LOOK: Vulnerable citizens in the time of enhanced community quarantine

MANILA, Philippines – While we commend the national government for its decisive response to slow down the increasing threat of more patients with COVID-19, there are areas where full and effective implementation is nearly impossible.

In Metro Manila, the gated communities, condominiums and middle-class neighborhoods can easily follow the strict government guidelines and success can be predicted if quarantine guidelines are followed by citizens to the letter.

Unfortunately, among the 12 million residents of Metro Manila, there are citizens who cannot practice the prescribed quarantine guidelines because of the objective conditions of their lives.

These Metro Manila residents are the most vulnerable group where COVID-19 can spread ten-fold because their living situations are not ideal to contain the pandemic that threatens rich and poor nations alike.

Let us hope that authorities’ extra focus on their situation – with help from other stakeholders – can alleviate the potential problem that can diminish our nation’s effort to succeed in confronting this health crisis.

These images are repeated in various locations in the metropolis: