Khristian Joshua G.

Jurado

BSLM 2A

COVID 19 CAUSE SEVERE AND OVERWHELMING SHOCK TO THE

FILIPINOS ESPECIALLY TO THE POOR

Last March 15, 2020 President Rodrigo Duterte declared a month-long quarantine in the
capital. He also mandated an 8pm to 5am curfew, deployed the police and the army to
man checkpoints, and ordered the arrest of those who violated the law. Two days later,
the quarantine was expanded to include the whole of Luzon Island, home to 60 million
people. Here in the Philippines the Covid-19 pandemic is hitting the poor the hardest and
exposing the gaping inequities in access to food, shelter, and health care.

The pandemic threatens the people and its communities. In Manila, most of the poor lives
in crowded areas near bridges and train railways starving to death, lack of personal care,
and no support from the government. They receive scant of attention and help which
caused them to do things like stealing or robbing just to provide themselves something to
eat and for them to be able to survive because they can barely afford to buy for their own
needs.

Millions of families were already experiencing crisis before this Covid-19 Pandemic
starts, mostly the poor. The poor because they are incapable of providing their families
unlike the others. Despite this uncertainty, we can still estimate how economic activity
and people’s livelihoods will be impacted. We also know well from the region’s past
experiences that shocks hit poor and vulnerable groups the hardest and that these groups
often take the longest to recover. To protect them effectively, governments can expand
social protection, and especially social assistance, to provide vital support and strengthen
resilience. The direct economic impacts of sickness and death are higher costs and lower
incomes for families affected by the virus. Rising health care costs coupled with lost
wages and jobs can trigger spikes in poverty. Direct impacts also include a substantial
increase in risk for vulnerable groups.

The first thing that I would recommend everyone is first to pray for the world’s safety.
Prayer is the most powerful shield we can have as of now. Also we must look after
ourselves and those who are in need. We must share them food like those of canned
goods, noodles, rice, milk, and other daily needs. Also give them hand soaps and
sanitizers or alcohol and teach them on how to properly use it during this time of
pandemic.

We must also strengthen social assistance, expanding cash assistance can support poor
and vulnerable households during a crisis. In a crisis, it is also essential to disburse funds
faster by setting up or strengthening payments. In the Philippines, conditional cash
transfer program beneficiaries will receive full grants without having to comply with
program conditions like school attendance, health center visits during the quarantine.
Cash transfers have the double benefit of helping people in need while stimulating
consumption, which in turn strengthens the economy. In expanding social assistance,
governments should find effective ways to reach informal settlers and urban migrant
workers, since these groups face unique challenges in terms of livelihoods and access to
government services.

The government shall maintain quarantine measures and their extension to increase
testing capacity and prepare quarantine facilities. With COVID-19 likely to affect all
workers, governments should review passive and active labor market policies and
programs, including protective labor rules. Given the inevitable impact on workers in
terms of temporary or permanent layoffs, governments need to think about ways to
support workers in the short and medium term, including through job facilitation,
training, and other interventions during and after the crisis. Subsidizing health insurance
to expand coverage and/or waiving fees may also become necessary to help the most
vulnerable, including support to enterprises that serve these populations.

One of the main problems we are experiencing in the lockdown is the lack of resources.
Even before the outbreak of virus called Covid-19 we people have unlimited human
wants and needs but only have limited resources. As said earlier we are already
experiencing crisis even before the coming of the pandemic Covid-19. Due to the
lockdown implemented as one of the prevention of spreading the virus Covid-19, we only
now have limited movement, our resources that wasn’t even sufficient enough for the
people of the Philippines now becomes more close to becoming into total zero resources
because of the lack of movement.

