Protecting the Poor in Extraordinary Times: Covid-19 Pandemic and Social Protection Architecture in the Philippines

Abstract

The Philippines has the highest number of Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia. As an immediate action to combat the pandemic, President Rodrigo Duterte put the national capital region under strict community quarantine. Different regional and local government organisations implemented the same measure to prevent the spread of infection in localities outside Metro Manila. The imposition of community quarantine has consequently led to the suspension of key social and economic activities in the country. Public transportation and school classes were suspended and millions of people, especially in the private sector, lost their jobs. The Covid-19 crisis has undeniably generated major economic repercussions that gravely affected the disadvantaged and vulnerable population, particularly the ordinary workers and OFWs. The Philippine national government takes the lead in managing the Covid-19 crisis and aiding the poor to cope with the adverse impacts of the pandemic. This chapter aims to explain the nature of vertical engagements of the national and local governments in the provision of social protection for the poor in the Philippines. In this chapter, I will outline key social protection programmes of the national and subnational governments in the Philippines that are designed to manage and mitigate the detrimental socio-economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. This chapter concludes that the pandemic has induced the Philippine government to reinforce its existing social protection architecture through the establishment of additional social security guarantees, especially for the poor.