22,000 Oro firms closed shop in first 2 months

ALMOST all the 22,000 business firms registered in the city have closed shop in March and April when the local government implemented the general community quarantine to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Ruben Vegafria, former president of the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Oro Chamber) said even after the local government relaxed some of the strict quarantine measures, many of the firms are still closed until now.

Vegafria said this has resulted in huge losses in the city's economy and left thousands jobless.

“We cannot estimate the losses but its huge. It’s the entire economy of the city of Cagayan de Oro,” Vegafria said.

In the briefing papers presented by the Oro Chamber to the Northern Mindanao Inter-Agency Task Force for Covid-19 early this month, medium and small business firms engaged in tourism and leisure; transportation, aviation and maritime; automotive; construction and real estate; manufacturing (non-essential) were the most badly hit in the city.

The Oro Chamber said the quarantine led to a sharp decrease of business confidence and labor productivity.

“What must come first? Saving lives or saving the economy? Sadly, it is doubly hard to define priorities today,” Vegafria said.

The IATF cited the local governments like El Salvador that passed local ordinances to extend real property and business taxes without charges to help the traders.

The task force also said government agencies also extended the deadlines for government fees and waived penalties to help the local business sector.

Vegafria said the Oro Chamber presented several recommendations for local traders to get back on their feet.

He said the traders want the local government to reopen a bit the local economy by allowing the resumption of travel, leisure, and entertainment activities.

He said local traders should be given holidays in loan payments until the local economy will stabilize.

Vegafria said the Social Amelioration Program which has already paid 96,000 workers in Region 10, should be extended if the present Modified General Community Quarantine will be reset beyond June.

“Those who choose saving human lives are actually the people who are economically privileged. These are people who will certainly survive but what about those who mercilessly live in want on the other side of the road? “ Vegafria said. (Froilan Gallardo)