Multi-Sectoral Cooperation and Innovation toward
National Economic Recovery and Growth after
the COVID-19 Pandemic

Francis Edward Garcia Urcia1, Kevin Bruce Que2

1 Independent Researcher
2 Advocacy Manager, Projects Unlimited Group of Companies, the Philippines

新型コロナの感染爆発による世界経済の停滞は、とりわけ途上国の中小零細企業に深刻な打撃を与えている。これを乗り越え、官民協力で持続可能な成長を実現するための施策を提言する。

Abstract

As the world hangs on for a viable cure to COVID-19, the ongoing impacts of a prolonged pandemic have weakened
many nations and have stalled worldwide socio-economic growth. Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMES)
have been hit severely, particularly in developing nations, with many micro and small enterprises who were essentially reactive to disruptions, closing down indefinitely, unable to survive. As one of the largest business segmentsof an economy, consolidated public and private sector resources and leadership will play crucial roles in recovering
the viability of MSMEs and revitalizing the economy after the pandemic. This study aims to look into the various
measures taken by nations and discuss their best practices and challenges toward recovery and approaches forinclusive growth. Of particular focus will be current ‘new normal’ environments and the opportunities and innovations they present toward building sustainable and resilient environments.
Keywords

MSME, Disruptions, Reinforcement, Economic Recovery, Resilience

Introduction

Shortly after the World Health Organization (WHO)declared the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a
global pandemic in March 11, 2020, many countries
began closing off their borders to halt further movementof this highly contagious and potentially fatal disease,and manage the remaining threat within their respective
populations (WHO, 2021).

(Source: WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard, 2021)

Fig. 1. Global Covid-19 infections and deaths from 2020.

COVID-19 however, did not just cause a health crisis.
The ensuing pandemic added a socio-economic dimension to the disease that made fighting it that much more
complicated. COVID-19’s ability to spread rapidly
meant that strict public measures such as area-wide
quarantines, emergency school and business closures,and hygiene protocols had to be implemented to safeguard the health of their respective populations. The
comprehensive reach of these measures however, halted
nearly all publicly-held activities except for the procurement of essential goods and services. To mitigate thisdisruption, many people began using the internet as away to maintain social bonds with one another andresume scholastic, leisure, and commercial activities
remotely (Vogels, et al., 2020). While this move broughtsome normality back in their lives, difficulties in keeping COVID-19 infections under control (Fig.1) have led
to protracted lockdown campaigns that have caused217

Francis Edward Garcia Urcia, et al.

economies to contract and put mounting pressure on
people’s mental health and financial well-being as the
pandemic wore on.

Philippines’ Gross Domestic Product growth dropped tominus 16.9 percent and the economy entered into a deep
recession (Fig. 3).

The Philippine Covid-19 Context in 2020

This was certainly the case for many people in thePhilippines in 2020 when rising COVID-19 infections
prompted the government’s Interagency Task Force(IATF) to maintain a state of high alert and enforce various levels of community quarantine throughout most of
its regions. Establishments remain shuttered, supply
chains stalled, and public spending dropped. This significantly hurt Philippines’ economy as Micro and SmallEnterprises (MSE) relied on face-to-face interactions
with consumers to conduct business (B2C) andaccounted for eighty-nine percent and ten percent
respectively of all businesses in the country (Fig. 2).

(Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2020)

Fig. 3. Philippines’ GDP growth rates during the first yearof the COVID-19 pandemic.

Significance(Source: Department of Trade and Industry, 2021)

Fig. 2. 2019 Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME)
share of all business establishments in thePhilippines.

After only a few months into the pandemic, manybusinesses ended up closing indefinitely, unable to copewith mounting debt and loss of potential revenue fromsustained inactivity. For the people that found themselves laid off, little opportunity for new work could befound elsewhere. By the second quarter of 2020,

218

The impacts of COVID-19 however, vary with every
country. Countries like Palau and Micronesia, thatreported no cases of infection, may be COVID-free but
will likely still be impacted economically due to global
lockdown (US-OIA, 2020). Philippines was facing a
tough time with its containment measures due to its
dense urban centers and stretched response capacities
that were addressing parallel disaster incidents such as
the Taal volcano eruption in January 12, 2020; theMasbate earthquake in August; and typhoons Quinta(Molave), Rolly (Goni), and Ulysses (Vamco) - thatmade successive landfalls from late October toNovember 2020, and caused extensive damage and loss
throughout the country (NDRRMC, 2020). Singapore
on the other hand, implemented a comprehensive monitoring and ‘circuit-breaker’ strategy to contain and cutoff COVID-19’s ability to spread throughout the country.
Add to that, an early economic stimulus package andSingapore’s wait for a vaccine began without much needfor the country’s social and economic activities to beplaced under heavy lockdown.

6th AFC Best Papers

As one of the largest business segments of an economy, consolidated public and private sector resources
and leadership will play crucial roles in recovering theviability of MSMEs and revitalizing the economy
during and after the pandemic. Using the Philippine
context as a case study for developing nations in need,this study looks into the effectiveness and real impact of
local measures taken to protect the viability of businesses in the Philippines and will include a selection of
measures taken by other countries to discuss their bestpractices, challenges, and adaptability to help improve
people’s chances of surviving this economic crisis
caused by a prolonged pandemic.

Methodology

This study utilized both content analysis and interviews
to gather salient information about public and private
sector’s economic policy and plan responses to alleviate
the impacts of the pandemic.
Content was sourced almost exclusively from government, news, and research outlets that have been
made publicly available on the Internet. And because
the COVID-19 pandemic is still an ongoing matter, theconditions and outcomes of the information being studied are still fluid and that up-to-date information will be
key for a relevant analysis.
Interviews were also conducted to gain understanding of MSME experiences right before and after the
onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study focusedon a small sample group of twelve active MSMEs in thePhilippines who were asked if the support coming fromtop-down responses was being felt at the ground level. If
gaps in coverage were found, their feedback could provide relevant learning points for public and private andsector stakeholders to improve the conditions at the
ground level.

COVID-19 Economic Relief at a Glance

COVID-19’s swift impact on the economy pushed
public and private sector leadership to work hand-inhand to implement economic stimulus programs to prevent a surge in unemployment and stall a recession until
such a time that the economy is allowed to resume andbegin recovery. These programs were designed to
deploy national support mainly through local businessorganizations and institutions who could then facilitate
support down-the-line to their customers or channeleddirectly to individuals to meet daily needs, make essential payments, and boost consumer spending (ILO, n.d.).
And while these programs were essentially tailored tomeet the needs of their respective country, they offeredsimilar features such as tax relief and exemptions; payment deferrals on loans, mortgages, and credit carddebts; wage subsidies to ensure employee retention;
cash aid and livelihood assistance for affected MSME
vendors; and moratorium protections on residential
evictions, forfeiture of commercial leases, and utility
shut-offs.

COVID-19 Economic Relief inthe Philippines

In September 11, 2020, the incumbent Philippine
President, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, signed into law the“Bayanihan to Recover as One Act”, also known as the
Bayanihan 2 Act, for “COVID-19 response and recovery
interventions and providing mechanisms to accelerate
the recovery and bolster the resilience of the Philippine
economy, providing funds therefor, and for other purposes” (Republic Act 11494, 2020). This Act builds
upon previous social protection features mobilized in
the earlier “Bayanihan to Heal As One Act” (Republic
Act 11469, 2020), and augments the country’s health andsocio-economic response and recovery capacities.
The Bayanihan 2 Act makes provisions for non-essential sectors such as agri-fishery and MSMEs, especiallybusinesses operating in the country side or that havebeen critically impacted by the Pandemic; businesses
that provide essential goods and services; healthcare
institutions and front-line workers; institutions-for-learning including teaching and non-teaching personnel; andtarget groups and individuals such as low-income households, displaced workers, and repatriated Overseas
Filipino Workers (OFWs).
Support took form by way of eased statutory and regulatory requirements, with time extensions, waivers,
and breaks on selected obligations and activities to219

Francis Edward Garcia Urcia, et al.

encourage business continuity, ensure healthy supply
chains especially with businesses that provide essential
goods and services, and expedite infrastructure projects
and programs to reinvigorate employment and boost
economic recovery. Public financial institutions such as
the Development Bank of the Philippines, the Small
Business Corporation, and the Philippine Guarantee
Corporation have also been directed to conditionallylower lending interest rates and reserve requirements,and make program expansions to accommodate credit
lending, extended terms, and use of proceeds to meet
payrolls, rents, restructure capital, and other uses tohelp businesses build resilience against disruptions.
In addition to short-term moratoriums placed on
select payment obligations such as rent, loans, and utilities, the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) featured in
the earlier Bayanihan Act returned with another roundof handouts ranging from 5,000 to 8,000 Philippine
Pesos to the poor and vulnerable segments of the population. Additionally, the Bayanihan 2 Act outlines therelease of other emergency subsidies to address unemployment, repatriation of OFWs, student tuition debt,
and the specialized support needed by COVID-19
healthcare personnel working in hazardous front-line
conditions (Republic Act 11494, 2020).

