Stokkevn

Do you have their Skype address, or was it to their landline?

Stokkevn

Unfortunately big confusion everywhere, the palace sent out an executive order where the first item was that local LGUs will have their own version of this, so hardly an EO then. Even our province one for Capiz states that there will be no alcohol on sale, our barangay one does not confirm this, I bought a case of beer this morning and the policeman standing next to me bought two bottles of spirits. I got a quarantine pass and my wife can use it in an emergency but the Capiz EO states that she can use it when I am not. I think you need to get down to the Barangay Hall and ask them for a copy of their regs. Quoting regs from other ares will not work.

Bealinehx

"Do you have their Skype address, or was it to their landline?"
I used Skype using their landline

Raffin

Paranaque City advisory on HQP given out by Barangay with pass.

Well, it might help to show this as it is probably the same rule across Metro Manila,which had the first lockdown imposed.

Special treatment for Seniors here can have its bad side.... with sometimes an assumption of incapability!

jaygee68

There seems to be a distinct lack of discussion and interest on this forum about the potential disaster awaiting Filipinos and foreign Nationals residing there..

Is it because everyone is sure God is going to protect them,or are people hoping that everyone is going to obey this lockdown indefinitely?

What could happen if it gets into densely populated areas like Tondo,for example?

Bealinehx

Wel,l what are your thoughts?
I'm sure that the level of declared COVD-19 cases are well below reality as there are, at the time of writing, insufficient testing kits.
We are entering the final quarter of the lockdown. I for one will not be surprised if there is an extension of the lockdown for another month.
So far the vast majority are complying to the recommended precautions, an extension may result in tensions starting to surface.

Raffin

A good assessment of the current situation. I would just add that that in some densely populated areas the lockdown has created conditions for increased virus spread. Tensions after a likely lockdown extension can be reduced by some relaxations eg allowing some local transport to operate, re-opening some small shops and the smaller markets so people do not have to line up for hours at supermarkets for meat, fish, fruit and vegetables..

Philosophical 11

Quite agree.

Tensions are now building as we have recently seen and the recent 24hr curfew in some parts of Manila has not helped. In fact the opposite is true. The recent hardline speech by the President was in my view inappropriate. It should have been recognised that the unrest was due to lack of supplies of food was not being distributed quickly enough to those in need. A more sympathetic approach would be more appropriate and assurances given that supplies would be in future distributed quicker and more efficiently.

The people suffering the most are the poor, squatter areas and dare I say businesss owners who can only watch their businesses flounder before there eyes. I think public transport should be allowed to run....Ok at say half capacity to comply with distancing rules and if necessary fares increased to compensate. Then people will have an opportunity to get to work. This will allow more shops and businesses to open. People here can only get to the market or in town every second day. I dont see the point in that. Alcohol has been banned from sale adding to the misery also. Schools should be allowed to open under the model used by Singapore. The slums, squatter areas in Manila are going to be flash points. But not just there...they are all over the Philippines.

As we know, the filipinos are resilient people and strongly family oriented. An example. My LF is now living in her house with 11 other relatives one of which is new born. Her house is smaller than mine where I am living now with 7 or 8 people . Plus a dog. She has no electricity. They are making ends meet by going down to her fathers pond and collecting oysters and selling them. They make about 300 per day. She has not asked for money bless her (except when her grand child was born) and was worried about food. She did not seem aware that the brgy could help families such as hers. Told her to go to the Brgy hall and ask for help. Next day they got 5 kilos of rice. Which brings me to another point. The equitable distribution of food supplies. Not far from me we have a high end sub division. They are getting food supplies. Where I am we have none but at least they are being subsisted by my rental payments.

I believe this will go on for a further month or so at the very least. The flash points will be where I have previously stated and a more sympathetic approach should be taken combined with proper provision and access to essential food and supplies.

Take care all

Raffin

Twelve in a small house eh? Lucky that for most of us here cabin fever is all that we can catch at home! Certainly a lot of family clustering has been going on.

