all to what is happening right now.

The only thing that I didn't like about the response of the government is that when there is already cases in the country last 3-4 months ago, the president just didn't make a move towards the tourism and let some Chinese Shits to enter the country instead of immediately banning the travel in China. This is the only thing that I didn't like about the response of the government in this pandemic but overall, I think they did a good job and even though we have a different president right now, I know that the same thing will happen. People will suffer from hunger, people will succumb from the virus and more people will be jobless.

The problem right now isn't in the government itself but the people in general. People aren't following the protocols. People are just going outside like there is no pandemic.

If I'm one of those people who are struggling right now, I don't want to buy any assets right now. Right now, it is a survival game where people need to survive in order for them to live another day. This isn't a good advice TBH because people right now needs cash and not assets like gold and cryptos.

Just a little trivia. The 6 Trillion of the total 10 Trillion pesos debt of the government right now came from the past governments so in short, only around 2-4 Trillion is the total debt by the current government. Its just that the media shits are just saying that 10 Trillion is the debt of the government whereas the 6 Trillion is the debt of the past government being passed to the present government.

And this debt are being used as aids to different people that are in need.

But try to see the whole scenario so that you can picture out how worse the situation is and you cannot tell the government miss handle things since so far they already provide help to the citizens, Maybe there are some LGU's are not doing there job that's why there are people doesn't reached by the help provided by the national government. Criticizing is good if those concern is valid but if you are raising that concern because you are basing on the news provided by bias medias and other leftist group then you are not helping the situation hence you are a additional problem to the government.

We should follow the simple protocol since by staying at home and wearing mask as well other PPE it could save lives and economy.

It's really crazy and I am not going to try to sugarcoat it because I am not living in the Philippines other than what is being reported in the news but you are there and you know where it hurts. The real issue is that most countries were not prepared for this kind of hit and the reason why some countries are still standing in the scheme of things is that they have developed enough to the extent of having an absorber for things like this but they are still taking the hit.

What can you do? I doubt if there is anything any individual can do other than take everyday at a time because these are trying times for everyone. This too shall pass is all we can hold for.

No government has been prepared for this pandemic but what good thing is the aids are released to the local LGU's but expect the delays since that is the system of centralized government where the money intended for help came across to the many hands of greedy peoples, And also the citizen itself add the problem since if all follow the health and safety protocols for sure the timeline of lock down will be shorten. I know poverty really hit to the people badly when pandemic came but we should not rely on governments since we can do something beneficial for us to assist things and earn money during this times.

I agree with you, is not only the President who are irresponsible, but also those Secretaries of each departments especially in the health sector. Their plans are not that effective and realistic, they are blaming its people in the continuous increase of new cases but its citizens are going outside are dying due to famine and not on the Covid-19 virus.


No, it is not the same like other country, we really have the worst economy during this pandemic. Our country has many debt in other world organizations and countries, the budget for its people are not that allocated properly because of corrupt politicians that's why people can't have the financial assistance that they should have.


Don't rely on the government?
The reason why they are in their positions is because the people trusted them to do their duty and lessen the suffering of the everyone and make a better country.

But what can we do?
We have no choice but to seize those opportunities everywhere just to survive even if our life is at risk and those government officials are safe inside their houses.

What's making it worse is that the government is showing a lack of competence in giving its best in fighting the virus. And the people are getting aggressive with that, they often go outside to rally which is more threatening to the health of everyone. I can't blame them for that because only those who are at the bottom will feel the struggle. The lack of financial and health assistance, no jobs for those who need it, no concrete plan for the whole economy, and increasing debt. Even the president is looking like he's depending on China. He mentioned that he talked with the Chinese President asking if they could send help to the Philippines once the vaccine is created. Of course, it's not their job to prioritize other countries.

It's not only the president's job, it's the whole government. But I guess this pandemic is a wake-up call for our generation to vote wisely during the election because this kind of issue is not a joke and we need to feel the assurance that they are doing their best for their people.

Honestly, people in the Philippines are disorganize and stubborn when it comes to the rules and regulations about this pandemic and they don't even follow those simple protocols of social distancing and wearing of face masks. Even those government officials who violated the rules didn't receive any punishments, that's how broken the government here.


Most of the countries are experiencing economic crisis but it depends on the government on how it will make the downward movement stop.

PH government should allocate the proper budget on the medical sector and agricultural sector.

People can't get out. I don't know where you live but even though there are a lot of cases, people can still get out because the government are already allowing some establishments to continue. Another thing is there is still a Kapamilya channel and I can still watch FPJ and and Showtime (not for long though) . This just shows how you are just taken by those people saying its gone but it isnt.

Lastly, it will affect the economy since thousands are affected by the closure of this network still, it is not that bad. If you will ask me why it is worst then it is because of the high cases we have.

The reason why governments who are populist and become the ruler due to populist stuff (or any other brute force would work here as well) not being able to run a country properly is the fact that they need to stay in power, they can't afford democracy or equal rights because if they do not have the power people could topple them very easily, which means they have to use the finance of the nation to keep their own power, and when they do that the country doesn't get better and when the country is in danger and doing bad even on a regular day, that means on a period like pandemic they will of course be hit 10x more than other nations.

There are plenty of examples for nations like these, Philippines is not the only one, I can name at least 20 countries like this for sure, the biggest example being USA.

we can't do anything if we don't have money that is why it is always important to save some money on the form of savings before making any investments.If we don't have any money then it is going to be hard for sure, our life style will take a huge leap due to pandemic post economic crisis it may hurts but that't the reality.

It seems like the flaws of the Philippine government have shown up at this time of crisis because more likely there are lots of complains that the citizens are throwing towards the government regarding their governance and management on how the plans and actions are being executed to resolve the problem with regards to the continuous increase on the total number of infected individuals in the country.

Philippines is not just the only country facing this scenario because almost all countries have been into this situation because admit it or not, the government is really having a hard time to manage and implement precautionary measures to lessen the number of covid-19 infected individuals. The problem is that Philippines with regards to land mass is small and being occupied by lots of individuals making the spread of virus to come really fast. The problem in here which I can see is that the government and the people is lacking coordination which makes the situation got even worst.

Although it is said that the economy is somehow starting to recover because business establishments are now back into operation and at the same time people are getting back to work, still the reality that the country is facing a big debt not just from this administration is already enough to say that the country's economy is still struggling to pay the debts and that is one of those complains that the people are voicing out aside from the slow response of the government amid with the existence of the pandemic.

That's right. Need to become strategic on how to earn and survive from this worst situation. If you will not find a way to survive, you will die if you just rely on the limited relief goods from the government. I don't think the number of positive will lessen if the government continue to open every area in the country and all economic sector just to try that economy wont't collapes totally.

Government can easily be replaced. Just wait for next elections. World also Philippines will have a way bigger problems next year then is covid-19.  Economic and social crisis.

The tax was just for online sellers that earning over Php 250,000. It's like a business with no permit so I'm favored to that. It's unfair to those small store owners that paying for tax and then those big online sellers can freely lurk away to it.

There is no registration needed for small online sellers.

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About the topic, it's not just the government that should be blamed for this. I'm on the road everyday especially during the implementation of lockdown in Manila and I see that many people don't really follow the stay-at-home protocol. Lots of places in Manila treating the virus lightly. Lots of children play outside.

I'm not that blind though about the shitty act of DOH, IATF, and DILG but if we will just put our future in their hands, we will all be doomed. Right especially at the start of lockdown, my family did some financial planning in case of a big emergency.

Be positive guys, not with the virus but for ourselves. Let's hope for the best.

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The sad truth - majority here are intelligent.

