Story by CARE Philippines

Rose (24 years old) is a resident of Sapa, Barangay Panghulo, Malabon City. Her household is composed of eight individuals which include her five children, her mother, father, aunt who is a senior citizen. Her family’s main source of income is distributing and selling Sampaguita flower garlands.

Most members of her community lost their employment. Rose revealed that since most men in the community work at construction sites, all of them lost their jobs during the lockdown enforced by the government to control the pandemic. Women while primarily responsible for caring for the children, also sold Sampaguita garlands on the side to augment household incomes. Due to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) or lockdown, they were unable to sell the garlands and had no sustainable source of income.

“Bawal kasi talaga lumabas. Halimbawa, nakita ka ng barangay sa labas, huhulihin ka kaagad lalo na pag wala kang mask” (Rose, female, 24 years old, Malabon City)

“We were not allowed to go out at all. If the barangay officials see you outside of your house, they would arrest you immediately especially if you do not have a face mask.”(Rose, female, 24 years old, Malabon City)

Rose also mentioned that the quarantine protocols in their barangay are extremely strict. For each household, throughout the ECQ, only one person is allowed to go out and do errands. They did not have curfew hours since residents were not allowed to go out if they do not have a quarantine pass. If apprehended, curfew violators are taken to the barangay office. Rose also mentioned that those who guard and enforce quarantine protocols in their community are all men.

When asked whether they had access to face masks during the ECQ, Rose shared that they could not afford a box of face masks. It was too expensive, so they used cloths and handkerchiefs as an alternative for protective gear. She also mentioned that practicing social distancing was difficult and almost impossible for them since their house is small and all of them were forced to stay inside.

Rose shared that they received food aid four times during the lockdown. However, this was insufficient to meet the foods needs of the whole household. Most of the time they were eating only twice or once a day in order to make food supply last longer. As for the cash aid, she mentioned that there were a lot of households in the community that did not receive cash assistance even though they lost their jobs and applied for the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

“Kulang po talaga ang binibigay ng barangay. Minsan sabi ko sa anak ko pag humihingi ng pagkain, inom na lang siya tubig para ma-survive ang gutom.” (Mary (Rose’s mother), female, 49 years-old, Malabon City)

“The food aid given by the barangay is insufficient. Sometimes when my children ask for food, I just tell them to drink lots of water so that they can endure their hunger and survive.” (Mary (rose’s mother) female, 49 years-old, Malabon City)

Since the implementation of General Community Quarantine (GCQ), Rose and her family were able to go back to selling and distributing Sampaguita garlands. However, it would take them 8 to 9 hours of walking every day since there is no public transportation. They also mentioned that as of now there is little profit from selling since the pandemic has caused the closure of many business establishments.

You may also read this story on the CARE Philippines website by clicking here.

COVID-19 remains to be an unfamiliar threat that currently has the world in distress. Despite the fact that the Philippines has amassed extensive experience and knowledge on reducing risks and building resilience amidst natural disasters, conflict, changing climate, and degraded ecosystems, communities and local authorities are still not adept in dealing with the risks of the nature and scale of the COVID-19 pandemic which include not only health and economic impacts, but social and environmental impacts as well. 

In the Philippines, the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded amidst multiple humanitarian emergencies — compounding negative impacts and exacerbating pre-existing vulnerabilities of crisis-affected individuals particularly those from marginalized sectors. We know that emergencies and responses are not gender-neutral and that different groups of women, men, boys, and girls experience crises differently. The Rapid Gender Assessment (RGA) elevates these gendered experiences, needs, capacities, and coping strategies, to (1) shape and influence the response plans and operational guidelines of LGUs, CSOs, and other humanitarian actors responding to COVID19; and (2) strengthen existing interventions to ensure they are gender-responsive. 

This inter-agency RGA surfaces the voices of 145 individuals from the most marginalized communities — urban poor, barangay health workers, persons with disabilities, solo/young parents, the homeless, senior citizens, LGBTQI —  in six cities of Metro Manila. It was conducted within the first three months of enhanced quarantines when NCR was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, through phone interviews and online surveys organized by CARE, ACCORD, Plan, Oxfam, ASMAE, ChildHope, and Kanlungan sa Er-ma Ministry, Inc. It is part of a larger national Gender and Inclusion Assessment (GIA) that engaged 27 I/NGOs and 950 respondents across 11 target constituencies in six regions.

Read, view, and download the complete PDF version of the presentation deck here.