Shortly before Easter, I got from my email box a survey questionnaire from Rene Romero, president, of the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce (PAMCHAM) to basically find out the impact of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) on the business sector in Pampanga and how its members were coping with its adverse effects.
It was a short and sweet (maybe sour) survey with only three questions: 1) did the members anticipate the ECQ extension, 2) how they’re coping and 3) any suggestions to mitigate the adversity.
I thought there should have been more questions, but a second document sent to my email, which was a letter Romero sent to the Department of Labor and Employment(DOLE), showed the survey had the “other unasked questions in mind” as well, or at least the respondents would somehow volunteer germane information.
Any businessman worth his salt should have answered “Yes” to the first question. Otherwise, those who answered in the negative must be having a hard time with the second question. As to the third question, I think everyone needed some kind of a lifeguard to make it over the unprecedented adversity. After all, COVID 19 an equal-opportunity catastrophe.
Romero’s letter can give us a clue as to what’s really happening on the ground. ” From the initial survey of PAMCHAM members, quite a few companies are considering downsizing while others mentioned complete shutdown”, he said.
Alas, the devil is on the details.
PAMCHAM, I understand, has more or less 500 members involving 28 industries. Does it follow from what the letter vaguely revealed that only a few can afford downsizing and the rest may have to completely shutdown unless help is on the way ?
Romero is clear and quite emphatic: ” We all accept that the COVID 19 crisis has now transitioned into an economic catastrophe . Businesses– small, medium and large– are on equal footing now. In fact, big businesses are now reeling from the crisis because their fixed carrying costs are larger and cannot be deferred , else their chances of recovery is nil when the lockdown is lifted.
And here, the logical assumption is that the lockdown timeline is only until April 30. So keeping one’s fingers crossed, apart from falling on all fours,should also be part of PAMCHAM’s strategy.
Since COVID 19 is no respecter of company size, Romero has asked DOLE to apply the principle of one -size – fits-all in granting cash assistance to the beleaguered companies. After all, the financial aid is meant to help the employees and not the employer.
It sounds a sound corporate social responsibility with the government paying the cost.
On the other hand, the survey revealed that companies gave food assistance to their workers and their 13-month pay pro-rated from March 15 to April 30 was released. In Romero’s letter to DOLE, it was disclosed that other companies even released their workers’ 14th month pay.
To help them tide over the crisis, the respondents are suggesting, among others, that government waive the payment of rents, ask bank to restructure their loans or impose a moratorium on loan interests or payments for at least 4 months. And of course, a sort of bail out for companies really at risk of not making it through this economic disaster.
As of this writing, government has announced a P50 billion package to rescue the country’s small and medium size entreprises which many, if not most, PAMCHAM members are in the category.
Nationalism is broached in the respondents suggestions. Filipinos should patronize Filipino products first. PAMCHAM members should cross patronize what they have in terms of goods, perhaps even in services. Nothing wrong or unethical in brushing your own teeth.
What the survey indicated is that a lot of things propounded are doable to get businesses on their feet again. What maybe counterproductive is the idea of government intervening to prevent profiteering. It may be hard , if not impossible ,to draw the line here and for everybody to toe it. Remember free market is supposed to be free and no less than the DTI knows it both from theory and practice.
The late Levy P. Laus, primus inter pares among Pampanga’s businessmen, once said the goal of every businessman is to be profitable as possible to provide more jobs to people. He echoed Adam Smith’s concept that the real social corporate responsibility of any businesss is to make profit as much as possible.
Laus founded PAMCHAM after Pampanga survived the Mt. Pinatubo calamity to be a catalyst and fast- prime countryside business more than two decades ago.
Today Romero is at the driver seat of one of the most active chambers in the country probably in an entirely different and difficult environment and greater uncertainty. He may need more luck than Laus in helping his colleagues and peers out of this monstrous situation.
For the same reason, the provincial government may find it difficult to choose an awardee for Most Oustanding Kapampangan in business this year, whether its corporate or person.
On second thought, may be not. Politics, after all, is the art of the possible.
But for some, that may be the rub.
