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When it comes to enterprises, the novel coronavirus disease brought about a crucial change that affects the lives of those involved. In response to the threat of the virus, the Philippine government implemented strict lockdowns and made efforts to provide aid to disrupted households and businesses. However, the initial lockdown period spanning from March to May 2020 caused a huge decline in the economy, only approaching a state of recovery six months after. Despite said recovery, medium and small enterprises are still facing problems when it comes to their expenses and the demands for their products.
The Current State
These problems are also faced by the owners of medium and small enterprises here in Naga City. The Central Grocery co-owner Joni Chua stated in an interview that “during the pandemic, it is frequent that there are times wherein the amount of expenses exceeds the number of sales.”
“When companies approach with good promotion offers, we sometimes choose to decline due to lower sales. Sayang kasi kung bibili kami pero hindi naman mabebenta,” she added.
Several business owners with stalls in the Naga City People’s Market shared the same sentiment when it came to their expenditures and sales. Jesston Hipolito, a vegetable vendor, said that they needed to implement strict budgeting when it came to procuring their vegetables. Vendors nowadays have to make sure that they can acquire a steady supply of produce without taking huge losses.
Rose Nicolas, a meat vendor, also expressed her concerns on the rising of pork prices due to the African Swine Fever. According to Nicolas, “Dae magayon ang pag hanapbuhay, lalo na ngunyan na igwa din hilang ang mga orig dahil sa ASF, kaya nagtaraas talaga ang mga presyo ning orig.” It is harder for meat vendors to get customers because the prices are even higher, and some customers can’t even afford to buy pork anymore.
For small enterprises that are not food related such as ukay-ukay vendors, the chance of having customers per day is already a very rare occurrence. Ukay-ukay vendor Raymond Santos described the current situation of his business as “very weak,” to the point wherein the income he gets is barely enough to let him eat 3 times a day.
Adjustments and Adaptations
To stand a chance against the demands of the current situation and save their livelihoods, medium and small business owners resorted to several adjustments when it came to their business practices. Medium business owner Joni Chua had to lessen the work hours of all the employees, in order to lessen costs when it came to the utilities.
For small enterprises, produce vendors such as Rose Nicolas and Lilibeth Concepcion Pante also mentioned that in order to maintain their supply, they would loan from their respective sources and pay them back through installments.
“Pag abot sa produkto, nagpapautang nalang kami sa kinukuanan mi na hulugan, di bale na kung lugi minsan basta nakakabenta,” said Pante.
However, not all business owners can easily adapt. That is the case for those vendors who sell items that people do not really buy on a daily basis. Raymond Santos stated that for some days he would be purely living off his life savings prior to the pandemic, since his ukay-ukay business is not doing really well.
Government Aid
In order to give aid to small business owners and low-income families, the government devised the Social Amelioration Program or SAP. The purpose of SAP is to grant financial aid to low-income families on a monthly basis.
Although the SAP is a program with a beneficial purpose, there are problems with its execution. According to an article by Apostol and Go in 2020, the Social Amelioration Program has certain issues when it comes to the distribution and the sufficiency of the funds. Since this is the case, not everyone can receive this type of aid.
The small enterprise owners in Naga City that were interviewed for this article responded that they are not aware of the Social Amelioration Program. When it comes to any form of financial aid that the government has provided, only Jesston Hipolito mentioned that he received a loan with zero interest from the local government. As for the rest, they feel like the government is not helping them enough in this situation.
In conclusion, medium and small enterprise owners are still in dire straits, dampening the blows caused to them by the economic decline that came with the coronavirus. The government provides aid to these enterprise owners, but they lack the budget to help everyone. The Philippine economy might be recovering, but only time can tell if small and medium enterprise owners recover along with it.
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