The stick for now

PHILIPPINES - In Brief 22 Jul 2020 by Romeo Bernardo

---

President Rodrigo Duterte has found himself caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, covid-19 cases are rising, with data from the DOH showing the 7-day average positivity rate for daily tests close to 12% compared with a little over 6% a month ago and with experts estimating the reproduction number in Metro Manila rising from 1.2 to 2. On the other hand, quarantine measures have taken their toll on the economy, with survey data from the trade department showing that most of the country’s largely small businesses[1] are either closed (26%) or in partial operation (52%),[2] and with the finance secretary earlier calling for more easing of quarantine restrictions to revive economic activity.Left in a bind, the President’s interior secretary, a former army general and member of the covid-19 task force[3], has proposed using the police in house to house searches and transfer those suspected of carrying the coronavirus to government isolation facilities; an idea that was immediately met with strong public criticism. Stepping back from this proposal, President Duterte instead warned the public yesterday to wear masks and practice social distancing, or face arrest. He called on local government officials and the police to do their duty in enforcing quarantine rules set by the national government or face possible charges of negligence and removal from office.While the President seems to be responding to the general lack of discipline in observing the most basic quarantine rules, the problem of rising covid-19 cases may be more directly correlated with inadequate contact tracing and lack of incentives for exposed individuals to self-quarantine. As it is, exposed...