Ground Level Impact of Local Economic
Relief

In a study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB),
Philippines’ business environment was being considerably impacted across the board with 70.6% of MSMEs
temporarily closing down and around 66.2% of theworkforce temporarily laid-off due to the COVID-19
outbreak (Fig. 4). According to a large survey conductedby the Economic Partner Research institute (EPRI) for
UNICEF-UNDP, nearly all of over 3,600 poor households surveyed in the National Capital Region (NCR) of
the Philippines, suffered severe financial consequences
due to the COVID-19 crisis. While the report states thatthe majority received SAP assistance, EPRI makes notethat their sample size provided “tentative evidence thatthe effects of the crisis are likely more severe than was
earlier estimated” (EPRI, 2020).

220(Source: Navigating Covid-19 in Asia and The Pacific, Asian Development
Bank, 2020)

Fig. 4. MSME Business Environment after the COVID-19
Outbreak in 2020.

In a rapid assessment conducted by World Vision on
the condition of vulnerable Philippine communities
arising from the COVID-19 situation, 92 percent ofhouseholds surveyed in May 2020, had their livelihoods
affected by the Enhanced Community Quarantines(ECQ) imposed by the IATF. 72 percent of those households suffered job loss or reduced wages. With only
“32-40 percent of households fully able to meet theirfood and cooking expenses”, the rest relied on the government for aid (World Vision, 2020).
In a news article published by the Straits Times, anAgence France-Presse interview with a Philippine
jeepney driver highlights the grim reality of how theeffects of this pandemic have severely deteriorated thequality of life for many people in the Philippines. The
driver, having been sidelined from work for the past fivemonths due to prolonged quarantine measures, could
not live off limited cash aids and has resorted to living
in his jeepney with his family and begging on the streets
in order to survive (ST, 2020).

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New Normal for MSMEs in
the Philippines

The new normal came with new practices in operations for business continuity. For businesses that havebeen unable to reach breakeven targets, many of them
have had to streamline operations and lay off employees
to lower overhead costs. Businesses also began implementing a skeletal work system. Although wages dropped
and responsibilities rose for the latter, this practicequickly took hold because of higher employee retention.

Local MSME Interviews

Twelve establishments were interviewed in-andaround Metro Manila - the economic center of thePhilippines. and the hardest area to have been impacted
by the COVID-19 crisis. The interviews focused on theexperience of the businesses right before and after the
onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to understand if the benefits of the economic stimulus programs
were being felt by MSMEs at the ground level. Theseestablishments represented the following industries:
Table 1. MSME Industries Interviewed.
1. Agriculture

2. Retail & Trade

3. Hospitality

4. Manufacturing

5. Construction

6. Healthcare

Despite a recent abundance of projects and continued
demand for goods and services, the respondent businesses revealed struggles with incoming cash flow
regardless of the industry that they belonged to and theirprimary clients. Those engaged mostly in business-to-business channels (B2B), had been unable to
make collections due to the client’s reported lack offunds. Like them, small suppliers are forced to offer
long and drawn-out payment terms in order to secure a
project. In practice however, payment is not assured andlarge companies could disregard the terms and force
MSME suppliers to wait for months. Meanwhile, someof these businesses could end up declaring bankruptcy
before they ever see a collection.
The respondents also revealed that they were seeing
a decrease in sales at their physical stores due to therarity of people making personal trips. This is true not
only for the A to B market but even with wet markets
and roadside stores. According to them, the government’s mandated protocols and inconsistent messaging
about the nature of the virus have made consumers wary
about leaving their houses. However, economic activity
appears to have some relationship with public perceptions of safety against COVID. People still felt safe tointeract with others face-to-face and make business
transactions. Thus, many businesses have looked into
making efficient “new normal” renovations to theirspaces to ensure that customers feel safe. The downside
was that it added further cost, on top of a reduction ingross sales, prompting cutbacks elsewhere. From theirpoint of view, the business had to keep running but
because they did not feel supported by the economic
stimulus programs initiated by the government, theyfind themselves in a “Pareto efficient” situation to secure
their business and workforce within their means, without jeopardizing business continuity.
Aside from one respondent that represented the agriculture industry, all of the respondents had difficultyinterfacing with the public sector at the onset of the pandemic. Public offices were reportedly understaffedwhich made business transactions such as the release ofgoods from customs, and labor filing with social services burdensome. Despite the government’s efforts toramp up the digitization of their services, the process
remains wrapped in a lot of red-tape.
It is important to highlight the experiences of a private clinic interviewed in this study. As an establishment working in the front-lines against COVID-19, theclinic should have had access to support from the public
sector. However, on top of having to shoulder the procurement of protective equipment and other measures toensure safety of their medical personnel and patients,
they unable to secure a supply of vaccines through the
public system. In the end, the clinic procured undeclaredvaccines circulating in the underground economy.
The findings from the interviews strongly indicatedthat MSMEs are largely still struggling to survive. It also
corroborates with some the issues experienced by otherbusinesses trying to remain viable in the country. In one

