Sana All: In The Time Of COVID-19, UP Experts Call For Aid To Everyone

Everyone, especially those in the vulnerable sectors, should be given assistance without setting criteria, University of the Philippines experts recommended, to make sure that “the poorest and most socially excluded will be reached” and helped out amid the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

The UP COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team called for “universal approaches to social protection based on the belief that they cast a wider net of support to include people at the edge of poverty.”

Besides ensuring that the poor will not fall through the cracks of a selective system, a “universal” approach to social protection will also “strengthen social solidarity and cohesion,” according to the paper titled “Addressing the Immediate Needs of All, Especially the Most Vulnerable Sectors: Analysis and Recommendations.”

The Duterte administration has come under fire for its extremely slow distribution of P5,000 to P8,000 cash assistance to the targeted 18.05 million low-income families who were deprived of livelihood as a result of the restrictions to their movement. As of April 24 (the 38th day of the ECQ), only 6.27 million beneficiaries – or one out of three families – had received aid from the Social Amelioration Program (SAP), according to President Duterte’s April 27 report to Congress.

Advocates for senior citizens have also questioned the government’s denial of assistance to those already receiving pensions and stipends, even if these amounts were below P5,000. Groups led by the Coalition of Services for the Elderly Inc. demanded that all senior citizens be included in the coverage of the emergency subsidy program.

Benefits of ‘universal’ assistance

UP experts lent support to such calls. They argued that universal approaches to giving assistance would significantly reduce exclusion of families, speed up the delivery of assistance, and help do away with stigma for those who receive the aid.

The paper argued that the COVID-19 pandemic had widened and deepened poverty levels and “generalized insecurity” among the population. It noted that “everyone is vulnerable to various shocks and risks across one’s lifetime,” such as disasters and pandemics.

Ensuring the dignity and wellbeing of everyone at all times “is… a matter of right and entitlement – not a handout or charity – with citizens as claim-holders and the State as duty-bearers,” the paper stressed.

It added that “negative narratives of poverty” – such as identifying the “deserving and undeserving poor” and blaming individual failings while ignoring the flaws of the society’s structure – only undermines the country’s adherence to the Sustainable Development Goal of “leave no one behind.”

Even the government stands to benefit because this will be “less administratively taxing” on the national and local systems. Accusations of palakasan and playing politics will also be reduced. However, the paper recommended that equity among local government units (LGUs), in terms of delivery of assistance, should be promoted through observation by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Priorities of specific sectors

The paper said the “basic sectors” should be provided with vital needs, including those specific to certain sectors.

“Basic sectors,” as defined by Republic Act No. 8425, cover the farmers and landless rural workers, artisanal fisherfolk, urban poor, indigenous people and cultural communities, workers in formal labor and migrant workers, workers in the informal sector, women, children, youth and students, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, victims of disasters and calamities, non-governmental organizations, and cooperatives.

Their vital needs include income and food security, quality health care, constant water supply and sanitation, regular, accurate and accessible public health messages, and venues to participate in decision-making.

“In particular, there should be free and accessible COVID-19 testing and treatment for all who are in need of these; decent and safe isolation areas with food and medical care for persons with mild symptoms, or those under investigation or monitoring due to exposure; and burial assistance (example given, free crematorium services as seen in Quezon City) for COVID-19 fatalities. Hygiene kits should be distributed along with food packs. Access to disinfectants, wash stations, and personal and protective equipment (PPE) should be ensured for all frontliners not only in the health care sector but also among those rendering essential services outside their homes,” the policy note dated April 26 said.

Additionally, persons with disabilities, older persons, indigenous people, women and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) persons, workers in the informal economy, and street dwellers have specific needs that should be addressed.

The paper recommended greater transparency, accountability and citizens’ participation.

“Humanitarian crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic expose the most vulnerable members of our society to disproportionate suffering, harm, loss, and risks to their lives. It is crucial that these be mitigated without delay,” the paper said.

Here are the recommendations of the UP experts for various sectors:

Persons with disabilities

• Recognize that meeting disability-related needs are vital to increasing the resiliency of persons with disabilities and their households. Disability-related costs faced by PWDs should be taken into account as this is the major driver of poverty among persons with disabilities.
• Ensure accessibility of information and communication systems particularly in awareness-raising activities and service delivery.
• Work with PWD organizations as well as those representing children with disabilities.
• Ensure that PWDs and their households benefit from all social assistance related to COVID-19 responses provided to the general population.
• LGUs must provide cash assistance to PWDs under the Assistance on Individuals in Crisis (AICS) program in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development to help cover disability-related extra costs such as purchase of catheters, diapers, medicines, assistive products, compensation for carers and sign-language interpreters, among others
• Set up help lines at the local and national levels so that PWDs can ask for information or support.
• Ensure delivery of essential food and non-food items to PWDs isolated at home.
• Ensure that the implementation of all programs, whether existing or in response to the COVID-19 crisis, are disability-inclusive (disability-based exclusion or restriction of benefits should be prevented).
• Ensure that transportation services are available and accessible to PWDs so that they can perform their tasks, whether household-related such as going to the market, or health-related such as going to the hospital or clinic.

