Latest Updates on the Situation in the Philippines - 9 March 2022
On the 9th of March 2022, the Nordic Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (NordCham) hosted its monthly “Latest Updates on the Situation in the Philippines” webinar in collaboration with its advisory business partner, the Philippine Strategic Associates (PSA). NordCham has devised four polls focusing on four specific topics: (1) Covid-19 Infection; (2) Vaccine; (3) Management; and (4) Economy. The polls tallied to 15 questions, which were presented consecutively in the middle of the webinar. This was done to know the current situation of our partners and the audience. The respondents to the four polls averaged 35, which was great considering that it was the first time that polls were used for this monthly event.
Moving forward to the results, as mentioned the polls are divided into four categories. For the Covid 19 infection, out of the 38 respondents, the majority (73.7%) has not contracted the virus. 26.3% have tested positive within 2021 -2022. The following question in this topic was an estimate of the number of people that contracted the virus inside their offices. The majority (52.6%) have answered that 25% of people in their office have contracted the virus. There is one significant outlier where a respondent answered that everyone in their office has contracted the virus.
The second category is related to the vaccine. There were 32 respondents for this poll. The first question in this poll is about the easing of the alert level, allowing the full return to on-site work. Most of the respondents (53.1%) are planning to return to 100% on-site work. It is also important to note that 6.3% of the respondents are still unsure if they will have a full return. The next question is about the vaccination rate in their offices. Majority of the respondents (78.1%) answered 90% - 100% vaccination. The following question is regarding the requirement of booster shots in their offices. The majority (59.4%) answered yes to this question. The final question for this category is about their intentions of allowing unvaccinated staff to work on-site. There was a 50 – 50 result from the respondents.
The third category is focused on management. There are 34 respondents for this poll. The first question is concerning how the Philippines is handling the pandemic. The majority (82.4%) believe there was an improvement in how the government is handling the pandemic. The second question of the poll is about the need for a prepared response to another possible surge brought by the upcoming election. 97.1% of the respondents answered yes to this question. The third question concerns the Covid-19 information that the government provides. Surprisingly, 55.9% of the respondents were satisfied with the information they received. The final question in this category is about the access of the respondents to updated business guidelines released by various government departments. The majority 88.2% answered positively to this question.
The final category is about the economy, and there were 36 respondents for this poll. The first questions asked about the readiness of the respondents to return to 100% on-site work. 69.4% of the respondents answered that they are ready to return. The second question is about the number of staff and employees back to on-site work in their respective offices. 14 respondents (38.9%) answered 90%-100%; 7 respondents (19.4%) answered 10%-20%; 6 respondents (16.7%) answered 50%-60%; 5 respondents (13.9%) answered 70%-80%; and 4 respondents (11.1%) answered 30%-40%). The third question is regarding the awareness of the audience to updated on-site work guidelines. The majority has answered yes to this, but 19.4% has still answered no. The fourth question is on the PEZA requirement, and if their companies are affected negatively by this. Only 3 respondents (8.3%) have answered yes to this. The final question is about the Russia – Ukraine War, particularly if they consider their businesses affected by this crisis. The majority (63.9%) has answered yes.
