End the lockdown assembly, economic damages of lockdown
This coming Saturday, September 18, there will be an end-the-lockdown, anti-mandatory vaccination (implicit via discrimination or explicit via proposed legislation). Good move.
About indefinite lockdown, former NEDA Secretary Ciel Habito wrote in his column the other day at PDI, about the Philippines as "Back to being the sick man of Asia… Pathetic laggard."
He cited our low FDI level, lower agriculture growth, compared to our neighbors in the region. But one thing missing -- he not mention the hard, strict, indefinite lockdown as a major reason for being the "sick man of Asia."
Sure the virus also hit TH, ID, MY, SG, CM, JP, KR, ... But how come their economic contraction in 2020 were lower than PH (at -9.6%)? Some of them already had growth in Q1 2021 while PH has -4.2%. Perhaps because Ciel also supported the hard lockdown?
It is true that the PH has low FDI, low agri growth compared to neighbors. But despite those, PH was adding some P1.1 trillion/year (real prices) in GDP size.
PH's GDP size in 2020 was P17.5 trillion, lower than 2018's P18.2 trillion and nearly touched 2017's P17.3 trillion (at constant 2018 prices), numbers in Table 2, https://www.bworldonline.com/budget-2022-borrowings-and-octa/.
The PH's Q2 2021 GDP size of P4.2 trillion was lower than Q2 2018's P4.7 trillion, lower than Q2 2017's P4.4 trillion, and nearly reached Q2 2016's P4.1 trillion. All at constant 2018 prices.
I have a feeling that with these endless dictatorial strict lockdowns and curfew (because lockdowns can control the virus, wehh) and vax discrimination, Q3 2021 will again be lower than Q3 2018's P4.4 trillion, might approximate Q3 2017's P4.1 trillion.
I also think that 99% of all economists in this country have supported the prolonged lockdown. Some even rejoiced and commended "burning down our ships to the ground." That only vax-vax-vax is the solution, no natural immunity, no Ivermectin or HCQ or other proven and old but repurposed drugs.
Meanwhile, the vax-vax-vax countries, have they succeeded in reducing high infections and cases? From these countries below, the answer is NO.
UK 71.0%, Germany 66.1%;
Israel 68.9%, Iran 27.0%;
Japan 64.7%, Malaysia 66.1%.
I included Iran above despite its low vax rate because it's the country in the MidEast with the largest number of cases and infections.
So the persistent lobby and pressure towards mass vaccination is more political, not medical move. To justify those countries' huge budget for vax procurement and logistics (transpo, storage, etc), the indefinite lockdown, mask mandate.
End the lockdown. End the mandatory vaccination pressure.
Continuing vaccination, due to the experienced deaths, now becomes pre-meditated mass murder or genocide.
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