ALTHOUGH largely accepted sympathetically by the public due to its obvious good intentions and the high trust placed in President Duterte, the blanket ban on face-to-face classes until vaccinations have been carried out on a large scale has had results that are problematic at best. A recent detailed study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has cast further serious doubt on the wisdom of maintaining the policy, finding that not only will it not have a significant effect in slowing the Covid-19 pandemic, but it also very likely will have longer-term negative economic and public health consequences.

The ADB study’s results, published in a brief at the end of last month, reach a number of startling conclusions: