There is something terribly wrong with the official data gathering of the government. The official figure of the Deparment of Labor and Employment (DoLE) on the number of workers laid off for the first half of the year totalled an impossible low of 100,000 workers.

“Company reports,” said the press release from the Labor department. When the unexpected happens, like the closure of Jollibee stores across the three main regions, leaving fast food workers jobless, the DoLE apparatchiks should have pushed their lethargic bodies out of their air-conditioned rooms to investigate. Store closures for the fast food chain, which had weathered quakes and the worst of political tumult without a pause on store service, should have made even the not curious, curious.