Millions Struggle To Survive In Philippines Coronavirus Lockdown (Worthy News Investigation)
By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – The Philippines faces international pressure to end one of the world’s most repressive coronavirus lockdowns, with 120,000 people detained and some killed or abused for curfew violations in the past month. Witnesses, including Christian single mothers, have told Worthy News of intimidating police and military checkpoints.
Worthy News agreed to use only initials or first names of its sources amid security concerns. “It’s no fun. There are many checkpoints operated by police and the military here,” said 31-year-old MJ in Cebu city. “I can only go for some shopping but not very far.” The single-mother-of-one spoke amid reports of police abuse at checkpoints nationwide.
In recent days, a police officer was charged with homicide after shooting a retired Army veteran in Quezon City who violated the city’s quarantine protocols. In Caloocan City, violators were ordered by authorities to walk along EDSA center island at around 10 p.m., while tugging a rope with them, local media said. In Rizal province’s capital Antipolo some 39 violators were reportedly asked to stay inside a detention court for eight to ten hours without giving them food or drink. Five youths were put inside a dog cage after breaking curfew in Laguna province, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Rights activists say abuses are encouraged by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. He has warned violators of coronavirus lockdown measures they could be shot dead for causing trouble. “My orders to the police and military … if there is trouble and there’s an occasion that they fight back, and your lives are in danger, shoot them dead,” Duterte said last month. “Is that understood? Dead. Instead of causing trouble, I will bury you.” The president’s remarks resembled his fierce rhetoric during his war on drugs, during which police and mystery shooters have killed thousands of people accused of using or selling drugs. Police claim their actions in the anti-drug campaign have been lawful.
However, the Phillippines is one of the most extreme examples among nations with reported human rights violations in the guise of coronavirus restrictions, according to the United Nations. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said security forces had used unnecessary pressure to make people abide by lockdown and curfew rules. Victims, she said, are mostly coming from the poor and vulnerable sectors.
LETHAL FORCE
Bachelet stressed that force should only be used when strictly necessary, and lethal force should only be carried out when there is an imminent risk to life. “Shooting, detaining, or abusing someone for breaking a curfew because they are desperately searching for food is clearly an unacceptable and unlawful response,” the UN representative stressed in a speech in Geneva on April 27.
Duterte’s deadly force threats came after a reported disturbance and several arrests in an impoverished area of Manila, the capital, where residents demanded more government food aid. Manila’s needy residents aren’t alone. MJ, who works for a microfinancing foundation, also noticed an increase in requests for loans from clients such as small businesses and families. “It is getting difficult for people. There is government relief, such as rice for families. And Non-Governmental-Organizations also try to help. But we don’t know how long it will last.”
At least some rural villages have not been reached with government aid, including in the country’s Tarlac municipality, villagers claim. “In my village Buenlag, the situation is getting serious. Some thousand families lack food,” said Lani. The 50-year-old works in Saudi Arabia as a housemaid to provide her elderly mother and other family members. “Many people suffer under the harsh lockdowns,” she added, speaking to Worthy News.
Virgie, 48, said the situation was also getting desperate in the Manila area. “I am locked up in my uncle’s house here,” the nurse and mother-of-one said. “I traveled to Manilla from the province for passport reasons. Suddenly there was a lockdown, and I could not fly back home. I could not see my young daughter for more than a month.” And it may take longer for her to return as President Duterte extended until May 15 a lockdown in the capital and other areas. It is stretching to eight weeks one of the world’s strictest community quarantines to curb coronavirus infections, among the nation’s nearly 110 million people.
Manila, a heavily congested city of at least 13 million people and millions more informal settlers, accounts for more than two-thirds of the country’s 8,772 confirmed cases and 579 deaths of the coronavirus disease COVID-19. Besides the Philippines, the United Nations has also expressed worries about rights abuses during controversial coronavirus lockdowns in China, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and El Salvador. But the UN warnings have meant little for the millions facing a struggle to survive amid government policies that were supposed to tackle a potentially deadly pandemic.
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