AMID COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Solon says Philippines lost P21B a month due to public transportation halt during ECQ

The Philippines had lost P21 billion a month when public transportation was halted during the implementation of strict lockdown measures to arrest COVID-19 spread, a lawmaker said Wednesday.

During the joint public hearing of the House of Representatives’ committees on economic affairs and transportation, AAMBIS-OWA Party-list Rep. Sharon Garin said the estimated economic losses are “just land transportation.”

“That’s high impact,“ Garin, who chairs the House panel on economic affairs, said.

“While our operators and our drivers are suffering losses, at the same time, it is also losses of workers because they cannot go to work. If the workers cannot go to work, the businesses cannot operate,” she emphasized.

However, the lawmaker said the P21-billion loss is just “a very conservative estimate if we look at it.”

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, for his part, reiterated that the government’s plan is to implement a gradual, calibrated, and partial resumption of public transportation.

The government suspended public transportation in light of the enforcement of enhanced community quarantine all over Luzon and some high-risk areas in the country from mid-March to mid-May.

Lockdown restrictions began to ease in the second half of May and early in June as more areas, including the country’s economic center Metro Manila, were placed under general community quarantine wherein several business activities were allowed to reopen.

Nevertheless, Garin reminded Transportation officials to pay attention to public transportation since it is “integrated and interconnected with all the businesses that we have.”

“No transpo, our proceeds won’t get to the market and won’t get to the people,” she said.—AOL, GMA News