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• Tania is a financial advisor for one of the largest insurance companies in the Philippines. She considers her circumstances to be fortunate compared to others during the pandemic, so she tries to reach out to those who need assistance during the pandemic. She herself did not receive ayuda.
• She migrated her business meetings and conferences online. The pandemic caused her to lose clients, money, and potential earnings. She also started a business during the pandemic but it eventually failed and she closed it.
• She contracted COVID-19 with her partner but did not get tested nor got themselves to a hospital. They self-medicated and stayed home. Having been tested after they got sick, they still tested positive and had to isolate for a second time.
• She shared that she was able to receive the same generosity she gave from friends and colleagues. She also wishes that the government was able to handle the pandemic in a better way. She advocates for financial literacy, especially in the face of disasters and pandemics.
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• Lea Agoncillo is 29 years old, Filipino, and a high school teacher
• She is living alone in their home in the city; her family has been staying in their home in
their province since the pandemic started
• She recently finished her law degree and is waiting to take the Philippine BAR Exams
• She contracted Covid-19 a few weeks before the BAR Exams; her mother and sister, both
of whom are health workers, also contracted Covid-19 before her
• Did not receive ayuda—the Philippine government’s cash or goods assistance during the
pandemic
• Started taking move vitamins during this pandemic to boost her immune system
• Social media and messaging apps have helped her to remain close with her family and
friends; she does not meet with them for safety measures, but she keeps in touch via social media and messaging apps
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• Angelica, 36, is a government employee who was interviewed in the first round as a COVID-19 survivor.
• Her husband also contracted COVID-19. Her husband lost his job when the pandemic happened but has found a new job in the last year.
• Angelica thinks that testing in the Philippines may be unreliable in some clinics or hospitals since the results vary from one and another. She believes that wearing a mask is a responsibility, but she is glad that face masks are no longer required.
• Since getting vaccinated and the state-imposed protocols are loosened, Angelica was only able to bring her kids to fast food chains to eat, but not in malls nor to travel outside their city, except to visit her husband’s family in a nearby town. She also thinks policies on mass gatherings must be loosened in churches, too, to allow people to pray.
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• Lea Agoncillo, 28, is from one of the tribes of the indigenous peoples in the northern Philippines; a high school teacher and a law student
• Agoncillo is a resident of City A; Community quarantines in place since March 2020
• Has never been home to her family for the whole of 2020. She was living alone, sometimes with her sister and her family, so she decided to break community protocols and was hidden by her brother—an essential worker—in his work car so she can go home for New Year’s
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• Jasmine, 56 years old, Tagalog, Filipino, Frontliner/Essential worker (Village Official)
• Lockdown for nine months (Extreme Enhanced Community Quarantine)
• Compulsory wearing of face mask and face shield
• Curfew hours implemented in their community
• Went to work almost every day during the first few months of the lockdown
• Underwent two swab tests and two mandatory fourteen-day quarantine because of exposure to two people who tested positive for COVID-19 infections
• Describes measures village officials took to help the community cope with Covid-19
• TikTok videos as a penalty for curfew breakers
• Measures taken for returning Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs) and Locally Stranded Individuals (LSIs)
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• Angelica, 35 years old, Tagalog, Filipino, government employee
• Lockdown for three months
• Compulsory wearing of face mask and face shield
• Curfew hours implemented in their community
• Work from home for three months and then twice a week reporting to their office
• Only went to the grocery once or twice a week during the lock down
• Contracted COVID-19 and was sent to an isolation facility
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● Mario Jimenez, 40 years old, Filipino, studied Computer Science in college, resident of and working at Iloilo City in the Visayas Region of the Philippines
● He is a Person Living with HIV (PLHIV) since May 2013 and have contracted COVID in August 2020. He has recovered from COVID
● Has not been home to his family since lockdown was imposed in the Philippines (March 2020) to not risk infecting his mother who is a senior citizen
● Essential worker in an HIV clinic in Iloilo City; has been back to work in their clinic-office, but Iloilo City has been reclassified into Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ)—a lighter status with minimal mass gatherings allowed and particular areas for tourism are opened
● Has been back to work and has developed a differentiated care system to cater to other PLHIVs in their region
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• Interviewee is 43 years old, born in Tabangon, Leyte and currently residing in Las Piñas, Manila
• Works as a public transport driver
• Expressed that Covid-19 is more difficult than past disasters
• Reflected on impacts of Covid-19 and work-from-home policy on livelihood
• Discusses Covid-19 regulations and violation penalties for public transport drivers
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• Interviewee is thirty-three years old and from Bacolod City, Negros Occidental
• Assistant chief nurse for education and Covid team head nurse at a hospital
• Shares experience as a Covid team head nurse designing Covid-19 protocol for the hospital and hiring, training and retaining staff in the initial days of the pandemic
• Details personal reactions to colleagues’ experiences as COVID-19 survivors and the impacts of their experiences on hospital staff
• Describes Covid-19 protocol violations they have witnessed
• Describes support schemes such as the PAGIBIG and SSS and assistance provided by the local government’s Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Health
• Describes barter as a form of mutual aid amongst the Bacolod community
• Shares about discriminations faced by medical staff and measures taken to address these discriminations
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• Nikki Candao
• 25 year-old Filipina
• Business process outsourcing worker and businesswoman
• Work from home since March 2020
• Suffered from Covid-19 for two months
• All family members contracted Covid
• Violated a few lockdown measures
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• Maria, 25 years old, Bisaya, Filipino
• Nationwide lockdown, travels from their rural community to the city were restricted, wearing of face mask and face shield in public areas.
• She worked as household help or helper during the lockdown, then went home and undergone fourteen days quarantine.
• Her family live in rural, far flung community. They rely on their root crops and vegetables as food during the lockdown.
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• Dom de Leon, 29 year-old frontliner
• Hospital housekeeping worker
• Hospitalized for two weeks because of Covid-19
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• Diwata, 31 years old, Bisaya/Cebuano, Filipino
• Nationwide lockdown, no mass gatherings, strict social distancing, and wear face mask in public.
• Wearing of PPEs, face shield and face mask in her workplace.
• Tested positive of COVID-19, quarantined/isolated for 14 days, and recovered.
• Lost a family member to COVID-19.
