NINA MAUREEN PANIS
MPA 2020

ACTIVITY 1
Prepare a research work about the
effect of this pandemic to business
environment in the country and how
does it affect the present economy.
Cite a way how the present
administration can cope up with this
problem. Is there a way how to
overcome it?

In the Southeast Asian region, Philippines is one
of the countries that has been affected the most by
the COVID-19 pandemic. The country is estimated
to lose in the middle of three percent and four
percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) this
year. It’s GDP shortened by two-tenths of one
percent for the first time in two decades according to
Secretary Sonny Dominguez of the Department of
Finance (DOF) in the 1st quarter of 2020. However,
given the increasing number of positive COVID-19
cases in the country, it is most likely that the
following economic quarters will not be promising,
as the Philippine economy tries to bounce back
(Malindog-Uy, 2020).

GDP GROWTH FORECAST UPDATE OF
THE PHILIPPINES AS OF SEPTEMBER
2020

This pandemic outbreak has forced many
businesses to close. Businesses face
numerous short-term challenges, such as
those associated with health and safety, the
supply chain, the labor force, cash flow,
consumer’s demand, sales, and marketing.
However, successfully navigating these
challenges will not guarantee a promising
future, or any future at all. This is because
once we get through this pandemic, we will
emerge in a very different world compared
to the one before the outbreak.

Numerous markets, especially in the fields of tourism and
hospitality, no longer exist. All organizational functions are
intended to prioritize and enhance spending or postpone tasks that
will not bring value in the current environment. Companies,
especially those who just started, have implemented an indefinite
hiring suspension. The COVID-19 outbreak is likely to cause
bankruptcy for many well-known brands in many industries as
consumers stay at home and economies are shut down (Tucker,
2020).

(1) CONTAIN THE SPREAD OF THE VIRUS
 A lot of countries have relatively weak
health care systems, proactive measures to
prevent the spread of the virus will be
critical. Philippines should step up
campaigns to educate the community on
best practices, including encouraging good
hygiene and physical distancing,
discouraging large public gatherings, and
encouraging employers to protect the jobs
of employees who require quarantine or
treatment. Campaigns should elicit the help
of religious and civil society leaders for
maximum effect.

 In addition, governments should suspend all
international travel to or from the most-
affected countries, and quarantine citizens
who have traveled to or through those
areas.

 Preventing new cases of COVID-19 ultimately requires reducing
the opportunity for infected individuals to pass the disease to
others. That can be done by identifying and isolating those who
have been infected or are at high risk, ensuring physical distance
and airflow management, reducing the risk of the encounters
that do happen, and reducing case migration from higher-
prevalence areas. The basic tool kit for the reduction of new
cases is well understood by experts and nonexperts alike. It
includes canceling mass events, restricting capacity in social
settings (particularly indoors or with large numbers of people),
implementing confinement measures, and restricting internal
movement.

(2) CHANGING BEHAVIORS
 A successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic requires
convincing large numbers of people to change their
behaviors. Some countries have seen significant resistance
to such changes, particularly those around physical-
distancing measures and facial-covering mandates. A lack of
trust in governments, information overload, and
inconsistent messaging over time have all contributed to
that opposition. Effective public-health communication can
accelerate the adoption of new behaviors.

“The global community must come together to work
together, coordinate, share lessons learned, and assist
each other to combat the pandemic. Until every
country is safe, no country will be safe. The outbreak
should serve to highlight the extent to which countries
are interconnected and interdependent and should be
a call to strengthen global institutions and the global
governance system.” (Madden,2020)

REFERENCES
 Malindog-Uy, A. (July, 2020). COVID-19 Impacts In The Philippines. The Asean Post.
https://theaseanpost.com/article/covid-19-impacts-philippines
 Tucker, H. (2020). Coronavirus bankruptcy tracker: These major companies are
failing amid the shutdown.
Forbeshttps://www.forbes.com/sites/hanktucker/2020/05/03/
coronavirus-bankruptcy-tracker-these-major-companies-are-failing-amid-
theshutdown/#5649f95d3425.
 Effects of COVID-19 on business and research (2020). Journal of Business Research.
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres
 P. Madeen (2020). Strategies for coping with the health and economic effects of
the COVID-19 pandemic. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-
focus/2020/03/18/strategies-for-coping-with-the-health-and-economic-effects-of-
the-covid-19-pandemic-in-africa/
 https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk/our-insights/covid-19-
implications-for-business#