COVID 19 LIMITS THE INDUSTRY AND THE PEOPLE TO GAIN THEIR

OWN SOURCE OF INCOME

The lockdown mostly impacted those who had jobs. The jobs who was affected the most
was those who earn day by day in their jobs, there are the ones that are mostly in the
blue-collar jobs. The examples of these so called workers who earns day by day are the
wet market vendors, tricycle drivers, jeepney drivers, carpenters, vendors in the street,
and etc… Those mostly in the blue collar jobs are the ones that are mostly in the poverty
sector who only depends on their daily income of their job, even if they have this job it is
still not sufficient enough for their daily needs for their basic necessities. Now that we are
in lockdown they can’t do their jobs and without their jobs they have no means of
income. These people mostly in the blue collar jobs does not have enough savings to
survive the lockdown that is more than one month. They don’t have any means to buy the
basic needs to survive the lockdown all they have is the government to provide for them.
But can the government accommodate all the people who lost their jobs? Can the
government accommodate all the people who are in need? The answer is no.
Many people are affected in the lockdown, not only the people who are in the low class
but also people who are in the middle class are experiencing the damages brought by the
lockdown. Many establishments, stores and malls have closed down due to the lockdown
as prevention to the spreading of the Covid-19.

Now the main solution for these problem is to be dependent on the government. Because
of the lockdown only the government has the means of giving us income or the basic
needs of survival like food and water. Another solution is those who have more than
enough should share their blessings, but we cannot force the ones who have plenty to
share more than they want because we are the ones receiving we don’t have the right to
be to much demanding on the receiving part we should only be grateful if they have
donated or shared their blessings. Another solution is burrowing money from those who
are in the high class, but this can backfire. Burrowing money means that you have to pay
back the money that you burrowed with interest if it is the deal you had or without
interest. This solution of burrowing money could backfire, because after the lockdown it
is not sure how the economy would change, we are not sure if the means of income is still
the same we might be trap on the burden of the burrowed money on how will this be
paid. In short we are mainly dependent on the government. We need the government in
order to survive. Because there are only few people that have decent jobs that have
sufficient savings that could survive without the government.

Another issue is discrimination on the frontliners. There are people in the Philippines
who discriminates the frontliners, they are discriminated where they are treated unequally
or they are greatly mistreated by people.

Those frontliners who work in the hospital are the ones that are greatly mistreated by the
people because they are the ones who are came contact with the Covid-19 virus, some
landlords are kicking out those frontliners that are working in the hospital with the
thought the frontliner might bring the virus in their land. Other people are distancing
greatly and not even talking to the person that is a frontliner. But the most painful thing
that I saw is where a nurse was discriminated by 5 individual people saying that the nurse
has the Covid-19 virus then the people throw bleach in the nurse face. This was reported
in the news around in the last week of march 2020.

The other frontliners are the ones who work in checkpoints and those who deliver food.
There are people who spit or unnecessarily avoid them. I understand why we must avoid
contact with those people who are frontliners but there is no need for use to do more than
that but spitting, discriminating, violence and unnecessary avoidance is not the right thing
to do. They are the ones who risk their lives in order for us to survive or to moderate the
lockdown, instead of discriminating them we should thank them for their work on risking
their lives for us, for the preponderance of our country.

The only solution here is to learn to be thankful to those who are the frontliners. While
we are here in our homes, they are the ones who are fighting the Covid-19 virus or they
are the ones maintaining the lockdown or the ones who are delivering us food. We should
thank them or rather than just thanking them we should donate even if it is little or even a
letter of gratitude would do.

PEOPLE ARE QUESTIONING THE POWER OF THE GOVERNMENT

Another major issue is the support of the government. Many people are protesting or
questioning the government towards their funds on supporting the people during the
pandemic.

There are so many people that are just depending on the government in these time. There
are the people who are working day by day or are the people that don’t have jobs. These
people cannot survive without the help of the government.

There are only few people that had decent jobs that had the savings to survive or to
prepare for this lockdown, but how about those who didn’t had decent jobs or that didn’t
had enough savings? How would they surivive?

The government had already sent them relief goods but these relief goods was believed
that it had been corrupted or in tagalog “Kinurakot” by the mayors or by those politicians.
The relief goods that were promised was supposed to last more than two weeks but the
ones that was delivered was only estimated to last not more than two days. It was
obviously not enough so the people questioned the government again on where are the
funds because it was said that we had 270,000,000,000 Pesos budget.

The government obviously cannot support all the people in the Philippines that quickly,
the government’s budget is not sufficient enough for all the people living in the
Philippines. The government would focus first those that are the poorest of the poor. But
another problem is arising from those who received money from the government.

