PH kulelat sa CoVid-19 response (Sa buong mundo)

KULELAT ang Filipinas sa pagtugon sa coronavirus disease (CoVid-19) sa buong mundo.

Ayon sa Ibon Foundation, isang non-stock, non profit development organization, batay sa Lowly Institute ay nasa ika-79 ang Filipinas sa 89 bansa sa buong mundo sa pagtugon sa CoVid-19 pandemic.

Ang iba pang bansa sa Asya na mas mababa ay Bangladesh (84th), Indonesia (85th), at India (86th).

Ang common denominator sa “four worst performing countries in Asia” ay pinamumunuan ito ng “authoritarian leaders” at nakararanas ng “democratic decline” sa panahon ng pandemya.

Noong Setyembre 2020, ayon sa Lancet medical journal na inulat sa United Nations 75th General Assembly, ang Filipinas ay nasa ika-65 ranggo sa 91 bansa sa buong mundo kaugnay sa CoVid-19 response.

“We were already the worst performer in Southeast Asia then. The Communist Party-led Socialist Republic of Vietnam was a star performer from the very beginning,” anang Ibon Foundation.

Ang mahinang pag­tugon sa public health kasabay ng maliit na ginugol para sa pandem­ya ay nagresulta sa pagkakaroon ng “worst economic performance” ng Filipinas sa buong rehiyon.

“The Duterte administration insists that it was a choice between health and the economy, kalusugan or kabuhayan, and portrayed itself as having agonized but made the difficult choice to prioritize health. The economic collapse was the price to pay,” anang Ibon Foundation.

Maling desisyon umano ito dahil puwede naman sabay na ipatupad gaya ng ginawa ng Vietnam at Thailand.

Kung tutuusin, ayon sa Ibon, mas pinili ng administrasyong Duterte ang militaristang hakbang bilang CoVid-19 response, itrato ang mga mamama­yan bilang kaaway at umasa sa marahas na lockdowns at mahabang community quarantines.

Mas ginawa pang iprayoridad ng gobyerno ang credit worthiness kaysa gumasta para makontrol ang pandemya at maibsan ang pag­durusa ng milyon-milyong mamamayan.

“The Duterte government chose not to spend. In the first 11 months of 2020, it only spent P3.69 trillion which is just an 11.6% increase from the same period in 2019. And unless government spending picks up substantially in December, the last month of the year, then this means that the government even underspent its 2020 budget which is supposed to be as much as 13.6% more than the 2019 budget.”

Batay aniya sa kasaysayan ay tumataas ng 11.1% ang budget kada taon kaya’t hindi maa­aring sabihin ng gobyerno na may ipinatupad na stimulus.

“And so the economy’s unprecedented collapse – because the pandemic was not contained and then because the government did not spend to stimulate it.”

“In short, there’s a huge social crisis with millions of unemployed, poverty increasing and hunger worsening.”

Unti-unting nawala ang ayuda para sa mahihirap ngunit ang malalaking korporasyon ay pinagkalooban ng P133 bilyon corporate income tax cuts.

(ROSE NOVENARIO)