By Genalyn Kabiling The government is planning to ask banks and mall owners to give discounts or other debt relief measures to their clients and tenants during the month-long community quarantine in Metro Manila. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez (ALBERT ALCAIN/PPD / MANILA BULLETIN) According to Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, they will use "moral suasion" to persuade banks to waive or reduce fees on loan payments as well as mall owners to cut lease fees for tenants since shopping activity is expected to slow down. The government has imposed a community quarantine on Metro Manila, suspended work in the executive branch, extended class suspension in all levels, and imposed a domestic travel ban in and out of the national capital region, among other measures, to combat the spread of the coronavirus. The month-long strict social distancing measures are expected to commence on March 15. The highest level of alert or Code Red Sublevel 2 has been raised as the country's confirmed cases reached 52, including five fatalities. "We will -- parang moral suasion dito sa mga private companies, the banks for example, na luwagan iyong, let’s say amortization, sa kanila naman galing na, sige iyong one month ngayon like April due—‘if March, April puwede nating i-slide,’ may mga ganyang paraan… or bawasan ang interest cost, i-discount natin iyan he said in a Palace press briefing. (We will use moral suasion on private companies. For example, we hope banks will relax, let say the amortization, let the March-April due slide. Those kinds of ways. Or they can reduce the interest cost, give discounts.) Lopez also acknowledged that mall activity may be affected by the quarantine and expressed the hope that mall owners will give some "reprieve" to their tenants or retail shops that incur huge operation costs. "May panawagan din kami sa mga malls, obviously matumal ang tao ngayon sa malls at iyong mga tenants doon, iyong mga retail shops ay malaki ang kinakargang operation cost,” he said. (We have an appeal to malls. Obviously there will be fewer people in malls but the tenants or retail shops still have a large operation cost.) "Nakikiusap kami sa mga malls, na alam naman natin malalaki naman ang kita nila, na sana bigyan nila ng discount o reprieve iyong mga tenants nila, dahil mahal ang binabayad ng mga renta ng mga ito. At kumbaga sa kita ng mall, mas napakalaki naman versus sa kinikita ng bawat SME or bawat tenant," he said. (We are appealing to the malls, which we know have huge profits, to give discounts or reprieves to their tenants because they pay hefty rental fees. The profits of the mall are large compared to the earnings of small or medium enterprises or tenants.) He said they have prepared a list of proposed relief measures for companies, but will still discuss the matter with regulatory agencies.