221Francis Edward Garcia Urcia, et al.

news article by Rappler, several MSME proprietors cited
difficulties communicating with officials, eligibility forassistance, subsidy amounts that were insufficient tokeep them afloat for long, and a denial because government funds were running out (Mejico L, Diño N., 2020).

Back to Square One?

By August 11, 2020, Philippines’ COVID-19 infection cases peaked and began to decline. This allowed the
IATF to downgrade the quarantine and ease restrictions
to allow select social and economic activities to resume.
In almost one year since the COVID-19 disease caused ahealth and socio-economic crisis, global monitoring ofconfirmed COVID-19 cases had begun to show an almost
fifty percent decline. Tedros Adhanom, the World HealthOrganization’s incumbent Director-General, attributed
this drop to the effectiveness of “simple public healthmeasures” but still cautions the public that “the fire is notout” (WHO, 2021). But by early February 2021, COVID19 infections in the Philippines began to rise again but
this time at an alarming rate. In March 23, 8,013 confirmed cases were reported. This number far exceeded
last year’s peak by 1,375 cases of infections (Fig.5). In
March 29, 2021, Philippines’ National Capital Region(NCR) and its surrounding areas went back into an
enhanced community quarantine for a period of one
week leading the public to wonder if the country washeading back to square one (Maru, D., 2021).

(Source: Graph adapted from WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard, 2021)

Fig. 5. Confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Philippines with apeak daily high of (a) 6,638 cases in August 11,
2020, and (b) 8,013 cases in March 23, 2021.

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Takeaways from Other Countries

It has been proven in other countries that lifting business restrictions and re-opening the economy can leadto a bounce-back of certain industries that can exceed
pre-COVID levels and aid in recovery (Szlezak et al.,2020). However, an over relaxation of restrictions may
result in a resurgence of COVID cases that can hamper
gains achieved during the early response period (Lawson
et al., 2020). Due to the extreme resurgence of COVID19 in the Philippines, the administration has been forced
to regress the country back to a lockdown state in order
to contain the outbreak.
Lockdowns have been the most effective way to curb
the transmission of the disease but cause a slowdown in
consumption due to losses in income, shortened work
hours, unemployment, and loss of access to goods andservices. On the other hand, lifting lockdowns too early
may result in a resurgence of cases (Aum et al., 2020;
Birinci et al., 2020; Chari et al., 2020; Hur, 2020). Thus,
recovery efforts become a problem of optimizing lockdown periods to stimulate consumption.
Models utilizing targeted isolation and testing policies would have reduced the early recession by about
25% (Chari et al., 2020), and would turn out to be economically less costly (Alvarez et al., 2020). A study by
Aum, Lee, and Shin (2020), demonstrated this by showing that aggressive testing and infection tracking
employed by South Korea, drastically reduced potential
infections and minimized economic disruption - as
opposed to the policy of a blanket-lockdown employedby the United Kingdom. However, not all countries haveaccess to nor the capacity to utilize big data technology
and infrastructure to imitate this approach.
Indonesia began its own version of contact tracing
and micro-isolation policies. Instead of using big data,
the government worked with village-level governanceto handle cases and certify clearances. To augment capital limitations, the government also reached out to theprivate sector to conduct joint testing and officiallyapprove the use of the more affordable antigen tests for
wider reach with the population. With the availability ofvaccines in 2021, the Indonesian government acquired
420 million doses for its 180 million population. As of

