Metro Manila Lockdown: Finding Openings to Ease the Poor’s No-Work-No-Pay Situation
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The lockdown covers Metro Manila and the island of Luzon (Source: EPA/South China Morning Post)
Thus, the drastic step of a lockdown (“stay in place”) as in some countries abroad or a community quarantine as declared for Metro Manila and entire Luzon in the Philippines, to minimize contact between people during this period of uncertainty and the possible spread of the coronavirus.
The community quarantine or lockdown in Metro Manila is now into its third week, in early April 2020. The quarantine restricts work in most public or shared work spaces. Employers are asked to allow work from home or online. Retail activity in malls and other shops are closed down except for groceries, pharmacies, take-out food establishments (no dining in), essential services. This arrangement allows for salaried employees more leeway than contractual and daily wage workers. As the weeks go by, pressure is mounting on the sectors of society that live hand-to-mouth or are on a daily wage. With no work comes no pay, and without food assistance, this situation cannot continue. This is a problem in the making if a hard policy position continues without regard for people’s needs.
One way of looking at it is to see it as a class divide. The upper classes (A, B, upper C) have some allowance (i.e. resilience) to weather such a storm. They have continued employment, steady pay checks and savings or assets they can fall back on. The lower middle class (lower C), however, will have to tighten their belts significantly during this period. This is the income group that is only a short step above adequate income and could easily slide back into poverty given extraordinary circumstances (i.e. extraordinary inflation, loss of income, or both). This group has limited savings and assets.
The D, E classes are the ones who will have real problems since they live hand-to-mouth and any shortfall in daily wage income is a major blow to their wellbeing. These two classes constitute about 70% of the population. The D group may be above the poverty threshold income level, but not by much. Any loss in income will force them back down. There is little breathing room at this level.
Deliverymen going through a check point (Source: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
This is where the community quarantine poses a very real dilemma that needs to be addressed in a clear and wholistic manner.
The community quarantine is a public health measure. But the harshness of some of the measures and the strict, literal interpretation of the directive places real stress on the social wellbeing of the poor who need to work to draw an income to help them meet their daily needs. This is where we need to begin thinking of how to calibrate the policy to allow for release valves to lessen the pressures on vulnerable groups lest a new and potentially large problem erupt.
The current situation in the Philippines regarding COVID-19 is still in the early acceleration stage following the trajectory of this coronavirus worldwide (based on the Johns Hopkins model with JPMorgan). That means that the country is just now moving through the early community infection phase where positive individuals can infect others. This phase can increase in number quite rapidly and hence, the call for physical distancing to prevent the more widespread dissemination of the virus.
Can this difficult circumstance be turned into a window of opportunity?
Here are some possibilities to think about.
Opportunity 1: With little traffic on the road, can we not use this period to work on improving some of the infrastructure facilities around us? Hiring those willing to work short-term to (a) do minor repairs on roads, (b) cement sidewalks, (c) paint roads or street corners, (d) plant gardens, (e) beautify surroundings. This can be under a local government initiatives program creating short-term work-for-pay programs to hire semi-skilled workers during this period. Done outdoors, physical distancing should not be difficult to do.
Light traffic in Metro Manila (Source: KD Madrilejos/Rappler)
Opportunity 2: Local Governments (and especially the MMDA in Metro Manila) can use this down period to meet with jeepney and bus operators to agree on a more orderly system of PUJ, PUV operations that should include going out on schedules and identifying/marking loading and unloading zones along the PUJ, PUV routes (with proper signage). PUJ, PUV operators could identify the loading and unloading zones and paint these with distinctive markers as universally agreed. The MMDA and local governments in Metro Manila should use this period to dialog and plan with the transport providers ways to improve on what is a chaotic and poorly-managed, inefficient public transit system (if it can even be called a system).
Opportunity 3: Improve the facilities and holding areas around all MRT, LRT stations. Beautification of these stations would be jobbed out to temporary workers. We need to have a more efficiently-managed and safe MRT, LRT system to allow people to move in greater numbers throughout the metropolis.
Opportunity 4: Clean up and better organize local markets and market infrastructure in the metropolis with special emphasis on cleanliness and hygiene.
During the quarantine, markets and stores remain open (Source: Straits Times/Raul Dancel)
Opportunity 5: Hire temporary work crews to clean up esteros, gutters and rainwater channels along the Pasig River and other waterways. Declog the waste/rainwater gutters and spillways while there is little traffic on the roads.
During this period of quarantine, nothing should stop this kind of labor so long as there is adequate physical distancing to prevent the possible spread of the coronavirus. Individuals working out in the open and away from each other (and with covered faces) should be allowed and if planned properly and supervised well, should be encouraged.
While the initial community quarantine period is until April 14, 2020, the acceleration of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila is expected to go further into the month and beyond. Some estimates speak of a date extending into June of this year before we will see improvements in the spread of the coranavirus.
We’ve got to be prepared for a longer haul, but we need to find safety valves (i.e. work opportunities) for the poorer segments and workers of society to be able to survive this difficult period lest we have a parallel social problem to go with this pandemic crisis.
J.M. Luz
Juan Miguel Luz is an educator and policy analyst. He is Senior Fellow, FEU Policy Center; former Dean & Head, Stephen Zuellig Graduate School of Development Management at the Asian Institute of Management; and former Undersecretary, Department of Education, Republic of the Philippines.
To subscribe to his blog (no cost): juanmiguelluz.wordpress.com