Well, this is the part where I agree with you :)

That is the problem of most of the Filipino Citizen right now. People doesn't have any money saved in banks or in their piggy banks (alkansya as we said). The problem with us is that when we got our salary, it looks like we are a one day millionaire and we will spend most of our salaries doing unhelpful things like drinking in the bar or spending it by buying some useless things.

Another problem too is the salary itself. The prices of commodities and daily needs of people are going expensive while the salaries of the employees are still the same. The recent wage hike in NCR isn't enough to sustain the  needs of the family unless they are just a small one. This is why people doesn't have any savings on their hand.

Making an investment isn't that hard as long as we have the money to use for it but with this 2 problems that we are facing right now, it looks like they will be the ones to suffer in times like this. Anyway, this must serve as a lesson for those who are suffering right now that they must have emergency funds to be used in times like this.

AFAIK, that 65k includes people with mild symptoms or are asymptomatic. They aren't really recovered, our DOH just pushing absolute bs information so that recovery numbers would spike up which is stupid ngl. People are losing hope with the government, and maybe as well as to its fellow citizens, but other than that, the economy is recovering albeit slowly like you said. Economic activities are pretty active, a lot of small time shops (e-commerce ones) have started opening up pages in facebook and started selling a lot of stuff. There's still the idea of even with the pandemic, a lot of people are still eating out, buying groceries and the like, what with the limits removed.

All in all, as far as I know, PH hasn't really shown any problems with it's economy, but it has a huge problem with its govvernments and its citizens. Just the recent issue with frontliners asking for another ECQ and the government giving out stupid answers is enough for me to give up hope.

The government is more focused in "improving" the economy by not bringing back the more strict quarantine procedure which would restrain the citizens not to go outside, but the outcome seems to be the opposite of their expectations. Since its citizens are more allowed at this moment, the cases quite doubled for the previous month, and the healthcare sector could not handle the situation more. If i would be asked, I would refer having a full month of restrain not to go outside. But this would only be possible if the government would make it possible to fulfill the needs of each of its citizens for that interval in order for them to not go outside.


Sad to say but, their lack of support regarding financial needs are the main thing which "forces" them to go outside, except to those who are just more privilege which are still doing their daily life as if nothing is affecting others.

Don't put all the blame to the government on what we are experiencing right now on times of pandemic, in fact filipino citizens should also be into this blame as well because they are hard headed and don't know how to follow protocols that urged by government to stay home, yet they go outside like nothing happens at all even hard lock downs already implemented that's why covid positive is multiplying like wildfire. There are some lapses by the government but they are not perfect as well, they make mistakes but they are making up to it to make this pandemic end and citizens should also support what ever the mandates will be made.

The economic status of the Philippines as a country right up to this moment seems to be on a poor performance. Well, what do we expect, almost all countries facing and have strongly affected by the pandemic do also experience the same thing even the rich and big country like US have a struggle on its economic standing because of the effect of this pandemic. So if a big country like US is having a poor economic performance amid with the existence of pandemic, what more can we expect into a small country like Philippines which have an over populated and crowded living mass area. That will totally tolerate the wide spread of virus making it turn to a worse scenario.

There is a faulty on both the government and the people on fighting back against this pandemic so no one must be pin point to claim all the blames. The government at the first phase of this pandemic have been advised to close down the borders not to allow international flights to come in to avoid the entrance of the possible covid-19 carrier but they ignore to make that happen. Also, they implemented community quarantine and lockdowns even without clear plans on how to deal with the loss of job due to temporary closure of business establishments as one of the precautionary measures to prevent the spread of virus. There is a faulty on the response done by the government for it have taken a slow response. Up to the very recent issue that the health department released a report of 38,000+ number of recoveries which involve even asymptomatic and mild symptom patients which can gradually be potential to carry the virus.


On the part of the citizens, they tend to complain more tha to obey. Their attitude of being hard headed and not following the health protocols being implemented turn things to get worst. Obviously, there is no decent understandinf between the government and the people that is why this thing results to a worst scenario which seriously affect the economic state of the Philippines.

Exactly. the government are trying to keep the economy surviving while taking the risk of
allowing people to go outside.
The problem with it, even the government are asking to use protective gears, there are
still lots of people who are not taking it seriously.
You can still see those neighbors talking outside the house without using any facemask.


I agree to that, if taking the chance to handle this, I will also take a month of complete lookdown
and try to use that timeframe to trace  those infected people.



Debt is already their so it's for the government to take the full responsibilities to shoulder the
economy while trying to contained those affected people.


The government needs to have direct system in order to make this things to workout, getting
help from local government are only worsen the process,
Those people in power are too greed to think about helping, instead they are busy thinking how
to be compensated with the government funds.

Worst is about to come if it has not happen yet.

Look at the record now.

Philippines’ COVID-19 tally breaks 100,000 mark, as country sets new record high increase for 4th day (https://www.cnn.ph/news/2020/8/2/PH-coronavirus-cases-breach-100k.html)

Over 100k now, that was so fast right? just recently Philippines surpass China's record but the record is increasing so fast now.
The effect of this is really bad, I don't know if the government will again order a lock down but I guess they can't afford it anymore, the economy will certainly collapse as it's in serious trouble already.

Philippines are just choosing which poison it will take now, there's no chance to recover unless the vaccine will soon be out in the market.

Issuing a lockdown might be the worst of it.

The most annoying about this increasing cases is the project called "Balik Probinsya" in which people working from Urban places will be able to go to their provinces but the problem is that most of them are asymptomatic and brought the virus in these provinces that doesn't usually have cases of the virus.

Then some of these people are not actually following the protocol of self-quarantine amd just doing things they wanted to do like there is no pandemic whatsoever.

The Philippines has an inflation rate of 5.2% which would have been worrying for a developed country, but since it is a developing country where higher inflation rates are normal, at least the value of their money won't go down anytime soon. Their economy is growing right now so this won't happen as long as they don't cut interest rates.

It also has an unemployment rate of 2.5% which is much better than a few developed countries like UK and US (though I'm sure this number is much higher now because of layoffs). I'm interested in knowing how many people were laid off in the Philippines because of covid.

I don't think so if Philippines government recover easily from this pandemic because the number of positive cases increase everyday. But we do pray,i know God is more powerful that covid 19 virus. Although you might be right that if the present government replaced by newly one ,i think it will be more worst than this time.

As your fellow kabayan, I actually agree with you man.

We've now breached 100,000 cases (103,000+ now) in the entire country. And just tonight, president Rodrigo Duterte announced that NCR (includes Metro Manila), Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite and Rizal will revert back to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (2nd to the strictest quarantine level) until August 18th.

Our government is so incompetent, even Department of Health Sec. Francisco Duque III's controversial announcement of 38k+ recoveries in a single day. Decisions are so slippery, even our respective local government units. Instead of uniting as one, they're still divided because of different political agendas such as ABS-CBN TV network shutdown, etc.

Let's just pray to our modern day heroes (especially health workers). They're really tired now in treating new COVID-19 cases in the country. Keep safe kabayan! 

Then Sen. Cynthia Villar wants our modern heroes to work their ass out without resting and still saying they need to do their job well like she's doing any good in this pandemic. It is really annoying when she talks like this like what she said about our nurses especially our farmers.

Article here.  (https://www.cnn.ph/news/2020/8/2/Cynthia-Villar-faces-backlash-from-netizens-for-pagbutihin-niyo-na-lang-remark-to-health-workers.html)

It's really alarming. Day by day, the number of positive cases increases and not just by hundreds but thousands of additional ones. There are times when I'm envious with other countries because they're already recovering or they're really controlling their situation well. But us? Our situation is getting worse.  :'(


Indeed! Incompetent is just the right word. Instead of focusing on the health crisis, their attention is on other problems which can wait, like the shutdown of one of the biggest network in our country. Then there's this one Senator who thinks that our health workers are not doing their jobs well. Maybe she should tell that to herself.

