Tita Winnie taste tests sushi bake, Dalgona coffee cake, and ube cheese pandesal!

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2020
8:30 PM ON GMA NEWS TV

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) estimates that it will take two years for businesses to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. To effect this recovery, they are asking the Office of the President and Congress for P40 billion in wage subsidies – P25B for the formal sector, P5B for informal workers, P2.5B for OFWs and another P7.5B for the unemployed youth or new entrants to the labor market, according to DOLE Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay. 

This is the sobering reality check in the premiere episode of New Normal: The Survival Guide, Newsmakers which tackles the unprecedented 17.7% unemployment rate this quarter. Economist Solita “Winnie” Monsod delves into the devastating effects of COVID-19 on the local economy with DOLE Asec. Tutay and restaurateur Eric Teng, CEO and President of Mango Tree Restaurants, who says he will soon have to close three of 20 restaurants. Teng is also the President of Resto PH, a group of 171 restaurant owners with 1,173 outlets between them, employing more than 18,000 workers.

“For 3 months, we stopped business but we have to pay the skeleton workforce. The drop in sales is around 85-90%,” admits Teng. Two hundred of his 380 employees are currently on extended leave or on leave without pay. Though Teng says his workers have received some financial assistance from their company and the government, he admits this can only sustain their daily needs for a limited time. 

Instead of waiting for government aid, some enterprising Filipinos have created their own opportunities. Many have launched small online businesses by jumping on the quarantine food fad bandwagon. In a segment entitled Tita Tries, Tita Winnie – as Monsod is fondly called – taste tests three lockdown food finds -- sushi bake, Dalgona coffee cake and the ubiquitous ube-cheese pandesal. Which one will she like best?  

Tita Winnie, an octogenarian, also joins a growing number of senior citizens on the video-sharing platform, TikTok. In a segment called Tita Techy, she meets the parents of former The Clash contestant Nolo Lopez who despite being in their 70s and 80s remain tech- and camera-savvy, proving that technology is for everyone. 

Newsmakers premieres on Monday, July 20 at 8:30 pm on GMA News TV.