And, with deftness and grace, Mr. Pernia framed his indictment of the government’s Covid-19 response in language so civil that it can’t be flagged by professional and state-sanctioned hate groups, the Red-tagging groups specifically. There was a time when Timor Leste was spending bigger in terms of response to the virus than austerity-obsessed Philippines. If we were an economically prostrate country before the pandemic hit, the anemic spending could have some, although tortured, justification. There should be massive public spending for jobs, for health, for food and the basic human and societal needs. Looking at our pandemic spending levels, we can only think of No Deal instead of the New Deal.

Source: Manila Times May 08, 2021 16:18 UTC