They are indeed tired from all of these. The help that we could give them is not to add more patients to cure. Let's all stay healthy and stay safe.

I'm assuming your "worst" comment is directed to how the Government has handled this ongoing pandemic and not other things. We started quite slow, and no other than the President admitted that, but that's mainly because we weren't ready in terms of facilities and equipment against pandemics. No previous Governments had taken the initiative to bolster our healthcare facilities before this current administration took over. We didn't even have an agency set up like the USA's CDC (Center for Disease & Control Prevention). Another reason why the slow start is the fact that we still belong to the 3rd world and we were not a top priority when it comes to acquiring PPEs. Because of the global shortage, Manufacturers/Suppliers prioritized selling PPEs to top nations (they most likely paid higher $).

When it comes to making decisions and policies based on the what the Government had at the time, I think ours had one of the best team (IATF and not DOH) considering the resources that we had. Someone was patient enough to summarize (https://www.facebook.com/kieffer.medina/posts/714937479069814) what actions the Government did and I'm sharing the data below.

Travel Ban:
We had the first case reported on Jan. 30 and the Government banned travels from China (including Macau & Hongkong) on Feb. 2 in response. If we compare that to other countries, we are rather quick.

Country	First Case	Travel Ban
Vietnam	Jan. 23	Feb. 1
Japan	Jan. 16	Feb. 1
Thailand	Jan. 13	Mar. 11
Singapore	Jan. 23	Jan. 29
Philippines	Jan. 30	Feb. 2

First local transmission was recorded on March 5. The president declared this as a national health emergency on March 9.

Lockdown/Quarantine:
March 11, World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic. Philippines' NCR was lockdown on March 15 while National lockdown was on March 17. Comparing it to the above countries again:

Country	Lockdown date
Vietnam	Apr. 1
Japan	Apr. 7
Thailand	Apr. 3
Singapore	Apr. 3
Philippines	Mar. 17

The Philippine Government made a sound decision with the early lockdown to delay the spread and allowing our healthcare system to cope up (more PPEs, more equipment, more infrastructure has been bought/built since then). There are some people questioning why it wasn't done earlier (January) but can the Government really take such an abrupt decision without weighing in its economic impact? It's not that simple. Besides, there's WHO whom majority of countries based their decisions like what our Government did.

Despite all of that, our cases keeps on increasing unfortunately. It's a combination of poor implementation, lack of money and yeah - citizen's stupidity that's causing it. With businesses slowly opening and public transportation increasing, the spread will only continue. Thankfully, the President listened to the call of some of our medical practitioners to go back to MECQ and give them a much needed "breathing space".

When it comes to the economy, it's not "falling down". It has fallen down and it's on its way to (slow) economic recovery. Our country won't drop as we still have a good team of economic managers. Business stimulus program/package are also being discussed to allow our business sector get back on its feet. The Government also continues with its infrastructure programs (BBB) while fighting the pandemic. As much as I'd like to continue discussing the economic side (loans, GDP, etc.), I'm afraid it's not my area of expertise yet. I understand the basic but I would rather encourage you (and the others in this thread who are quick to draw conclusion w/o actually checking stats & figures) to read.

• ADB exec eyes PH economic recovery to start in Q3 (https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1109907)
• BSP exec eyes PH economic recovery starting Q3 (https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1110199)
• PH strong enough to win vs. pandemic: DOF chief (https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1108370)
• PH in good fiscal position to beat pandemic: PRRD (https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1110278)

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-road-to-recovery-which-economies-are-reopening-covid-19/

The majority of countries in Southeast Asia such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore are predicted that if it cannot boost the economy in Q3, the potential for depression is more apparent. The problem faced by the Philippines government and the majority of countries in Southeast Asia affected by corona is the lack of liquidity, so each sector can calculate but there is no money in the safe. Like a weapon ready in the cock but the bullet is not there.

The government also widened the budget deficit caused by rising costs of national economic recovery due to pressure from the pandemic. With this condition, the government also took various steps to be able to finance the deficit needs. This is because current state revenues are also incapable because they are under pressure. The solution taken is generally through foreign loans because it is considered easier and cheaper than issuing state securities. Though often poor debt management and cause new problems later on.

You are really right because if they see other countries the situation there is more worst than Phil. This virus will can affect to anyone even you rich or not,the government do their best to help their countrymen. We cant defend to the government we need to do our side to help them and to help ourselves to be healthy. No one can save to us to this pandemic or virus only ourselves.

Remember the late Miriam Defensor-Santiago? Correct me if I’m wrong, but she had authored a “pandemic plan” if she were to be elected as Philippine president rather than president Rodrigo Duterte. It’s just sad that she passed away due to cancer.

If that were being implemented, we could have easily prepared just like in New Zealand, Taiwan, Vietnam, etc. I do agree that our economy is falling due to lockdown and other stringent measures. Now they are taxing online sellers and digital content creators to help recover government’s relief efforts.

However, we are slowly recovering (despite NCR and other nearby provinces are under lockdown for 2 weeks). If we could have prepared early as a third-world country and implemented the late Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s pandemic plan, we could have set a great example to the rest of the world that we could beat the virus once and for all.

For me, full lockdown isn’t really a great solution. If full lockdown was into effect, businesses would go down again. It’s all about balancing both economy and managing health by means of granular or localized lockdowns.

Keep your cool bro  ;D.

That barrier thing is not intended for husband and wife, it's for the hard headed individuals that will violate that rules. If only people will obey and follow the guideline that only wife/partner can ride on the back then that barrier is not needed but there is just too many violators here in our country bro. Imagine if there is one "habal-habal" driver that is positive of the virus and there is no barrier in place, that would be disaster.

IATF is a group of intelligent individuals that is trusted by the President to make guidelines in slowing down the spread of the virus and mind you, they too, are tired on the current situation of our country.

I feel the pain do you have because right now, instead of focusing to fight the covid they are going to make a different laws does not related to the human rights and this is the Anti-terror bill or the R.A 11479^[1].


Also there are a lot of health workers right now want to take a break for a mean time because some of them are already exhausted and tired for the long quarantine and some in the government that they must do all of their works more hard and doesn't need to complain.

Right now our(Philippines) country are now having another enchance community on this August 4 - 18 and again some of the people right now are getting panic again and bulk buying of foods.

Even the data its not accurate what are the real number of infected and what are total recoveries. I hope they make a changes and hear the voice of their people. When the covid  starts after a months some of the country already a covid I hope we reach this soon not only in the Philippines but in the world too.

Keep safe everyone.

Good read but it's a two-month old article so I'm not sure if the data used there is updated. I guess not because PH is still under "Low mobility, Low recovery" group. Our recovery rate spiked since IATF recently adopted the new method for classification suggested by DOH in its memorandum (https://www.doh.gov.ph/sites/default/files/health-update/dm2020-0258.pdf). When it comes to mobility, things were slowly going back to normal but another two weeks of MECQ starting tomorrow will slow down mobility again.

Not that it's completely out of bullets since other projects (particularly infra) are still being pushed but yeah, the funds were stretched to its limits when the Government realligned/reallocated funds and then spent₱275 billion as initial COVID-19 response (Bayanihan to Heal as One Act). Right now, there's another bill (Bayanihan to Recover as One Act) that will allow the Government to set another ₱140 billion for socioeconomic and health programs.

As expected, state revenues won't be enough due to limited mobility.

As to the foreign loans acquired and how it might be utilized, the Government managed to bring down the national debt prior to COVID-19 which also resulted to the country's improved credit rating. I trust our economic managers can continue to build on that.

