Reviving the Philippine Economy under a Responsible New Normal

After the reclassification of areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to general community quarantine (GCQ), the urgent task for the Philippine government is to provide an exit plan to revive the Philippine economy. Given the significant economic damage resulting from the shutdown of roughly 75 percent of the country’s total production in the National Capital Region (NCR) and in the CALABARZON and Central Luzon areas, a gradual reopening of the economy will be necessary to prevent further economic damage that could not only be difficult to repair, but also long to overcome. Indeed, based on recent directives from the government, a substantial number of industries and services have thus been allowed to operate in both the ECQ and GCQ areas. However, as the Philippine government begins to calibrate the opening of sectors, there remain concerns as to how this process will affect jobs and livelihoods now and beyond. In this context, an economic recovery plan that talks about short-term, a transition, and full recovery phases— encompassing a revision of the current Philippine Development Plan without losing sight of the long-term goals envisioned in Ambisyon Natin 2040— is still needed. Indeed, a key component of AmBisyon 2040 has been of building resiliency over the long-term, which includes resiliency in health and economic shocks apart from natural disasters. At the same time, this recovery plan should also be accompanied by structural reforms to enhance its implementation. The Department of Finance has crafted a four-pillar socio-economic strategy aimed at: (a) supporting the more vulnerable sectors of society; (b) increasing medical resources to contain the virus and offer safety to front-liners; (c) keeping the economy afloat through financial emergency initiatives; and (d) creating jobs and sustaining the economy. Yet while enumerating the costs of these plans, the said strategy lacked details on how the country could achieve some of the goals without the availability of widespread testing and adequate health facilities. Loan guarantees, cash transfers, and other forms of subsidies can revive disrupted supply chains but cannot restore productivity in the middle of a persisting health crisis, while the uncertainty of a possible outbreak can keep workers from supplying goods and services. It is crucial to have these programs and institutions in place since a number of cities, regions and provinces have started to reopen. A modified community quarantine without the necessary health system investments, protection measures, and economic recovery plan risks amounting to an unregulated herd immunity strategy. Opting for herd immunity allows governments to blame the failure of the health and economic system on the virus, rather than on bad governance. Under current GCQ protocols, the burden on containing the virus is mostly transferred to the public. Unless the government provides mass testing, the problem of information is aggravated, probably raising the transmission risks. Moreover, unregulated herd immunity will be differentially felt by the poor. As healthy workers may recover their earnings from the modified quarantine, the poor, who have limited access to the health services and are thus more susceptible to the virus, are unlikely to benefit from this system. In effect, this will only exacerbate the inequality that prevails in the country. Moving towards a responsible new normal requires a strategy that addresses both people’s wellbeing and the socio-economic weaknesses exposed by COVID-19. Thus, the strategy should have the following elements

THE SPECIFICATION OF A COMPUTER AIDED PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN A CAPITAL GOODS MANUFACTURING COMPANY

This work addresses the problems of specifying appropriate Computer Aided Production Management Systems in a capital goods industry, specifically PCMC Ltd. The work describes the characteristics of a capital goods manufacturer, that is low volume, high variety and very low repeatability. The problems associated with manufacturing capital goods are described. The constituent parts of CAPM are described and methods of measuring performance are explained. A framework for describing CAPM systems is proposed, based on a three level hierarchical structure. The central part of the thesis describes the main CAPM alternatives. These are Material Requirements Planning, Optimised Production Technology, Just In Time and period batch control. Usually a company uses only a single control system. This work attempts to take the most suitable characteristics from each methodology and thus form a control system customised to suit PCMC. The work describes the current system and its attendant problems associated with it. The problems are then broken down into causes. Dealing with these causes is the task of the new system. The new system is described using the three level framework and how the new system will correct the problems with the current systems. The resulting control system is a combination of Material Requirement Planning at the top level and Period Batch Control at the intermediate level. The low level scheduling is manual, the cell leaders work with fixed objectives. The work concludes by describing the results to date and the applicability of the system to other capital goods manufacturers.The Paper Converting Machine Company Ltd (Plymouth