CAGAYAN DE ORO (MindaNews) — The economies of Cagayan de Oro and Gingoog cities took a beating after health authorities implemented the Enhanced Community Quarantine from July 16 to July 31.
Mylah Faye Aurora Cariño, director of the National Economic Development Authority 10 Director Mylah Faye Aurora Cariño said that for Cagayan de Oro, estimated economic losses could reach P143 million a day since July 16 after the city implemented the strict quarantine measures.
She said stores, restaurants and malls took a serious beating, losing P123 million a day.
For Gingoog City, Cariño said its economy nosedived with estimated losses reaching P10 million a day since July 16.
Cagayan de Oro and Gingoog cities were placed under ECQ, the most restrictive among community quarantines, from July 16 to 31, following the announcement of the Department of Health (DOH) that six patients with Delta variants were found in
“Prolonged ECQ would be catastrophic to the economies of these two cities,” Cariño said during an online forum Friday.
Cariño said 92 micro and small firms in Cagayan de Oro have closed in May and June 2021, displacing 1,260 skilled workers.
She said some 331 establishments in Cagayan de Oro have retrenched 4,381 workers.
Councilor George Goking, chair of the Cagayan de Oro Council’s trade and commerce committee estimated some 8,000 employees of stores that closed in the city shopping malls were rendered jobless on the first day of the ECQ on July 16. The ECQ is until July 31. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
