PH Govt Allots Over P1T For Strategy Against Virus – Wrong Strategy!

I say: “Strategy against virus” is wrong!

Facebook sharing: “Govt Allots Over P1T For Strategy Against Virus – The Manila Times.” Why wrong strategy? Development is paramount, not Defeat of coronavirus. Defeating the virus is medical; it should be a long-term goal; the immediate goal should be building human bodies that resist disease through the consumption of healthy foods.

Not Medicine but Agriculture is the key!

Very interesting what Eufemio Rasco shares above the image above on his Facebook page:

Now that every strategy known to the medical field has failed, let us go back to basics: food. Food is our last line of defense against Covid-19, because it directly affects our immune system. It does not mean we should not be hungry. Managed hunger, fasting, can boost our immune system!

“Now that every strategy known to the medical field has failed…”

The medical field has failed us in the matter of the coronavirus. The insistence on lockdown, social distancing, whatever has not stopped the spread of the disease – and don’t tell me it’s because people are hardheaded they move about despite government restrictions! As long as people communicate with each other, there will be exchanges of air and viruses.

“Let us go back to the basics: food.”

Of the P1T for the overall strategy against the coronavirus, P16.5 billion is assigned for rice programs. Rice is a necessary dish in the Filipino diet, but:

No, rice is not enough!

P16.5 billion is enough for rice. But what about fish, meat, vegetables, fruits? And we need more than P2.8-billion for zero-interest loans for affected farmers and fishers.

“Food is our last line of defense against Covid-19.”

Actually, it is our first line of defense, not the last. But that statement can be corrected to state, “Food is our first & last line of defense against Covid-19.” Last line because if we are not healthy now, we should be healthy later to fight Covid-19 or any other disease.

Deputy Majority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon Rep Bernadette Herrera said the government should make sure micro, small and medium enterprises, MSMEs, “get the support they need not only to keep their businesses afloat but also to prevent more people from losing their jobs.” She has the details:

99.52 percent of business in the country are MSMEs. In 2018, MSMEs collectively generated a total of 5.7 million jobs, or 63% of the country’s total employment.

Ms Bernadette says, “This is why it is crucial for the government to extend more assistance to this sector.”

Republic Act 11469, or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act,” granted President Rodrigo Duterte the power to use funds of state-owned firms as well as to realign the 2020 national budget during the period of contagion. There is the P300-billion repurchase agreement between BSP and Bureau of the Treasury; and the government is working for loans amounting to $5.7 billion (over P288 billion) with non-Philippine banks.

The Philippines is not poor.
We have, will have the funds.
We just do not have the right strategy yet!@517