In the recently conducted Regional Statistic Committee Region 2 (RSC2) meeting on March 03, 2022, RSC2 Chair and NEDA2 Regional Director Dionisio C. Ledres, Jr. shared that with the declaration of COVID-19 Alert Level 1 status, 62 percent of the country’s economy and about 20.3 million workers in most provinces of the country will be benefited. This will also translate into some 16.5 billion pesos more per week of economic activity; 5.2 billion pesos more in salaries; and 297 thousand less unemployed in the next quarter. These figures are estimates by NEDA as reported by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua.

Under level 1, the performance of key sectors like tourism and education will also improve. At least 750 billion pesos of tourism receipts can be recovered with the reopening of domestic tourism through transport, hotels, malls, and restaurants operating at 100 percent capacity. While the opening of face-to-face classes will boost related economic activities.

Also taking off from Sec. Chua’s presentation, RD Ledres cited the 10 point agenda of the remaining months of the Duterte administration: restoration of job opportunities; bringing more people out of poverty; expansion of healthcare capacity focusing on causes of severe cases and death; vaccination; economy and mobility; full face-to-face education interventions; domestic and international travels; digital transformation; pandemic flexibility bill; and medium-term preparation for pandemic resilience.

The 5.6 percent growth of the Philippine economy in 2021, which he said surpassed the target of 5.0 to 5.5 percent, is strong basis for positive and optimistic outlook for 2022.