If there was
anything good that the
Covid-19 pandemic
brought, it was the coming
together of the public and
private sector.
This was the
insight of Go Negosyo
founder Joey Concepcion
following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s lifting of
the State of Public Health
Emergency.
“The pandemic
brought public and private
sector together. It showed
that government and industry coming together
can make a strong team
against any adversity,”
said Concepcion. “It’s the
best time as the President
delivers his State of the
Nation address,” he said.
Concepcion, who
served as Presidential Adviser on Entrepreneurship
under the Duterte administration, became one of
the most visible public figures during the pandemic.
Together with members of
the private sector, he led
the Project Ark initiative to
make mass testing accessible, and spearheaded A
Dose of Hope, a world’sfirst tripartite agreement
that made vaccines available despite bureaucratic
hurdles.
Concepcion also
organized townhall meetings and supported the
participation of doctors
and scientists in forming
policy regarding the pandemic.
“Credit should go
to the leadership of people like Sec. Ted Herbosa, Sec Francisco Duque,
Sec. Charlie Galvez, Sec.
Delfin Lorenzana, Sec.
Eduardo Ano, Sec. Dominguez, Sec. Nograles, Sec.
Vince Dizon, Usec Rosette, the doctors and scientists who were all ready
to work with one another,”
he said.
He also cited the
efforts of the private sector. “The first vaccine the
private sector brought in
was AstraZeneca. With
the help of government
it was granted an EUA
which allowed us to bring
it in at a special price and
donate half to the government. That is one great
effort that showed teamwork was key,” he said.
“The pandemic
destroyed lives and livelihoods, but on the bright
side brought us all together
to survive and win this war.
It also pushed many Filipi
nos to digitalize starting
with E-wallets for contactless transactions. Today
digitalization is bringing
about greater inclusivity
with almost all Filipinos
using e-wallets. This is
one reason why economic recovery bounced back
strongly,” he added.
C o n c e p c i o n
warned, however, that
covid still remains, and
that people should con
tinue to be vigilant. “We
should focus on producing
more nurses and health
care professionals. The
Philippines is now at the
center of this huge opportunity; we need to upskill those who want to be
in this field as the world
needs our nurses.”
“Now we need
to grow our economy and
create more jobs and livelihoods.”