---

I'm eager to see what's the country's GDP this second quarter. It's expected to be larger than first quarter's -0.2 percent. In an article (https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1110019), another economist predicted it to be at a -6.3 percent while the succeeding two quarters are projected to be at -5.8 percent and -3.5 percent, respectively. Not good to see the negative there but it's still a recovery. Next year's growth is projected at 3.5 percent, 5.7 percent, 5,8 percent, and 4.5 percent for the first to fourth quarters.

I do hope the stimulus bills such as Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE Act), which reduces corporate income tax, will be passed soon for the Government's Four Pillar Recovery Program (https://www.dof.gov.ph/the-duterte-administrations-philippine-program-for-recovery-with-equity-and-solidarity-ph-progreso/) to be fully implemented.

The previous country with a high standard that called previously the Pear of the Orient Sea and visited by the different people because the beauty it has are now more on the tragedy on their government and economy right now on this pandemic outbreak most of them are aiming to clear the second wave of this virus and avoid getting spreading and by that the whole Manila which is the center of the Philippines is now having a lockdown again because of the increasing number of COVID positive. Still, they are doing is to make different action and not support their health workers instead of having a hazard pay they also down some of their workers I think the government is too much greedy and also the recently is the terror bill that people does not have any rights to fight against the government even you are using the social media and you can now be arrested with no warrant of arrest.

These are just a few things happening right now in the Philippines because of having bad decisions, not good government officials, and no plans. Also, the large debt right now in the Philippines is so huge but the people do not feel that the country borrows this large amount and still no changes and does not have any help from the government.

---

I'm a Filipino so I know what is happening right now in the Philippines. Still, I'm hoping they will change those movements and listen up to their people to aim for the fight to covid.

I can sympathize with you - your situation is really deplorable. The economies of all countries without exception suffered great damage due to the pandemic, but the Philippines was hit harder than the rest. Your government has made a great mistake in turning its people against themselves. I hope you have the strength to get out of the hole you are in now.

The pandemic showed how incompetent some government officials are. Even with the number of cases rising, the government cannot afford to announce another Enhanced Community Quarantine because the economy will totally collapse. The pandemic showed how poor the government officials managed the situation, putting aside the requests of the front liners and disregarding professional opinions of doctors to conduct another lockdown.

It might be difficult to admit, but we have the worst government. We are unprepared for this, poor medical facilities, mismanaged funds, lack of medical supplies, incompetent lawmakers and government officials, name it, the Philippines has it. If the current situation will not be handled, we might face the worst scenario in a few months where even the front liners will lose hope on winning against the pandemic.

a total waste of money, imagine I buy it yesterday so we can finally ride it along with my wife, but now look at our policies, such a damn,... MECQ in just 15days? what a joke, right? It would be more effective if we're back woth a Total Lockdown. I'd rather choose to get starve than to kill myself with that Covid. Our people re too dumb to realize that's why even aour government are also acting way too dumb.

Not only the Philippines experienced that kind of situation almost all countries getting worst situations becuase of the pandemic. I am also a Filipino and I can say also that we are proud nowadays that we have a good government, a good leader who is vey helpful and concern about the real situation and feelings of every Filipino duting this time of Pandemic. All I can say is that we need to cooperate what the protocols given by the government because we will not win this fight when will not follow rules. We can do it, be a law abiding citizen!

Well, for starters, the government should focus on tackling the case of Corona Virus. I believe that the lack of planning would really put off the economic status of a country. The Corona Virus is not a joke when it affects third world countries and among South East Asian countries, Indonesia and Philippines really had a bad plan encountering this pandemic. I believe they should just focus on Corona Virus since there would be no people left to govern once they are all infected with the disease.

I disagree with that barrier thing as well. It's said that they would allow to ride motorcycles but for husband and wife only or live-in partners provided that there is a barrier. I mean, what?! Those people are together inside their home and if their house is not that big enough, they cannot practice social distancing all the time. They're also wearing helmets and a mask inside it while riding the motorcycle. Plus, the Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers have already provided calculations on how that barrier is dangerous and uneconomical.  ::)

If Philippines is a YouTuber, it has a silver play button already. Ugh! When will this end?

It is sad to know about your economic situation. Living in Philipine is kinda tough. If i were you, I would find a way to work on the Internet because as the information you give me, we cant rely on the Govnerment. There are tons of jobs which you can benefit yourself if you truly have skills and knowledge. For example, freelancer.com provides several remote projects for each specific skills. Many of my friends are working with that services and they do succeed

And when you have the balance income, try to invest your money on foreign asset, espcially online asset such as US stocks or cryptocurrency. They will help you to save your money, duplicate your capital and moreover, protect your funds from the government. I bet you can take care of yourself even though the situation can become worsen.

But dont worry, we will soon find the cure and soon, everything will be back to the way it was

While this pandemic caught every Government worldwide off guard, and I feel disappointed on both the Government's response to this as compared to other ASEAN neighbors who had managed to slow down infections and at the same time, I also feel very disappointed to my fellow Filipinos who undermine Government's efforts to control this pandemic by not taking necessary precautions like observing social distancing, wearing face masks and doing proper hygiene as required.

The Philippines is not a rich country and this pandemic is taking a toll on its economy! In fact, we are already buried in foreign debts which I assume would have a long term negative impact on  its economy unless there will be concrete and more effective actions that will be implemented by the Government together with the cooperation of its people to control this pandemic. Imho.

Yes. What happens today is just a reflection on how the people react to the situation. This corona virus pandemic would have not been worsen if only the people could have followed the protocols imposed by the government because this is the only way where we we can lessen the number of infected patients. The government itself has given already enough assistance for the citizens but we should not rely alone on the government to feed our hungry stomach. We should learn to work on our own as there are a lot of opportunities today that can save us from this pandemic.

We all have same sentiments, those riders who understand the risk of this implemented laws
regarding to motorcycle barriers.

There are many lapses with this kind of rules, whoever design this and whoever created this bill are not riding motorcycles

In the sense of protecting to prevent spreading the virus married couples are living together, they are together after riding
it's the fact that most riders are keep trying to voice up with the government.

I fully agree that this barrier will only endanger the life of this couples while riding around.

The reaction to the pandemic from most governments has been mistaken so this is not exclusive to the Philippines, we must understand that in a crisis of global scale like the one we are seeing anyone waiting for governments to fix it will have a rude awakening, it is up to each one of us to protect ourselves and our loved ones.

In my country despite the huge number of cases people are outside acting as if nothing is happening and they look at me when I go out wearing a face mask but I do not care, if they do not want to protect themselves from the pandemic and the enormous economic crisis that is coming that is their problem I only wish that the government will not be as dumb as I believe it will as most likely we will see them going after the wealth of those that did well during the pandemic thanks to the precautions they got.

I've seen a lot of meme made out of that barrier thing and as much as I think that barrier that they have implemented my brain ticks a little of that stupid idea. Imagine having a barrier on a motorcycle with your wife, and we you got home you all are kissing each other, sleeping next to each other naked, the idea is a totally dumbfounding. And yeah, today is the first day of another modified enhanced community quarantine, one day without a gym seems to be boring to me. sucks. We really need to change the game plan to face this pandemic, the old one seems to be not working anymore as the day passes by and we getting out of money, if we they could have just returned the 15 billion pesos they have stolen from the Philhealth we could feed everyone for a day at least.

Just wanna ask if it is only in the Philippines that we got ECQ, MECQ and other type of quarantine. I don't see any of them in other country  ::)

On the contrary, it seems to me that the situation with the spread of coronavirus and its danger to the world community is too exaggerated. If you look at the statistics, then even in car accidents, no fewer people die than from the coronavirus. Moreover, mostly people die not from coronavirus, but from various complications, that is, actually from other diseases. It is not the coronavirus that is killing the global economy, but too harsh measures to combat it. It seems to me more and more that this is being done intentionally.

