MANILA (UCAN): “There was no mass gathering. The poor fell in line and kept their distance. We were simply giving them food and medicine,” Father Flavie Villanueva of the Arnold Janssen Kalinga Centre in Santa Cruz, Manila, said in a social media post after Philippine police and local authorities prevented beggars and street children from attending a feeding programme on March 19 for allegedly not observing social distancing protocols under enhanced the country’s community quarantine regulations.
The incident came as fears grow over how the poor and homeless will survive while the country’s main island Luzon remains in shoddily planned and badly implemented lockdown.
Around 100 homeless people had lined up to get food and medicine packs before police declared the event a mass gathering that risked spreading the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).
Father Villanueva told reporters that they had complied with the social distancing measures. “We made sure there were only 12 to 15 people inside the centre and those who were waiting outside were told to stand more than a metre apart,” he stressed.
Local authorities however insisted Father Villanueva had violated quarantine rules, claiming the event was a mass gathering before trying to force people into the centre, which the priest objected to as that would have constituted an actual mass gathering. The authorities then stopped the event taking place.
During a daily Mass livestreamed by the Jesuit Communications Foundation, Father Albert Alejo criticised the lack of support for the destitute. “Where will you quarantine homeless people if the streets are their homes?” he asked in his homily.
Government logistical support remains scarce and local authorities were seeking help from the central government to fund their feeding programmes.
“We have 6,700 households here. The state of calamity declared by the government is for six months. Where will we get the funds to give food to our people?” Lani Mercado-Revilla, mayor of Bacoor, Cavite province, asked.
Public transport is still suspended, preventing many low-income workers from getting to work. “I have five children and this is my only income. I have to work or we will starve to death,” Brandon Mesipa, a jeepney driver, lamented.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
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In Pasig City, residents have been forced to walk to the market to buy food and groceries, while on March 19 in Las Piñas City, people flocked to grab relief goods intended for health workers. “People are getting hungry. Hunger poses a greater threat than the virus itself,” said one out-of-work factory worker.
Life in the capital has become so hard it drove eight desperate construction workers to walk 105 kilometres back to their home province.
As of March 25, the Philippines had recorded 552 Covid-19 cases with 35 deaths, according reported figures.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis has appointed 46-year-old Father Moises Cuevas as the new auxiliary bishop for Zamboanga in the southern Philippines. He is currently parish priest of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Zamboanga City.
