Roque: PCCI welcome to join IATF as resource persons

Members of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) can serve as resource persons of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and therefore can participate in IATF meetings, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said Friday.

Roque issued the statement after PCCI president Benedicto Yujuico called on the government to include the private sector in the IATF circle for consultations before coming up with policy recommendations on lockdowns and the resumption of economic activities.

Yujuico has said that stringent regulation on public transportation, policies and regulations imposed by local governments on top of or inconsistent with those implemented by the IATF; impractical standards that must be adopted in workplace settings are some of the pressing issues needed to be addressed by IATF.

“The IATF welcomes any group, organization, or individual, outside the members of the IATF to join the discussion of any of its meetings,” Roque said.

“Officials of the PCCI can therefore serve as resource persons on matters related to trade, business and the economy in the same way that IATF has invited health experts from different medical associations to give their inputs related to their field of expertise,” he added.

Roque, however, did not categorically address PCCI’s call for them to be included in the IATF circle but instead assured the group that their concerns are considered by the IATF in formulating policies amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The President’s Economic Team, namely the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Finance, the Department of Budget and Management, and the National Economic and Development Authority are members of the IATF and regularly join the task force meetings so the concerns of the business sector are forwarded and discussed,” Roque said.

An SWS poll released last August 16 revealed that adult joblessness in the Philippines already increased to a record-high of 45.5% in July, with half of the unemployed saying they lost their jobs amid the COVID-19 pandemic which prompted governments to restrict mobility thru social distancing and ban mass gathering to avoid COVID-19 transmission. — Llanesca T. Panti/RSJ, GMA News