As much as always, I'm supporting the initiatives of the government in this pandemic. I don't want to blame anyone or someone with what we're dealing with but I'm also disappointed how the officials are handling the situation. They have no clear strategic plan of tackling this virus, the economy somehow is good and recovering just like others but the combat of the virus is pretty dull. And on the other side of the political party, instead of helping, all they do is to criticize although criticisms are actually good if things aren't really going well. But as they criticize, they don't bring any solution, all they bring up are also problems. It's too bad that there's no unity.  :'(

This is absolutely worst now...the health frontliners are getting tired of the higher positive cases everyday. Living in this country at this strange time is so much risky because we can't rely everything to Government and the President just told lately that we are running out of budget and I can see that he is so tired too.
And despite all this things, still corruption and other political issues are here and made the Filipino people suffer.
I've been a law abiding citizen and as much as possible I want to help the Government by following all the safety protocol,  but still...a lot of naughty people, so hard-headed scattered anywhere and others not even wearing a mask. So, how can we be able to flattened the curve if majority of the people don't take covid-19 seriously?
Its really sad and i think Philippines will definitely drop down.

I am also from the Philippines. I know it is very hard to lead and handle a country's problem, especially in the middle of the pandemic. But I don't see that some government officials in the Philippines are taking this pandemic seriously because instead of helping the patients and supporting hospitals from providing their equipments that they need to use. They still focus on unrelated pandemic problems and make foolish laws that doesn't help the economy of a country to improve, that is why the virus cases have increased.

I know how you are feeling right now and I'm feeling some disappointment and grudge too with this politicians but there is nothing I can do about it but to move on. What will you do then?? Ranting in social media?? Organizing a rally in the streets?

I know the feeling when these politicians aren't helping with each other. Add these corrupted officials in different departments. I want to go to Mars just to get out of these problems in our country that is why I sent my name already :D.

There is nothing we can do about it. If they are hard-headed then let them be at least they know already the risks of being infected by this virus.

A vaccine is the only solution right now to flatten the curve. Lockdowns will not help flatten the curve but it will just lessen the transmission temporarily.

It is the lack of individual's discipline that make the increase of covid-19 cases more severe.  Government can implement rules, they have the idea but the individual  are still the one to decide whether to follow them or not.  A simple social distancing were not been followed.  Even if the government are too corrupted if the individual follow the said guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus by themselves, we will see less transfers of the virus for sure.

We go out whining about the government incapabilities, the question is, are we doing our part to lessen the spread of the disease?  I bet many of us will say yes but majority are simply lying.

As of the economy, almost all nations affected by the pandemic are on its worst, but the thing that Philippine Peso is going strong against the US dollar simply indicates that our economy isn't that worst as the OP thought.

First of all I would like to say that the country itself is amazing , their tradition , the people, I have been there and it was really good but unfortunately the corruption is killing the hope the common people has.
Philippines does attract a lot of students too , due to coronavirus unfortunately there is :
- No strategical planning by the government
- Poverty And low economic situation is dire , you cannot expect people to follow rules in situations where the population is so much and poverty is so defined

I have heard cases of people who are living on the airport too.



- This was a statement made by an official , how do you expect the country to get out of this crisis unharmed if you won't care about the people ?

What the people needs are :
-Jobs
-fair wages

Over excessive restrictions won't make the situation right suddenly. Honestly many of my friends are studying there even now and am worried about them .I do hope all the countries are able to become stable soon.

I don't think it is your country that has experienced it, like what you said. because all countries that are experiencing a pandemic also experience it. there is a lot of miscommunication among government officials over the handling of a pandemic, because it can happen because many state officials are still indifidual, due to their inherent political interests.

after being a public official, they should let go of the party's inherent attributes and focus more on the community, because after becoming an official they already belong to the public no longer from which party he is in. but sometimes it is still difficult to separate public officials from party members.

the officials in this country are the worse, there isn't unity here. this is why this pandemic has to be taken advantage of the ruling administration to settle things. if it has to declare martial law for the entire nation to act as one it would be better.  this kind of government has been around for more than 4 decades and nothing new had happen. there i no better time to fix all these divided people unless they'd fix it now while there is pandemic so that none can oppose.

do you know who these people who are opposing the developments in this country, they are not even Filipinos. AYALAs are not Filipinos, Lopezes are not Filipinos. but certainly they hold these politicians by their necks to shout against the current administration.

what the government needs to take back to run the economy are the:

ENERGY (MERALCO)
WATER  
Telecommunication
HEALTH system

IF ALL THESE ARE OWNED BY Private individuals like the Ayalas and Lopez Family and few families who actually govern this nation, the country is bound to be doomed.

try to contact with the outside media make videos and show to the world what is going on.
we dont live cave age the things are publick and people talk about things only then the things can be changed.

Well said mate blaming this economic slowdown only in the government officials in not really a good idea so I beg to disagree on some point of OP here if he is currently residing in the city like manila,makati, mandaluyong, qc which is a populated areas he will see the reality on how hard headed most of the people on those places like for example in my location in the middle of lockdown our neighbors celebrated birthday party with matching drinking session which is strictly prohibited by the government..see? who's to blame? IMO,lack of discipline is one of the most obvious reason why covid cases spreading fast in our country.

Here's why we can't really do that.

The government already passed a bill called the anti-terror bill. And right now, they are talking about regulation into social medias and platforms like YouTube. That means when we talk against the government in the social media, we will be considered a terrorist. That is why a lot of people are really against it.

So Filipinos will not be given the freedom of Speech anymore? But talking about this on social media is not going to change anything as well because every country in the process of recovering their own country so it all depends on the people and how they are going to utilize the resources they are having.

then look at the australia melbourne there is even worst 

You got it. Instead of focusing on the main problem of the country, government officials are busy blaming each other and the president about the previous and current issues that we are facing now, there's no unity. Some people are even busy going on rally to protest resulting to increase of the infected. According to the president there's no budget anymore to give the people cash aid or relief goods, so what will happen to us now if this situation continue? Plus corrupt officials are still existing like the issue on philhealth agency, its really frustrating to watch news on tv about these negative issues.

Yeah. To be honest, most of the people right now can't do some rally like they used to not just because of the pandemic that is happening right now but also because of this bill. The only way to express theirselves is through social medias which might be considered a terrorist act in some weeks.

My friend, I frankly Sympathize with you. I live in Ukraine and have always admired the development of the Philippines economy and the standard of living of the citizens of your country. Our economic situation is much worse, but the only thing that does not require explanation is that the blame for the poor state of the country lies with the not professional government, not the head of state. The head of state is not always able to influence various spheres of the country's leadership. Your problems due to coronavirus are compounded as your country is densely populated and therefore the spread of the virus is so high. In my opinion, in order to avoid problems for citizens and for the economy, it is necessary to introduce adaptive quarantine, where people could continue to work, but at the same time made minimal contact with each other. In addition, I am confident that your economy will return to its previous indicators thanks to the tough work of Rodrigo Duterte. If the president has allowed the army and police to shoot quarantine violators, he will be able to shoot corruptionists or non-professional officials who harm the citizens and the economy of the country in the same way.

Old same ways, every government keeps blaming the previous government before them.
not new anymore if you notice it.


This people are not concerned in helping to resolve the problem but to add more, those
people are prone to spread and be infect of this virus.



Survival of the fittest for every Filipinos since the government already declaring this statement.


Maybe it's better not to watch news anymore and try to continue surviving your life in every
means and ways that you can get.

