Episode 1: Manila's Transition into ECQ

Episode 1 of "Ang Tibay ng Mga Pilipino" delves into the changes in Manila in light of this pandemic, focused off of interviews from college students who have been in Manila for the duration of the pandemic and implementation of Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). The topics tackled here include the public health infrastructure and government responses in the Philippines, as well as the nation's diplomatic relations with China.

Mico Co, a freshman student and entrepreneur businessman, and Pammie Alianan, a student studying architecture at the University of the Philippines (UP), share their experiences and describe how their realities have changed in the Philippines. While most of their classes have moved online, Pammie notably shares that UP is struggling to design a plan that provides equitable education for all their students, since UP is a public school and not all students have easy access to the Internet. From streets that were once lined with congested traffic to completely empty streets and from crowded malls and markets to empty spaces, the Philippines seems to have turned into a ghost town.

This transformation was solely the doing of President Duterte, who instituted the lockdown on March 12 and has since extended it until May 15. During the lockdown, domestic transportation of all modes, including land, air, and sea, have been suspended, and residents are not allowed to leave their homes unless for emergencies. Moreover, thousands of military personnel have been deployed to ensure that citizens comply with the lockdown, and checkpoints were placed at entry points between all the different cities to check people's temperatures before they proceed through, both actions of which are reminiscent of President Marcos's martial law in 1972.

As a developing country, the Philippines poor healthcare system has already had issues with the lack of facilities and resources. With the pandemic, these deficiencies are exemplified even more, but why did it seem as if Manila was not as affected by the virus statistically compared to developed countries? In reality, it is because the nation does not have the testing kits nor the facilities to care for their citizens and collect accurate data on the causes of death.

"It's really hard to adapt to a situation where you do not have enough resources or even a budget for it. Just like in the United States where President Trump removed the budget. Here, we do have a budget, but it's just not feasible. The government should be working more with smaller businesses." - Mico Co

Aside from the in-depth discussions of the poor public health infrastructure, we also delve into the graft and corruption that continues to prevail over the country, notably the Philippines's close growing diplomatic relations with China after shifting away from the United States. In most cases, President Duterte's actions seem to be prioritizing government relations over the nation's own public health. In fact, a lot of the arguments made by the Philippines government do not seem to have any sound evidence and are overly dependent on China's expansive powers in light of the crisis.

"Our country needs to be able to stand on its own two feet. You can't keep relying on other countries, especially since we have been doing it since the end of World War II. That's more than enough time to set up your own systems. Duterte's turn away from the U.S. was long overdue but now he's doing the same thing with China.." - Pammie Alianan

Both Mico and Pammie share their hopes that the Philippines's future leaders will be able to improve the interior structure, which remains to be the most problematic facet of the government. They gain hope from the fact that even if the government is not doing as much as they could, the Filipinos themselves and members of the private sector are putting in the work to create more clinics and provide protective gear and more volunteers to compensate for the nation's deficiencies.

Update: The Philippines's largest broadcasting network ABS-CBN was shut down on May 5, 2020 after Congress, who are heavily allied with the President, refused to renew their license. This move places thousands of Filipinos out of work and deprives the nation of one of the biggest news sources during the pandemic.