Older persons

• Include all families living with older persons in the SAP regardless of the elderly’s economic and pension status, and prioritize older persons living with spouses only, those living alone, and the homeless. Indigent senior citizens receiving benefits from the social pension program should also be included in the SAP.
• Release the SAP benefit immediately. Hasten the signing of memorandum of agreement with LGUs to transfer program funds as soon as possible. Worrying about when these funds will be released or whether they are included or not causes undue stress that can lead to depression or worsen older persons’ health condition.
• Immediately release the 2019 social pension of unpaid beneficiaries and the 2020 first semester benefit of social pensioners.
• Utilize different payment delivery schemes (electronic, door-to-door delivery, etc.) by maximizing available structures or systems in the locality. If door-to-door and electronic schemes are not feasible and payout shall be done in one place, greater flexibility should be exercised to allow representatives, such as children, grandchildren or any close relatives to receive the pension on behalf of the pensioners.
• Exercise proper social distancing, and disinfect payout venues to ensure that older persons and their representatives are safe from being infected with the COVID-19 virus.
• Undertake all other procedures deemed necessary to keep older persons safe from the COVID-19 virus.
• Use the old list of social pension beneficiaries to expedite the process and avoid further delays of payments in areas where results of the revalidation process for social pensioners are not yet completed.
• Identify, locate, and determine the situation of older persons in the community and prioritize them in interventions.
• Establish a free delivery system to facilitate access to goods without compelling older persons to leave their homes.
• Provide priority lanes and hours exclusively for older persons in drug stores, supermarkets, public markets and other places.
• Ensure safe access to and availability of needs such as food, disinfectants, basic supplies, medicines, and mental health support.
• Provide free transportation in case of emergencies.
• Ensure age-friendly health care to end ageism and discrimination against older persons.

Indigenous peoples

• Ensure that assistance is not only adequate, timely and effective, but also culturally appropriate.
• Provide services and supplementary needs to beef up existing levels of food security.
• Improve COVID-19 medical services in parts of the country that include IP areas.
• Focus on the more vulnerable IP communities closer to metro centers such as Manila (Dumagat Remontado of Rizal/Region 4 and the Agta/Aeta of Central Luzon).
• Guarantee the continued access of IPs to the natural resources necessary for survival.
• Ensure access to accurate, sufficient and regular information on COVID-19 in their own languages.

Women and gender

• Provide emergency interventions and psychosocial support for women and LGBTQI persons who feel unsafe or experience gender-based violence within their households. Barangay and Philippine National Police responses are crucial, which entail the immediate removal of perpetrators from homes.
• Uphold women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights by ensuring safe pregnancies and childbirth, and the availability/accessibility of family planning commodities. Free and accessible distribution of modern contraceptives and menstrual hygiene products must be done at the community level by LGUs.
• Ensure the immediate availability of basic goods (through a mobile palengke, free mobile phone load to ensure unimpeded communication in emergencies) and services (visibility of barangay health emergency response teams for health concerns).
• Include in public service messaging the sharing of domestic and care tasks in households to alleviate women’s intensified burdens.
• Prioritize support for women frontliners and health volunteers (by providing them with adequate protective gear).
• Mitigate the impact on livelihoods, particularly those in the informal economy and in flexible employment.

Workers in the informal economy

• Ensure inclusion in the SAP of the working poor in the informal economy.
• Immediately expand and facilitate access to the currently limited Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) and other cash-for-work programs to cover workers in the informal economy who are unable to work for the duration of the ECQ.
• Engage displaced vendors and other workers in the informal economy to provide mobile markets and kitchens to reach out to communities while observing physical distancing.
• Continue provision and extension of food and cash transfers to indigent households, including those of the working poor as well as the near poor or new poor resulting from the pandemic.
• Support home-based workers and others in the informal economy who are producing masks, gowns and other PPE, meals as well as providing transport, delivery, packing, sorting and other services to frontliners such as health workers, traffic aides and law enforcers.
• Support urban and peri-urban organic agriculture in addition to rural-based food production efforts based on solidarity to ensure safe, healthy and balanced meals for all (to supplement or replace canned goods and instant noodles, which are customarily distributed in food packs). Free distribution of seedlings and setting up of community gardens and communal farms while observing physical distancing should be done at the local level.
• Suspend payments for taxes, rentals, public utilities such as water and electricity, health insurance and social security, and loans from government sources.
• Facilitate loan restructuring for home-based and other informal workers who have availed themselves of micro-credit/loans from microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other lending institutions (whether formal or informal).
• Explore debt moratorium and relief from MFIs where possible, including debt bailouts to informal workers and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) with support from the national government.
• Provide subsidy and/or short-term low-interest loans to augment income and restart micro-enterprises.
• Engage organized groups of workers in the informal economy to facilitate identification, listing, prioritization and mobilization of the most vulnerable in the provision of social assistance, essential services and income augmentation.
• Source products from farmers, fisher groups and communities as well as home-based workers and micro-entrepreneurs for mobile markets.
• Set-up mobile drug stores where people can have access to affordable medicine.

Street dwellers

• Proactively search, identify and rescue street dwellers in all LGUs.
• Provide temporary shelter for street dwellers where they are found.
• Provide the necessary physiological support systems such as food, rest and comfort areas, and medicines/first-aid kits in temporary shelters.
• Conduct individual medical check-ups and health assessments among street dwellers and observe the proper medical protocols for those who are deemed suspect, probable, and confirmed.
• PPE, social distancing, sanitation and disinfection must also be made available for ready use.
• LGUs must explore the possibility of recruiting/engaging healthy street dwellers to become productive members of the community by making them a part of either the Barangay Health Response Teams or the LGU’s livelihood program initiatives.