The Philippines has a rather high rate of poverty – around 18 million of its 110 million people either live below the poverty level or are struggling to meet the daily necessities of life. COVID 19 just exacerbated this with reduced economic activities and the undercounts of COVID infections due to lack of healthcare and the availability of water for handwashing. A Filipino household living on less than 2,200 pesos a month is poor, less than 1,540 pesos a month, “food poor” or “extremely poor”. These figures were from 6 months ago. At the time, Luzon’s enhanced community quarantine has brought 767.18 billion pesos loss just for the most populated province of the three, the other two are Visayas and Mindanao. Poverty is very visible during this pandemic in the streets of Metro Manila where Filipinos of all ages can be seen begging for alms. Not a pretty sight. And, definitely, heartbreaking to watch as they approach cars stopped in traffic.

As of December 2020, the World Bank reported that this pandemic will sink 2.7 million more Filipinos into poverty due to job losses and fewer cash remittances mainly from contractual workers abroad. Labour ranks high in filling up the coffers of the Philippines. Before Covid 19, thousands of Filipinos working abroad on a contractual basis regularly sent a big portion of their earnings back home thus contributing to the economy of the country. When the pandemic was declared in March 2020, a big number of these overseas workers were sent home by their employers; hence, the slowdown in money remittances.

I was visiting the Philippines when the pandemic was announced by WHO on March 11, 2020.  Following this announcement, the government implemented a lockdown, catching everyone by surprise. It wasn’t just the Philippines but the whole world was taken by surprise. The enormity of the situation was hard to grasp. Filipinos were told to stay home. Those who relied on their daily income to provide for their families found themselves without any resources to put food on their table. Their livelihood was disrupted by the pandemic and curfew. Jeepney and bus drivers, tricycle drivers, vendors plying their wares in the streets, fishermen coming back from the sea, produce trucks delivering vegetables and fruits from the nearby provinces – they were all affected. Some braved the lockdown and curfew and ventured out. It was this or face hunger. I left in July on the first available flight to Canada.

When you are born in a developing country like the Philippines, most likely you get exposed to poverty growing up. I am the 10th in a family of 12 children. My fraternal ancestors, I am told, came from Spain and belonged to the nobility. They were rich but lost their riches along the way, spending them on luxurious lifestyles. When I was young, we were considered a middle-class family. But with 12 children to feed and educate, it became tough for my parents. They did their best but my father died before I could start undergraduate studies. It was up to me to further my education because I could not burden my widowed mother with the task of sending me and my younger brother to university. I worked during the night and studied during the day. I was able to graduate with two degrees and would’ve finished my post-graduate studies if not for my papers arriving informing me that I had been approved to immigrate to Canada.

On my first trip back to the Philippines, some 6 years later, I was surprised to see that the people who were poor when I left had become rich. I found this rather enticing. On the other hand, some had died early into the Martial law regime, gunned down. This scared me. In the Philippines of the 70s, one can be rich overnight then dead the following day. Too much corruption, so many “salvaged” ie killed by law enforcers with impunity. I returned to Canada with the resolve to stay in Canada till my old age.

During my recent trip to the Philippines, the one wherein I got stranded by the pandemic, I became friendly with a priest. I asked him what is wrong with the Philippines. My reason for asking this was in all the years that I’ve been visiting my old country, all the presidents who came after Marcos had not been successful, in my opinion, in controlling corruption which has become a way of life in the Philippines. His answer: poverty. I am more inclined to take the assassinated rival of Marcos, Ninoy Aquino’s answer – overpopulation, mostly in rural areas. A person who farms for a living will always be poor because the country is subjected to natural disasters like typhoons, earthquakes and volcano eruptions. But somebody’s got to do it to feed the growing population.

Despite the high rate of poverty in the Philippines, Filipinos endure. They are resilient, patient, and inject humour in uncomfortable situations. They have a high coping mechanism. Economic growth prospects and poverty numbers will improve this year and economic activity will increase next year with the coming national election. I am hoping this will alleviate the poverty numbers now prevailing in my old country.