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April 28, 2021, more than 12 million people in Indonesia
have been vaccinated (EKONID, 2021; OCHA, 2021).
Regardless of the type of lockdown or isolation
policy implemented to control COVID-19 outbreaks,
these policies do not mitigate the issue of initial and continued reduction in consumption. In the United States ofAmerica, stimulus and unemployment insurance benefits given out have shown that these earnings replacement programs indeed have a positive effect on
consumption spending (Casado et al., 2021). Hur (2020),
suggests that a targeted policy that subsidizes particularly exposed individuals, funded by an increased consumption tax will save lives and also avert a deep
recession without depleting public funds.

Finding a Better Normal: Virtualization
for MSMEs

It goes without saying that the pandemic has fast forwarded our use of online platforms to conduct business.
Many micro enterprises have grown due to publicdemand to cater an online market place and the use of
online marketing strategies. Amongst the micro andsmall enterprise respondents interviewed for this study,some found conducting their operations online beneficial
and have made the transition into a completely virtual
setup. Not only could they reach a large consumer market,
they were able to cut major overhead obligations. Some
had done away with their physical spaces altogether orrepurposed them for other uses. In a bid to keep tenants
on board, many property owners have tried droppinglease rates. While this brought some relief for businesses
that needed to maintain physical spaces for their customers, those that did were required to make additions
or renovations to comply with COVID-19 protocols.
According to the micro and small enterprise respondents in retail and B2C businesses, adoption of online
selling platforms early into the pandemic was essential
to keep up with other entities that had lower overhead
costs and eating up the online market. It is also note-worthy that even though medium-sized businesses withaccess to more capital, have larger capacities to handle
disruptions, Micro and small enterprises have natural
flexibility to adapt rapidly. Medium-sized enterprise

respondents seemed to struggle with integrating online
business strategies due to the time required to capacitatea larger workforce. Those who could not adopt thesestrategies seemed to see losses in their market shareearly on in the pandemic.

Finding a Better Normal: Public andPrivate Sector Collaboration

Although the government implemented two Republic
Acts to address the COVID-19 crisis in the Philippines,
many businesses felt that the support did not reach them.
Many struggled to make adjustments on their own andfailing in the process. Outcomes like this highlight a
disparity between the reported efforts made by national
agencies and what actually trickles down to the beneficiaries of these programs. Therefore, despite the national
scale of handling the pandemic and resuscitating the
economy, top level governance must not forget to have abottom-up approach to addressing risks.
It is also important for the public sector to continuously verify and monitor with LGUs if measures areproperly implemented and resources efficiently allocated. This can only happen through improved communication platforms and consistent discourse withbusinesses to find out what they really need.
Although MSEs are the most vulnerable of enterprises in this pandemic, this study has found that they
have the most flexibility to make rapid adjustments totheir practices. Since the virtual marketplace has provento be potential platform for businesses to thrive in thispandemic, the public sector should promote capacity
building programs to make the platform accessible formore businesses.
Still, ending this socio-economic crisis boils down toa fast and successful control of COVID-19 in thePhilippines. Smaller, targeted lockdowns instead ofareas-wide lockdowns, would allow for economic activity
and recovery to continue in parallel. The alarming rise ininfections in 2021 however, has been pushing down mostof the country’s success gained by the end of 2020.
Vaccine procurement is still fraught with difficulties andto this day, mass testing and contract tracing have not yet
reached a capacity to effectively contain the situation.

223

Francis Edward Garcia Urcia, et al.

Like Indonesia, the Philippines could work with theprivate sector to augment its capital limitations andco-implement the necessary public health measures toreach more people. In this way, efforts made on bothsides can be maximized. Now that the Philippines isessentially back to square one, it can be taken as achance to correct mistakes made last year and go all out
with preventive measures to contain the virus.

Conclusion

One major takeaway from this study is that there isdisparity between the policy and investments made by
the public sector and people’s perceptions of them at the
ground level. Although this study delved into current“new normal” or “better normal” trends to promote paradigm shifts in how we see, build, and share our built
environments, two questions need to be looked deeper
into and solved to successfully bounce back from thispandemic.
These questions are:
1.	W here is the bottle neck in governance that isdebilitating the efficient dissemination of public
recovery programs?; and2.	Are there other ways for the private and public
sectors in the Philippines to innovate betterbounce-back mechanisms?

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