With little money coming into most poor households the main focus is on the forthcoming cash handout from the DSWD. I read somewhere It has already started in two areas of MM. Will be very difficult to do it comprehensively and fairly and anyway it won't be enough. Previously people were able to eat out cheaply, or even free at work. Now, unless they are lucky to be near a properly functioning large market, many have to buy at more expensive supermarkets and 7-11s. Free rice helps but they mostly need cash to pay for food and bills. Also pawn interest. Have seen long lines at them recently.

It seems that a 15 day lockdown extension is on the cards. But I think that at the end of that there still won't be the data to properly decide on a an end to it. So I think the government will be forced to announce a very staged return to work after that, putting even more financial strain on families.

jaygee68

Thanks for your replies chaps.

What are my thoughts?...At the moment i am in the UK and isolating,due to health issues.I do have a daughter,whose life i am blocked out of,living in a small town/village in the Provinces.

I am hoping that areas like this are not hit as hard as the big cities.It pains me to say this,but the Filipinos are social animals,and i can see a lot of pain and misery for them down the line.I just cannot see them having the discipline to obey a prolonged lockdown.

Here in the UK,religious leaders of all denominations have gone strangely quiet.I just hope the Filipino people are not relying on God to bail them out of this terrible mess.

Stokkevn

Here we got our first food relief aid last Tuesday, it was 5kg rice and an apology that they had forgot to pack the tinned food and noodles, yesterday we got our second food aid, 5kg of rice a very small tine of sardines ( or sardine ) and an even smaller tin of corned beef. The people who can only afford bamboo houses not far away got nothing so the wife split the rice into several smaller bags, added a few bits from our cupboard and handed it out. I can only assume that the ones living in bamboo houses did not vote for the mayor last election.

Social distancing definitely does not work here, waiting outside a shop yesterday giving the regulated 1m to the guy in front, a quick blink and suddenly two women occupied the space. On the plus side is that I have not heard any songs being murdered on a karaoke machine for over two weeks.

I know this virus is a different beast but to put things in perspective, last year the Philippines had over 400,000 people infected with Dengue Fever and over 1,500 died and not much effort was put into preventing that, most likely because it is a problem of the poor and not the rich.

RedApe

Well you forget the great dengue Dengvaxia scandal....which contributed to the "hands up" attitude. Well they did supposedly develop a wonder drug without any foreign involvement, using indigenous knowledge, and indigenous herbs.

“It’s not a vaccine, it’s not herbal supplement. It is a (super) drug that has an activity against the virus,” Dr. Rita Grace Alvero...Banaba, Tawa-Tawa, Mangosteen, and Serpentina. Hot-Hot vs. Cool-Cool. Good for air.

One difference b/w the dengue outbreak and Covid-19. Dengue is mosquito borne and likely the spate of typhoons created conditions for an outbreak. One has a visual target and enemy...the mozzie. Social distancing is not a factor. One can interact will a dengue patient with little risk of infection as long as there are not Aedes mosquitos about. A person with dengue can handle food, goods, and move about a home kitchen with very low risk to fellow householders. No co-vector, everyone else is safe. If mozzies are about it doesn't matter if the person is in the house or down the street, though.

Because Covid-19 is human borne it disrupts social relationships, employment, and the person ill can directly effect caretakers.

Stokkevn

That is why I said it was a different beast. Dengue is not a mosquito disease all the mosquito does is transfer it from one human to another so social distancing of about 150m ( average flying distance of a mosquito ) is not that practical. But if someone in the office/shop/bar has dengue and there is a mosquito or two around the chances of someone else catching Dengue in there is quite high, hence the 400k+ cases. As for who catches it, in posh subdivisions there is less rubbish lying around that collects water and provides idea breeding grounds for mosquitoes than in places like Tondo, mosquitoes gravitate towards good breeding grounds and don't travel that far from them.

britishbull

Mossies used to love me but leave me along since using high dose (not odourless) garlic tablets...

Stokkevn

In about 1980 I was working in Egypt and one engineer used to use a mossie buzzer that supposedly kept them away from you. We did not believe him until the day he forgot it in the office and by the end of the day looked like someone had shot him with a shotgun. The buzzer sounds like a male mosquito and the only ones that bite you are pregnant females so they keep away.