There are people who used the money for their vices. These people was arrested for the
misuse of the funds of the government and was brought to a lecture area about the virus
Covid-19.

There is no clear solution yet for the fund of the government but there are arising
solutions that was brought up. The government said that they would burrow money from
other countries, the other one is the government would sell some of its infrastructure in
order to gain funds for the people. These solutions are not recommendable because it
could greatly backfire.

As the pandemic rapidly reached the number of positive cases the government
humanitarian foundations backed by big businesses has called the government to consider
easing quarantine restrictions in Luzon in order to have some economic movements to
save the business sector. This means allowing certain businesses to operate and throwing
workers into the open exposed to the virus. As history tells us, elitist governments will
always succumb to the whims of the business sector, extend bail out packages to big
business during crisis while leaving thousands, if not millions, of workers in precarious
situation and without social protection.

As the record of positive cases in the Philippines drastically increase in just a matter of
weeks, and while people tried to stay home as ordered, political leaders and elites
shamelessly and insensitively displayed their abuse of power and privilege.
In violation of government protocols, they got themselves and their families immediately
tested for COVID-19 mostly at the comforts of their homes. This is despite the fact that
the testing kits, the manpower and the daily capacity of the system is very limited. They
announced their results in national television and in social media. The ordinary citizen,
on the other hand, must have exhibited symptoms of the disease to qualify for a test, will
have to queue and wait for four (4) to five (5) days for their result. Some patients already
expired before their results were known.

While the government is so strict in imposing check point and quarantine protocols to the
point of arresting and prosecuting violators, some political leaders blatantly breached
established protocols. Amidst the mounting pressure to prosecute these elite violators, the
government appealed for compassion during this extra-ordinary times. As the funds of
LGUs started to dwindle and the ordinary workers started to ask for food aid, the
government opted to appeal for donations and “bayanihan” instead of immediately
slashing the President’s Intelligence Fund which is in billions of pesos to deal with the
situation more swiftly. The wealthy and the powerful will always mind their own survival
in times of crisis than to take care the workers, toiling masses and the majority
population. As a camouflage, they will keep the powerless and poor frightened into
submission. As this Pandemic shows the elite is willing to step upon the carcass of the
poor and the working class just to survive the crisis.

In our country it is the working class people that is at the forefront of the fight. They are
the medical professionals and workers, the scientists, the rescue groups, the community
volunteers, the ordinary members of the police, army, fire fighters and barangay peace
keeping forces, the delivery personnel, the journalists, the food producers, the janitors
and garbage collectors, the front line service crews, grocery store attendants and market
vendors, among others. They are the ones putting their lives at risks while enduring the
physical, emotional and psychological fatigues in combating the pandemic so we may all
survive.
In the Philippines, at the community level, barangay health workers and volunteers, with
or without protective equipment, have to deal with the Persons Under Monitoring (PUM)
and Persons Under Investigation (PUI). Local volunteers from various institutions also
risk being exposed to the virus just to deliver essential goods to the house hold level in
areas under lockdown and to hospital dealing with COVID-19 patients. Since the
pandemic is foreseen to take months before it can be effectively contained, our food
producers should be amply protected and supported to ensure continues production of
food supply. Their continued activity is vital to our ability to sustain the fight. When we
survive this pandemic, may our common experience teach us that the working class can
take control of its future and save humanity.

Using communications technology, people can exchange knowledge and wisdom on

boosting immune systems and health care methods to ensure the health of the elderly, the
pregnant and all that are at risk. The Indigenous Peoples, as well as the community
people, are rich with knowledge and wisdom in this field. Open online discussions as to
how best to develop alternatives and put forward improvements to the present
government paradigm must also be done. This will ensure that abuses are still checked,
officials are held accountable and the people has remaining open avenues to participate.
Further, this remains an effective venue to criticize the prevailing social, economic and
political order and expose its inherent characteristics that contributed to the spread of the
virus. At the community level, people can initiate controlled exchanges and sharing of
resources such as sanitation materials, food, medicine, water and even shelter for the
homeless. Organized communities are also much more capable of surviving this crisis.