The impact of COVID‐19 has been of such magnitude that social, cultural, economic, educational, political, and health institutions have been shaken. The steps taken to address this impact have forced the government to acquire loans since March this year amounting to US$ 6.8 billion, a figure that has worried economists because of what it means for the country’s debt to GDP ratio.10 Punongbayan, J.C. (2020, June 19). Last updated 2020, June 19. [Analysis] Duterte’s New COVID‐19 Loans: Need we Worry? Retrieved June 29, 2020, from https://www.rappler.com/thought‐leaders/264259‐analysis‐duterte‐coronavirus‐loans‐need‐we‐worry
As the government experiments with ways of jumpstarting a process of recovery for the Filipino people, we have to be very clear about the nature of the issues that we need to address as we put together initiatives based on a vision of the future that we can widely share.