The nighttime economy

By Ruben Cruz Jr., Businessmirror, 2 Mar 2021

The lockdowns that were imposed across the country starting March 2020 or one year ago to contain the Covid-19 pandemic completely disrupted the country’s economy.

The Philippines now has one of the region’s deepest pandemic-induced economic slumps, with our recovery expected to be weaker than our Asean neighbors.

While we may not be out of the woods yet until the government’s vaccination program has gone full swing, there is really a need to further ease the tough restrictions that has left many businesses counting losses, if not closing altogether.

Heavily affected, in particular, were the businesses that used to cash in on the country’s booming nighttime economy.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the country’s economic managers will need to come up with ways to further reopen the economy even after President Duterte turned down the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to ease quarantine restrictions starting March, to allow more businesses to reopen and more people to return to work.

“Within the framework of the GCQ, there are ways and means for us to safely reopen the economy some more,” Nograles said in a press briefing, noting the IATF had given the Department of Trade and Industry and other members of the economic team the leeway to come up with guidelines on what economic activities could be allowed in GCQ areas.

Well, perhaps the government should look into doing away with curfews altogether in a bid to boost the country’s nightime economy.

The curfew in most of Metro Manila is from midnight to 4 a.m., having previously been from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. In other places, like Tagaytay for instance, the curfew hours are longer. But, really, why impose curfews at all?

Shutting most everything down earlier means more people eating out, buying and doing things before curfew starts. Why foreclose that option of having a nighttime consumer population to diminish and disperse daytime crowds and also help businesses?

For as long as people practice social distancing, wear masks and face shields, who cares if they go out at night or during the day? Anyway the virus is just as virulent day or night.

The further reduction in economic activity due to curfew restrictions has hurt many workers and their families in the large service sector of the economy.

Scrapping curfews would allow more businesses to survive, perhaps even thrive.

With precautions in place, like temperature checks, contact tracing, and rearranged work spaces to accommodate social distancing requirements, perhaps companies could even reintroduce a significant portion of their workforce in offices and factories, doing rotational shifts during both day and night. As a result, many more workers can begin a larger scale return to work.

Of course, various industries work in distinct ways and have unique requirements. For instance, the BPO industry—the largest private employer in the country with about 1.3 million employees—already has most of its workers doing night shifts according to overseas time.

This pandemic calls for creative solutions in order to bring staff back into physical operations.

Perhaps a 24/7 business culture, or at least extended hours of operations, can allow businesses to recover what they lost during the hard lockdowns. Of course, this goes hand in hand with providing essential things like transport late at night and security.

A thriving nighttime scene does not just mean bars operating till the wee hours of the morning.

It can mean other forms of social and cultural entertainment, strategically planned and regulated, like going out to public parks, plazas, gardens and other green spaces for people who just want quiet, leisure time to de-stress during the cooler part of the 24-hour day.

It can mean grocery shopping and buying of other necessities.

It can mean nighttime tourism activities and music venues, 24-hour gyms, late-hour coffee shops, restaurants, theaters, bookstores, museums and other businesses and artistic and creative services.

Anyway, the main difference between GCQ and MGCQ is in the number of people allowed in mass gatherings in public places and public utility vehicles. Curfews are not really necessary restrictions. Again, for as long as people follow basic public health protocols, it does not really matter what time of the day or night they go out.

With the right policies and proper collaboration between the government and stakeholders, more businesses can reopen and boost the nighttime economies of our cities for the benefit of all stakeholders, providing jobs and tax revenues that are much needed to recover from the pandemic.