How long can the Phillipines stay shut before financially collapsing?

They collapsed already. It is just not officially announced yet.

The death rate at 0.001%.  The decisions by the few have destroyed the country's economy and ruined lives for years to come......

The good news :
Forget the local banks...."Coca-Cola" is coming to the rescue by giving loans to thousands of sari sari shops.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.philst … ilers/amp/


"Do you really want to live in a world without coca-cola?"
Walter White

The bad news :

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.philst … -year/amp/

Think the exchange rate will fall to 2008 levels?

There's a lot of previous post I'd like to comment on, so here is my take (who cares anyways)

(1) Financial Collapsing: The Fil was collapsed before the Virus, Fil lagged behind the  growth of other Southeast Asian countries for the last 50 years. Saying a collapsed economy is collapsing?

(2) Death Rate .001? Who really knows what the death rate in the Fil is? NOBODY. Actually nobody in the whole world knows what their countries death rate is. Nobody knows what the decisions of today will bring in the future, So in 10/20 years from now you can point fingers and argue.

(3) Coca Cola Loans: The article said up to 10,000 php but only 40% in cash (4,000 php)
Lets spread the rumor that San Miguel is giving free beer to be distributed in Sari Sari stores.

(4) Exchange rate PHP against the Dollar. It's falling because the PHP is stronger against the Dollar, takes less PHP to buy a Dollar. The real question is, why is that?
Because of inflation of the dollar caused by the flood of Dollars in the US economy? Or currency manipulation by the Fil to give more buying power to the Peso?

Arcadieus wrote:

I'm just curious on the current situation. My girlfriend tells me everyone is losing their jobs and pretty much destitute as of right now.

Lockdowns in the Philippines, from most restrictive to least restrictive are as follows: ECQ (enhanced community quarantine), MECQ (modified enhanced community quarantine), GCQ (general community quarantine) and MGCQ (modified general community quarantine).

In June, Metro Manila and some neighboring provinces were upgraded from MECQ to GCQ. Most businesses were allowed to open under certain guidelines. Buses, UV Express vans, taxis, MRT / LRT were allowed to operate also following guidelines. But in August 4, these areas were downgraded back to MECQ starting August 5, 2020 to August 18, 2020. This was in response to requests by doctors, nurses and those in the medical field for a "time out" as they were swamped by the influx of a large number of patients needing medical attention after Metro Manila was upgraded from MECQ to GCQ in June.

I think this is the main challenge that the government has to address: providing safe transportation for workers. Many believe that one of the main reasons for the increase in Covid cases during GCQ was due to exposure to the virus in crowded commutes.

I own a shop in Quezon City in Metro Manila. Our product / service is construction related,  providing for and servicing  homes, businesses, and commercial establishments.

Our main issue, and also one of the main issues of similar businesses in Metro Manila, was worker mobilization in light of the Covid-19 situation. Using public transportation increases ones chance of catching the virus. So, our solution was to have workers, who did not have their own private vehicles, picked up from and driven back home. With that in place, along with modifications to our shop / office and workspace layout, and wearing face masks as mandatory, it was like business as usual.

We were swamped, to our surprise, by a lot of orders. We do have to be wary of the rules and regulations of other cities and provinces if case we need to cross over to those areas. I think if businesses could provide a safe mode of transportation for their workers, more workers could go back to work.

My husband works for a BPO. Before Covid, employees already asked if the company could set up a work from home. The employer said "It's impossible." But now, with lockdowns preventing workers from going to work, many agents were provided with computers so they can work from home. What was impossible is now possible. My husband took a leave of absence though. He's a manager. His employer wants managers to report on site. If they don't want to, they should take time off. We have enough funds to sustain us even with both of us not working. For him, not working was by choice.

Just recently, Quezon City government offered payroll subsidy to micro, small and medium sized business in Quezon City, called Kalinga QC sa Negosyo, providing 3 installments each amounting to 2-week's pay (or 1-1/2 month's pay total) for each employee.

I do believe the government is trying its best to balance the need to open up the economy and keeping the number of Covid cases at bay. It's a difficult task considering the Philippines is a third world country, which is why I avoid being too critical.

Businesses hit hard by the lockdowns were restaurants, salons and retailers of non-essential goods. But some are thriving. The other day, I received an offer to bid for work to be done for around 50 cargo containers which will be turned into medical facilities for Covid-19 patients. I didn't join the bidding. I'm working from home and going to the shop only twice a week. If I won the bid, I might have to go to work 6 days a week. I just want to stay safe and avoid catching, as much as possible, this nasty virus.

Arcadieus wrote:

I'm just curious on the current situation. My girlfriend tells me everyone is losing their jobs and pretty much destitute as of right now.

Salons, spas and barbershops are closed. Hair stylists, manicurist, barbers are out of work. Many people haven't had a haircut for months.

Hair-wise, my son started looking like John Lennon, and my husband, Mozart after months of lockdown. After watching instructional videos on youtube, I bought hair shears and tried cutting their hair.

I think I did okay, a bit uneven at certain areas. (I was careful not to injure them. But I did cut myself in between my index and middle finger.) My husband called it "covid cut," a hairstyle resulting from regular people trying to cut their family members' hair  during a lockdown after watching a youtube video.

My husband didn't like it. So he bought electric clippers and cut his hair. Now, his hair looks like that of the main character's hair in Prison Break. I think the covid cut actually looks better on him.