Dear Partners,

The number of new cases of COVID is rising again. Does it mean we should be worried that all the gains we have had in the past few months will be lost anew? Will we be forever stuck in the cycle of tightened and loosened mobility, which makes it difficult to plan our business operations, and which renders us vulnerable to external developments?

I have faith in our ability, as a society, to learn from our experiences in the past two years. I also believe that the fundamental situation then is different from what we are seeing now.  

We begin with numbers. More than 70 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated, and thus enjoy some form of immunity from the virus, or at least its severe consequences. This translates to more than 77% of the target population. Millions have also obtained their booster shots. We need only to sustain this pace and ensure that the booster shots are also available so that people could continue to have protection against the virus.

Second, we know better than to take lightly the most basic health protocol. Face masks are here to stay. So are disinfectants. And while more people are going to more places these days, we remain careful and observe physical distance, not so we could comply with any rules, but for our own personal protection. This includes us being more responsible for our own health and immunity.

Third, we are confident that these emerging variants and sub-variants, while they could be more transmissible, are also milder in manifestation so that a relatively healthy person has a better chance of developing only minor symptoms, if they do develop them at all. The tricky part is protecting those who may have comorbidities.

After two years, we have become resigned to the fact that we will never really be able to eradicate the coronavirus. There will always be a risk of contracting it and passing it on to others.

But we will no longer allow this to immobilize us. We have seen how the stoppage of most economic activity took a toll on our population and our people. This is a threat that is as menacing as becoming infected with COVID-19.

So here we are, business as usual. In this new normal, we will have meetings either face to face or virtual, and we will continue to run our operations using the benefits of cloud technology that has been doing wonders for our operations. We will be able to reduce the variables in our business by taking advantage of the business intelligence provided by our solutions.

Most importantly, our organizations’ best assets – our people – are committed to work to make our companies resilient in the face of uncertainty and change. This battle with COVID – or any other disruption – will be prolonged and difficult, but we will be able to pull through, thanks to our respective teams.

So let us carry on, and let us take care.

Martin