Following up on this. The result is out and its worst than anyone has expected. GDP shrank down to 16.5% for the second quarter of 2020 and that means Philippines officially entered into a recession. This is a direct result of the strict and long lockdown the Government implemented in the past months. I just want to emphasize this - Philippines was one of the earliest to impose lockdown and the latest to lift it. That means the Government prioritized the health concerns in the first two months notwithstanding its economic impact.

Previous projections are now out of the window and our economic managers revised their estimates. According to them, the country's economy is expected to shrink 5.5% this year (initial projection was 2% to 3.4% decline).

Not that I'm entirely surprised since everyone expected a further decline from Q1. The third quarter marks the period of "economic rebound" with the slow reopening of businesses but this recovery phase slowed down again with another two-week lockdown in the National Capital Region (NCR).

In response to criticisms about the Government not having a plan to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, this is not actually true. It's been there since March (start of lockdown) and its been laid down in the National Action Plan (NAP). There are four phases and we are currently in phase two.

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I'm hoping this thread would not be derailed even more and turn into a Politics & Society type of discussion.

The Philippine economy is getting so bad because of the effects of the virus. No one can enjoy their own freedom. Everyone is spending their days in crisis. In order to overcome this crisis in the Philippines, we must try to prevent the disease. Everyone must be aware and the government must provide free medical care. No one is providing help but the political leaders are enjoying everything they want from government funds so the economy has to go down further.

i'm sure there's funds because he can just ask to print a lot of money. he can even pay millions to those who can create vaccines. probably the reason why he says there is no money is because he doesn't want people to rely on the stimulus package from the government.

it all depend to the one shouting, when they liberals were in the position they kept demanding to unite each other. now that they are the ones in the opposition, you can't hear them saying unity.

if you give everybody money....then money has no value!
people have to work for the money

We really can't rely on our government too much. Places are crowded, population is high, unruly citizens, we're pretty messed up ourselves as a citizen. There are even cases here where some people are trying to hide covid victims which infected more people.


Printing more money just leads to higher inflation, meaning less value for peso which will worsen the economy of the Philippines. As of now, we are barely holding on with the current value of our money. We can only hope for the best during this time and wait for a vaccine.
 

Vaccine is the only solution from the world is eagerly waiting for, at the present almost every country has been running out of money. Very few number of Governments operating with perfect plans facilitating the need of common people. The vaccine takes time to reach the usage, already so many were under testing. Let's hope and pray for the fastest recovery and destruction of covid-19 virus all around.

Globally were facing economic crisis and this is the worse scenario we're suffering.  I agree with you only the vaccine can gives us hope and can resolve this problem. Others are begging for the food to eat for their family. The Philippines is in the worst economic status and even the government cannot provide help for the people.

I'm also a Filipino there is a growing concern our government is having a hard time to decide on whether to choose lock down or opening up the economy, the government cannot subsidize anymore because they have already spent a lot on the three months of lockdown and worst are the reports of corruptions on the leading government health care provider, the only bailout is to take another loan again.

do you think duterte administration didn't print money?

its how the economic growth works. if duterte administration won't be printing bills for the Filipinos while other countries are printing a lot of their bills, its our debt that is being taken advantage by these countries. while we owe, our country should be printing more for our debts to shrink. because the rest of the countries are trying to dwindle their own debts as well by printing money. the value of peso doesn't matter because what matters is whether it can still be used to purchase from stores are are still accepted by stores.

Philippines is somewhat like a puppy when it comes to following the rules so you can't expect it to make use of that type of tactics, Besides just what they have said, we can knly Generate (Print) Money only that is equal to our reserveed funds which is in currency of Gold. Though there are already corruption going on in this times of pandemic some of them are surely part of big sindicates who has a control of black market that can print money.
To Keep it short, it will never be a solution.

Lots and lots of corruption even before this pandemic happened. Right now, the administration is invetigating the said billions corrupted by the PhilHealth. It is been a huge talk right now and it is been trending for a while. We will be seeing if this is true though since those people are saying that it is not true, not for long though.

I know that every country prints its money but do you think this will solve the problem? Do you even know the consequences of printing more money? Yes we can pay the debts of our country in a faster way but do you think this will help us in the long run? Do you know what hyperinflation can do to our country in this state?

What do you mean the value of our peso doesn't matter? Then let's say we printed more money to pay our debts but it changes the stores prices by double, do you think it still doesn't matter? It matters a lot especially during this pandemic times.

To start with, I don’t think your country has the worst government in the world as you have said.
Have you checked other countries, especially developing countries and the third world countries? They are the ones with the worst government if I’m to say.

In fact government in every country is bad, if you ask anyone they are always going to complain that their government are the worst, that’s how it is. And as for that of the number of covid-19 cases increasing, I think the citizens should try to be careful and stay indoors if possible, that will help to curtail the numbers.

Not all money prints will end up a hyperinflation. Depending on the purpose of the government to print money. China is a country that prints money based on layered projects. Japan also printed money to support its development. Printing money to buy dollars and then using them to pay foreign debts is a move that kills the national economy. If we need to print money to pay debts, it means that the national economy and trade transactions are in deficit, it will only add to new economic problems.

There is nothing wrong with flooding the market with money, especially in the current pandemic conditions, by flushing the market with money, it is hoped that it can be absorbed by the small and medium business sector so that it can drive economic movement. So the principle is not to hold back the circulation of money but to flood the money market. Indeed, there will be inflation but the value will not be too high as long as the aim of splashing the market is to boost production which can stimulate consumption, not to pay debts or pay for imported goods. It is better if there is inflation but all people have access to buying, rather than cheap prices but many cannot afford it.

For the improvement of the national economy after the pandemic, printing money must be combined with the development of an independent industry that is free of imported raw materials, free from imported labor, and free from foreign debt, by maximizing natural resources and national human resources.

Yes I agree. Printing more money to pay debt just leads to more problem in the long run. It should be used in improving the economy of the country.

As of now, our government is issuing P1 billion (roughly $20 million) to improve the economy of the Philippines which led me to believe that our government actually has funds to spare and money reserved for the betterment of the country. Printing more money to pay debt just creates unneeded inflation which electronicash is implying that the government should do.

RE: BSP Printing more banknotes during pandemic

I can't find any article that supports that. What I only found is that they recently upgraded (https://cnnphilippines.com/business/2020/7/29/BSP-upgrades-design-of-peso-bills-2020.html) the designs of the new peso bills but I read a proposal from a group of economist that printing more bills at this time would be beneficial if they could lend it out to small and medium businesses. That's probably a better option than using it to pay off debts or just giving it for social amelioration programs. If BSP hasn't done it yet, they should probably reconsider especially now that the Philippine economy is in technical recession. The added two-week lockdown in NCR this August also stiffles the current measures for economic recovery.

Government measures so far in raising cash that I'm aware of:

1. More Taxes - The online business industry have been shocked with recent announcements from the BIR. I've also read more tax proposals being discussed in Congress.

2. Issuing Treasury Bonds - The Bureau Of Treasury recently sold five-year Retail Treasury Bonds which lasted for two weeks. They were able to raise Php516.3 billion (source (https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1111579)).

3. "Sold" securities to BSP - The Bureau of Treasury (BTr) sold Government securities under a repurchase agreement in the amount of Php 300 billion with a maximum repayment period of 6 months (source (http://www.bsp.gov.ph/publications/media.asp?id=5329)).

