MORE than two weeks into the national emergency that has put most of the country under lockdown and completely paralyzed the economy, what we should have heard in President Rodrigo Duterte’s late-night address on Monday was a clear statement that the government fully understands the breadth of the crisis and, if it does not have all the solutions yet, at least has organized itself to properly assess and manage the various issues. What we got instead was a clear statement that the government is operating with no sense of urgency, virtually no coordination, and an appalling knowledge deficit.

The warning signs were there even before Duterte opened his mouth. The Palace announced in the early afternoon of Monday that his address was “tentatively” scheduled for 4 p.m. 4 p.m. came and went with no further update, and none was offered until just a few moments before the president finally appeared at about 11:35 pm. Duterte’s cantankerous hours are supposed to be just another endearing quirk of his authentic, regular-guy charm, but what they really are is unprofessional, and send the message that the president — upon whose words life-and-death decisions will be made — is thoroughly unconcerned with the crisis.

I seriously doubt that was President Duterte’s actual intention; he is, after all, human, and an elderly one at that, not in the best of health, and dealing with the biggest challenge he has ever faced. Those responsible for managing the communications interface between the president (as an entity, not as a man) and the outside world, however, have no such excuse. If we give them the benefit of the doubt as to their motives and intentions, then they must lack the competency to do that job effectively.

The content of Duterte’s speech, if one dismisses the fair amount of rhetorical chaff all of his speeches seem to contain, was not necessarily bad, although it lacked details. He disclosed that the government has acknowledged and is taking steps to address the most immediate priority, the shortage of medical supplies, equipment and facilities to manage the outbreak. In addition, he announced that a substantial package of P200 billion is being prepared for social assistance for low-income families, and he said that the government is developing a relief plan for small and medium enterprises. Alongside all that, Duterte also appealed to businesses to continue to support their workforces and contribute in other ways to the national effort.

As positive as these individual bullets may be, these are woefully insufficient. What the country needs to hear now, halfway through what is supposed to be a month-long lockdown to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, is that the government has moved past simply reacting to the spread of the “veerus” to deploying a strategy that allows it to take the offensive to defeat it.

That strategy includes assessing the extent of the pandemic (large-scale, if not to say “mass” testing); arresting its spread (managed quarantine); treatment of those infected by the coronavirus; and a plan for economic recovery along three tracks — consumer, business and the government’s fiscal position. Developing and deploying that strategy effectively requires a number of management capabilities the government clearly does not possess: Organizational architecture and process design; coordination and oversight; logistics and supply chain management; and, most glaringly, effective internal and external communications.

That lack of capacity is what makes Duterte’s call for businesses to do more in the shared fight against Covid-19 particularly annoying. The majority of Philippine businesses, without having needed to be bidden by the government to do so, are already doing that, and have, again without prompting, expressed almost a desperate wish to participate in the government’s management of the crisis.

The business groups, which include the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Management Association of the Philippines, Makati Business Club, Bankers Association of the Philippines, Chamber of Thrift Banks, American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, and European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, are the same ones told to talk to the hand by Finance Secretary Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez 3rd when they presented proposals for a fiscal stimulus program last week. Disregarding the potential contributions of people with real-world experience in accomplishing the very objectives the government needs to accomplish if it wants the country to return to anything resembling a normal condition sometime this year is apparently formal policy, as so far, at least as far as anyone knows, no effort to engage the business community has been made or even considered.

This is an error in judgment on the part of the government, and will result in an unnecessarily longer and broader pandemic, and deeper recession, with all the attendant misery that will bring, in the aftermath. If that happens, the government should be credited with it as fully as it should for any success that it can claim.

ben.kritz@manilatimes.net
Twitter: @benkritz