File photo: from the archives

    Posted March 20 at 1:15am :  Urgent For #PDu30 #Du30 Pres #Duterte , IATF: See DTI Sec Lopez prescon in Inq.net : Your DTI Sec Lopez told food manufacturers to stop food production if they have 1 to 2 months stocks: STOP HIM! PLS STOP HIM. OVERRIDE Sec LOPEZ INSTRUCTION TO STOP FOOD PRODUCTION! (sorry for the language, but…) STOP HIM!

        (i apologize for the language, pero nakakatakot po ang instruction na binigay ng Trade Secretary sa mga food manufacturers in a press conference, covered by the Inquirer: Pinapatigil nya ang food production kung meron nang two months stocks para raw mabawasan ang workers na naglalakad sa kalye. In the name of all the marginalized sectors of our country, please stop the Trade Secretary from doing this. STOP HIM.)

  (parenthetical messages in brown font embedded in the news report are from blog admin)

           ” DTI tells food factories: Produce goods to last 2 months then pause to lessen workers out in streets
by: Roy Stephen C. Canivel – @inquirerdotnetInquirer Business / 05:21 PM March 19, 2020

     (for Malacañang: Stop him! This is a mindless instruction to food manufacturers. He will precipitate a food riot!)

            “Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez is asking food manufacturers to shut down operations if they already have one to two months’ worth of inventory, despite the unpredictable behavior of the market during a health crisis.”                  (Urgent message for Malacañang: Please call him up now and override his instruction to food manufacturers! )

        “At a press conference on Wednesday (March 18) night, Lopez said companies that have more than enough supply should call off work so that there would be fewer people who would have to travel during the quarantine.                  (Please relay to the authorities: If DTI Sec Lopez has problems with the movement of food manufacturer workers, he should ask help from the Department of Transportation, the Department of Labor, and the employers themselves – instead of telling the factories to stop food production!)

             “Actually, we will encourage you to even stop operation and let your [existing] inventory to supply the requirements of supermarkets,” he said.
       (This is really alarming coming from the Trade Secretary. For DTI Sec. Lopez: You don’t know that – you cannot forecast the cycle of a new virus like Covid19. While there is historical data on the “behavior” of viruses over seasons, Covid19 is a new virus transmitted to humans documented three months ago. Scientists have not given a definitive forecast: In all news reports, the experts answer: “We don’t know, if we’re lucky, yes, but we are not telling the public to count on it.” Please stop the Trade Secretary from stopping food production. He is causing more panic.)

            “So those that have one month [or] two months [worth] of inventory of finished goods, I suggest the company would take a holiday first and let the [existing] inventory get used up so that we could reduce operations outside [of home],” he added. (In effect, the Trade Secretary wants food stocks to run out first, before production should resume. PLEASE STOP HIM. I AM PLEADING TO THE AUTHORITIES TO PLEASE CALL HIM UP TONIGHT AND STOP HIM NOW. Food production is vital at this time, if he wants to reduce the movement of food manufacturer workers, he should coordinate with the employers, the Transportation Secretary, the Labor Secretary – but don’t stop food production : This is a recipe for immediate, unprecedented, widespread hunger and criminal violence.)

          ” He said the same should go for raw material suppliers of these food manufacturing operations. (And he even wants to stop the production of  raw materials. THERE MUST BE A QUARANTINE FOR RECKLESSNESS . STOP HIM!)

           “ While President Rodrigo Duterte has declared the entire country under a state of calamity, he has put Luzon, home to more than 50 million Filipinos, under enhanced community quarantine, forcing people to stay home to help curb the spread of SARS-Cov-2, the coronavirus that causes the pneumonia-like disease COVID-19. 

   etc. etc. … (for link of the Inquirer report, pls scroll down at the end of this post)

CODE

            “ The Department of Health has so far listed more than 200 COVID-19 cases with 17 fatalities.

             “ On Thursday, the Department of Trade and Industry has released a circular dated March 19, which gave additional guidelines on what businesses are exempted from the Luzon-wide quarantine that had many companies close shop in the meantime.

              “  Apart from business process outsourcing companies, retail stores like supermarkets and convenience stores, the list now also inclided makers of hygiene products such as diapers.

          ” It also included companies that are in the business of distribution and logistics that support manufacturing, such as cargo handling, warehousing, trucking, and port operations.

            “ To help further facilitate the transport of exempted workers, the circular said the DTI would issue an Inter-Agency Task Force ID for each of the workers starting March 22.

         “ “In the meantime, they’ll bring their corporate IDs,” Lopez said.” (inq.net report at:

https://business.inquirer.net/292987/dti-tells-food-factories-produce-goods-to-last-2-months-then-pause-to-lessen-workers-out-in-streets     )