Amid COVID-19 Lockdown and Land Conflict, a Village Wages Struggle to Live

Apr 8, 2020 | Richard Calayeg Cornelio
View Original

While the government scrambles to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cities, not much has been clamored, at the same pitch, about relief for rural communities where the crisis has also rippled across. Their vulnerabilities are doubly sharpened in light of startlingly deficient aid and inequalities in access to resources that, in the first place, they have been grappling with for so long.

In lieu of an inclusive and humanitarian response to take care of the most vulnerable, blanket restrictions have been in place in entire regions. What is perceived by some sectors as an ill-coordinated Luzon-wide quarantine imposed since March 16 has slackened the flow of goods. Trucks bearing farm produce from provinces now form long queues at police and military checkpoints on the borders of city centers.