4. Business stimulus packages - These are still pending in Congress but if approved, it'll help generate more revenue as businesses would likely take advantage of these incentives. The problem is if smaller establishments still have the money to restart and that's where bank loans are crucial. What's intriguing though is bank loans have slowed down in June according to BSP (http://www.bsp.gov.ph/publications/media.asp?id=5469).

what is the problem with that printing money and lending????

relax people  8)

Printing more money leads to inflation which means the purchasing power of their currency will lose.when the country is in deep economic crisis and they just keep printing more money will results into hyperinflation just like what happened in Venezuela. The government needs to develop its taxation policies to give enough money in the hand of people which can bring money circulation in the country but it will take years or decades to recover from it. 

The country is so divided by politics and lacks unity to tackle the current crisis. I believe no government in the world is very ready for this type of situation but if the implementation and measures are executed well with the help of its citizens I think we can do better no matter what of tier of countries we lived.

I'm not affected by this because I'm not even contributing in PhilHealth but some of my relatives are contributing on it.
I also saw one post in Facebook yesterday saying that PhilHealth "IS NOT GUARANTEED". Take note not guaranteed so they are saying that the company is like an investment thingy :X.
But anyway it happened already so lets just wait for the investigation results. If somebody will be punished then so be it and if none then for sure it will be a huge disgrace for the government itself.

---

Anyway there is at least good news. Russia donate some of their vaccine to the Philippines for clinical trials.
The vaccine showed promising results in the Russian Patients that is why they also tried to donate some in our country for some trials.
This is just one good news. Include the donation of Avigan tablets that may help also the patients :).

The problem is the broken system that still currently using in the country, there is still massive corruption where people are now becoming angry because they are now aware that there are many corrupt officials sitting in the government. The government of the Philippines are still having a hard time to flatten the curve of the covid 19 infection. It is sad because everyday, thousands of people becoming infected. There are only few cities that have a mass testing program and it is also the reason why there are still a lot of people who are not being testsed because of the high fees when it comes testing.

duterte had printed several times look at the 100php bill you have it might just be one of it with his signature.  printing may not solve covid crisis but these bills will be distributed. it doesn't matter if the value gets low in the economic indexes but for an individual who still has 8000PHP in his hand will still think its valuable. it still can buy a sack of rice which the price of rice had been controlled by the govt.

Australia is also about to print.

That has been the case for the Philippines and even who ever sits as the President, there will be rampant corruption. But the problem with Philippine government is that there are only few officials who goes to jail even they are blatantly guilty of sacking the country's money.

To be fair, not just the Philippines, but majority of third world countries as well. It is an invisible enemy, and we need everyone's cooperation to help stop the spread of infection. But it seems the Filipinos lack the discipline and they all blame it to the government.

However, it is sad to hear that, Philippines GDP shrinks 16.5% because of coronavirus (https://rappler.com/video/daily-wrap/august-6-2020-evening-edition).

I will agree with all of this.
People are lacking discipline.
People are hard-headed.
People prefer to go rally and go outside instead of just staying inside their house which is quite useless I think.
What's worse is if they got infected, they will blame the government with it. I hate to say this but some of our fellow citizens are dumb, stupid and idiots.

We know already that we are having a hard time flattening the curve and yet they aren't following the protocols. F*cking citizens.

I followed a stock analyst and he said last 3 months ago that a recession will happen because of what is happening. The basis of a recession is that when the GDP of our country shrinks or goes down 2 consecutive quarters. It happened Q1 and already happened again at Q2 which is I think expected. What is important right now is to survive and don't go out in your homes so at least in that way you are helping the country.

The solution to the Venezuela problem is very simple, it's just that the complexity of the problem makes printing money useless. Venezuela depends on its economy only on oil exports, so when the price of oil falls or demand is lost it becomes a big problem. The high dependence of the Venezuelan people on imported goods for consumption, thus causing foreign exchange reserves to continue to deplete if income from the energy sector is lost.

I think governments in every country has ways they are pissing people off lol. I have also been living in a country where the government is very bad, and seriously, in a situation like this there is really nothing you can do about it unless the citizens will come together and protest for what’s right.

Even after the protest the government might still ignore the people and continue with what they are doing. Another way is to wait for them during the election and then vote them out. What if the next government is bad as well lol? That’s why you shouldn’t be relying on the government, make plans for yourself man.

I am a Filipino. I know every body was experiencing hardships. We are in the situation that we never expect to happen nor got prepare for this..but we can do now is do everything we must do..try to survive..be healthy and never depends the current situation with the government..everyone is struggling but never ever depends on what will you eat..where can you get or finds assistance from the government...because in the first place the government doesnt intend you to be in that situation...we Filipinoes knows that we have this mentality and personality and we are born naturally as "madiskarte" so i think this would be the great time to use that skills and never depend your survival in the government.. I also believe in the Filipino saying that "hindi kasalanan ang maging mahirap pero magiging kasalanan mo kung ipinamana mo ang kahirapan sa angkan mo"... why?because you can do better..whether there is a pandemic or not we can do something..whether you  have that academic skills or not ..remember nowadays hindi na importante na ikaw ay graduated from a well known schools and university because your boss can be a high school graduate but has skills to improve his way of living...its a matter of striving harder and use your skills for you to survive and improve..use that filipino personilty not the crab mentality..especially nowadays... the only person you can trust is your self ..strive harder.. trust your skills..work harder..pray more... invest patience and at the same time makes your self more secure, healthy and treat everyone especially outside your house that has Covid so you will take more precautionary measures..atleast, you will survive and will not depends on the relief and assistance from the government..also try to search more online income especially in bitcoin world 😊

I am also a Filipino citizen and I can also say that we have the worst response to the occurring pandemic. The response should be fast and should mitigate the spread of the Corona Virus. Sadly, the response of the government ended in corruption and debt. There are news currently circulating that the whole Healthcare Department have been accused of theft since people lost their money even though they are not using it. Its also saddening that the response of the government is not helping the people and they are also blaming the Filipino people of being stubborn and can't follow simple rules. The Filipinos are starving and that is why they are creating their own decisions to feed their selves because they know that they cannot ask for more to the government since they are always saying that there are no more money. I just hope that our economic status won't fall any deeper since it would really be hard to come back from that.

The situation in the Philippines is much worse because of the epidemic. Citizens of the Philippines are living in crisis due to the weak government system here. Political leaders are interfering in everything If the government takes the right steps it will be possible to respond to the epidemic very easily. We have to try to prevent corruption in every sector including healthcare. Only a government of good governance can alleviate the plight of its citizens in the Philippines.

Not possible especially on how negative the Filipinos are when thinking about Federalism. Most of the oldies are way to traumatized and can't moved on, and some of the young people are too aggressive and just spewing non-sense all the time.
So it's a No-No for us here in the Philippines, People here has been born dumb and will die dumb,they don't bother to learn. LoL I'm really sick of this country. I wish I could just Fly into other places like Canada or Japan.

I really don't understand why government of the Philippines is not strictly in the implementation of quarantine in order to prevent spread of covid virus. They said because of economic situation of the country. We can see ,everyday the number of covid positive increasing and i don't know when it will decrease. So it means economic status of the country is much important than to the life of the people there.Very sad because life of every Filipino getting worst everyday. Also people there are very stubborn and i think they are not afraid of virus. Before covid pandemic end,the population of the Philippines will getting smaller.

The story is not only about the Philippines, many countries are experiencing the worst times in the history and that up to the governments to deal with it. After the Covid-19 crisis we saw a wave of economic crisis but the fear and the greed inside people (FUD) made things worst than everyone could imagine. In any country the government should manage the economics and crisis related to it. In my own idea, using the blockchain technology and crypto  currencies the economies can be save, That's the key. 

Our frontliners are very tired now and some are afraid to return to work due to the threat of COVID-19. Cases are increasing rapidly in the Philippines (mostly in NCR). The government doesn’t have funds anymore for the full lockdown, and the president himself admitted it.

