LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government sympathized with the predicament of micro, small and medium enterprises in the municipality who have been heavily impacted by the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic for over one year and a half because of the enforcement of the various levels of community quarantine supposedly to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda stated that it is unfortunate that many small businesses eventually stopped their operations because of the impact of the pandemic to the economy nationwide and not only in the municipality which is beyond the control of local officials.
He disclosed that the municipal government, in close coordination with concerned government agencies, is trying to look for ways on how to assist heavily-impacted businesses since this entails an enormous amount of funds which the municipality cannot afford at the moment.
The municipal chief executive pointed out that the local government can link the heavily impacted business owners to the relevant agencies and some government offices that may have the funds which these businesses can access to bring back their operations.
According to him, the municipal government can provide technical assistance for the impacted businesses while efforts are being done by the municipality to source out funds that could be loaned to the interested businesses wanting to revive their operations.
Mayor Salda appealed to the heavily impacted business owners to work closely with the municipal government and concerned government agencies for them to be able to access technical and financial assistance instead of relying on unreliable information.
The mayor argued that businesses all over the world are facing the same problems that is why the interventions will have to be holistic and inclusive to allow the sector to eventually recover from the effects of the pandemic.
Last year, the municipal government granted a 120-day tax holiday to local businesses that had been heavily affected by the implementation of the Luzonwide lockdown and other levels of community quarantine as part of the initiative of municipal officials to help mitigate the effects of the pandemic to their livelihood and that the local government is continuously looking for ways to assist the businesses to start recovering but this had been time and gain hampered by the sudden surges in cases that impede the supposed gradual and safe revival of the local economy.
Moreover, he explained that the municipal government cannot just simply allow its resources to be given to the business sector as there are other sectors who are also demanding for appropriate assistance from the government for them to survive the wrath of the pandemic.
By HENT
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis