The emergence of COVID-19 in the Philippines has aggravated the poverty experienced by the Filipino urban poor. To compound this problem, the national government employed an approach in handling the pandemic that is ambiguous, top-down, militaristic, and detached from economic realities.

This preliminary paper examines the national government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic from the lens of the marginalized sectors, in particular, the urban poor of Sitio San Roque. It focuses on the impacts of the crisis to the income, livelihood and education of the urban poor, difficulties in claiming government cash aid, as well as triumphs and limitations of privately-funded collective self-help projects as community response to the socio-economic and health crisis.

This is a publication under the Social Protection program of Inklusibo.

Written by Maxine Faminiano, Annelle Chua, Kristhel Montalbo, Prestine Pajarillo, Emi Santos, Jay Serrato, Geo Duque, Isa Rodrigo, Tara Ramirez, Tin Araneta, Averill Amor, Dominic Gutoman, Samantha David, Bernard Dones, Iah Solidum, Kevin Castro, Vea Lalas, Deji Eclarin, Bryle Catamora, and Rafael Dimalanta.