I hate to say this but despite that I love the Philippines, I didn’t like the national and local government at all (especially in handling COVID-19 safety protocols). They took advantage of the COVID-19 situation to pocket millions of funds for themselves and not for the greater good of the Filipinos (like what happened in PhilHealth lately as some officials admitted pocketing some funds there and were suspended for 6 months without pay).

I have read an article somewhere on my Facebook timeline that says that he regretted being born a Filipino. Not because of the country and the people, but the government is what he referred that he cannot tolerate or “can’t take it anymore”. There are mixed reactions of his article, and some of them said that he’s free to leave and denounce his Filipino citizenship when the pandemic is over. Others would say that he has a “clear point”.

We’re very sick and tired in going out with face masks, shields (maybe PPEs would be mandatory next month or so, call me crazy lol), curfews, border controls, limited movement, etc. I’m tired of these rules, but it is what the government wants and we have no choice but to cooperate until a vaccine is available.

I’m even planning to apply a dual citizenship for a certain country later on (maybe Singapore, Australia or a European country). I’m proud of who I am and I embrace it, but not the current local and national government that we have right now. Philippines is such a beautiful place with 7k+ islands, and so many tourist attractions as well. God I missed traveling! 

at least in developed countries the development and prevention of this epidemic will be easier than developing, because the production of infrastructure, and others are already developed from developing countries, the unemployment rate is low, corruption may be only a little, and it is inversely proportional to developing countries.

No questions asked, the national government of the Philippines is not really handling the pandemic well. Incompetent is even an understatement.

There are funds allocated for covid response during this pandemic. Billions of budget has been released from the very beginning of this crisis. Everyone should be given a relief in the first place. There should be no excuse that Manila is densely populated since there are BILLIONS of budget we are talking about here.

We’re now trapped in debt yet many fellow filipinos haven’t received their cash aid yet. Many jeepyney and tricycle drivers were not given SAP because they’re not listed. When in fact the government borrowed lots of money for battling the pandemic. They even made an Act Bayahinahan Heal as One yet nothing really improved.

 Our situation has gotten worse each day. More and more covid cases, false statistics displayed on news, Philhealth corruption in the middle of pandemic. Now tell me, is central government really doing just fine???

Back during the early days of 2020, it was recommended by people and other officials to close the border yet they didn’t listen. Look what happened to us now. They have failed big time, especially the DOH secretary for not doing what he’s supposed to do.

Also, you mentioned that the palace has a documentation of the tranche they passed down to the LGU’s, but what about those of distributed per department? They didn’t even published a single liquidation report where a detailed list of where the money went. All they gave to public is the estimated sum of money spent. No details.

Now, let’s not compare Philippines to New Zealand. Why should we look far when we could compare it to our neighboring country, Vietnam? Vietnam has been able to contain the covid-19 and their economy bounced back quickly.

If you would search on the Internet, Vietnam and Philippines have almost the same land area and population which makes it a better comparison than to New Zealand.  Despite of having densely populated country like ours, they were able to prevent local transmission because of good governance and strategies. That sadly, we don’t have.

We could have handled the pandemic better if only there’s a strategic planning and contact tracing  since we could take advantage of our land positioning which is spread in different islands. Yet, covid-19 was still able to reach the provinces outside manila.

Being able to borrow large amount of money isn’t a good news either since it would take years to pay from our taxes and will have an interest for sure. We shouldn’t be just contented from what our leaders are doing. We should DEMAND a quality service from them. After all, our taxes pay them to do their responsibilities. We should always hold them accountable and not tolerate their mistakes so that our economy would soon boost and recover.

There is no difference with developed and developing countries when it comes to the pandemic, USA one of the most developed country is also ranging in the top of number of people got infected but the difference comes in the recovery phase if it is developed country and overwhelming with wealth then they can spend lot money for that process which may be lacking in the developing countries.

but I also wonder why in a developed country like USA can have the most cases in the world considering America is a very strong power country of course, the medical facilities and treatment should be good, but this seems to doubt that they are a developed country, with as many cases whether the role of the government there is not optimal or is there a special reason behind the many cases in the country.

there is very little difference with what is happening there in US and in the Philippines. US is even worse.
you wouldn't even think there is pandemic in the country except if you listen to the news which normally just flash the bad news. turn your tv off and just watch youtube originals or netflix series up to its latest season and you are good to have a fine life all throughout the week.

The USA has better medical care system but their insurance procedure is kind of complicated and a long process which is he main reason for this infection spreads like a wildfire then only government realized that it is important to quarantine the affected ones in the early stages to stop the community spread but that time everything got out of their hand and still they are trying to control it.

People in power are always corrupt. I think the government situation is the same in every country, there are always people that are not being favoured by the government in power. We can take the US as an example, when Obama was the president there were people who never liked him, and then Trump got in, and now it seems more people even don’t like Trump being the president because he seems to be the worst.

Same thing with my country, in fact I will say that my country is the worst because unlike the Philippines you have mentioned, ours is still a developing country and people don’t have nothing to say, the government do as they please, the best people can do is pray that things gets better, but that never happens, instead it keeps getting worse every day.

I am confident and optimistic that this pandemic will make a our country strong and will recover  from drought to a healthy economy soon when vaccine is available next year. I hate politics but only all politicians will unite and act to support the current administration's plans during the crisis, we would have already won the fight of this pandemic. Even this times of pandemic, still politicians thinking about politics all the time that's why we have a slow progress of recovering our economy status. If only we can unite as one, we can heal as one too by putting asides the differences to fight this crisis once in for all.

The Philhealth issue is one big corruption news right now, imagine billions of pesos are wasted, because of the wrong system of implementation
it's heartless to rob a government agency in this time of pandemic, those involved should be prosecuted the head of the health sector the secretary should resigned out of decency but he's hanging on like a leech.

I'm not affected by the Philhealth issue since I'm not a contributor of it but I know the feeling of those many people who are working hard and their salary is being deducted every month or twice a month by this contributions. There are some of my relatives who are affected with this incident but like most of the contributors, they have nothing else to do but to accept it since they don't have the power.

Death Penalty is being pushed by some senators in our country just to stop this corruptions but I doubt that it will happen because for sure the Human Rights Group (for me a shit groups) will oppose on it again. I hate to say this but our country is doomed with different events that are happening.

COVID19, Philhealth Issue, the recent bombings and here is the opposition team just saying numerous shitty words to the President. Instead of helping him, they are opposing to every decisions of the government. What can I do but to remain silent since I don't have the power. Ranting in social media?? Just a waste of time :D.

Let's be real though, there are bigger corruption happening and we don't know it even know how big that is. Philhealth may be the most popular right now but I think there are some too that maybe people are afraid to say, that they are so afraid to blow that whistle since it might not just blow the government up but also their heads.

In the Philippines today, the situation is very difficult, since the economic crisis does not make it possible to save the economy, besides, the coronavirus only aggravates the situation. In addition, as for evil, nature makes its own adjustments, because only in August there were several strong enough earthquakes in the Philippines, which has serious consequences, and the media also reports that there were two large-scale terrorist attacks in different parts of the Philippines. It seems to me that it is very difficult for the government to maintain control in the current situation.

The most popular biggest corruption happening right now and I'm glad that they are on hot rod and I think those corrupt officials will be punished by now but I think there's lacking, this corruption will not be done if there's no approval made by the past administration. I hope all of them will get jailed to serve as warning to other corrupt officials.

I also hope that happens. I can't forget how President Rodrigo Duterte hates the corruption happening inside the government and promised that he will be stopping that once and for all. We can't actually tell the progress of that promise but all we know is that most of those corrupt officials are slowly being presented to the people, hope we end corruption at the end of his term since it is his vow.