Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
MARITES A. SOTELO, 53, owns a small food store near a public school in Alicia, Isabela â scene of some of the worst Cagayan Valley floods after Typhoon Ulysses (international name: Vamco) in November.
That means that on top of the pandemic, which deprived her of her clientele after the schools closed, Ms. Sotelo has had to deal with the economic damage done to her town by the typhoon, which caused the Cagayan River to overflow its banks â to the extent that she wishes for more government aid for small businesses.
Her plight, multiplied millions of times across the country, has helped create unprecedented demand for stimulus funds, with Congress enacting economic revival packages in the hundreds of billions of pesos. Meanwhile, economic managers have tried to persuade legislators to accept smaller amounts, citing limits to the resources available to the government.