The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a new

strain of coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak
began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. This virus starts on 30 January 2020, the
Philippine Department of Health reported the first case of COVID-19 in the country with
a 38-year-old female Chinese national. On 7 March, the first local transmission of
COVID-19 was confirmed. WHO is working closely with the Department of Health in
responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. As of now the Philippines has one of the
worst COVID-19 outbreaks in Southeast Asia. This paper would tackle the strength
of the Philippines in facing this novel corona virus that may contribute to the
ASEAN.

According to Richard Heydarian COVID-19 is doing economic damage to the

Philippines as well. The Philippine GDP growth has averaged around 6 percent
annually for the past decade, but it could actually contract this year. As many as 1.2
million Filipinos could lose jobs as the economy dives, and as a lockdown limits
economic activity. A $23 billion rescue package  is being hurriedly put together, but
even this relatively large amount may not be sufficient to avoid serious economic
damage.

Only day Duterte announced a month-long lockdown (March 15 to April 14)

across Metro Manila and surrounding regions. For days, the exact contours of the
lockdown—initially dubbed as “community quarantine,” then later upgraded to
“enhanced community quarantine” remained unclear. But panic buying ensued as
soon as twelve million residents of Metro Manila realized that there would be
restrictions on entry and exit from the national capital region and large parts of the
country’s economy including malls, restaurants, and public parks would be shut
down under a strict social distancing regime. While many welcomed the lockdown
as an effort to contain an epidemic outbreak, the Duterte administration bungled its
initial implementation, as varying agencies made contradictory statements on
curfews and travel restrictions in the national capital region and beyond. To be fair,
the government’s struggles are not entirely of its own fault, given the country’s weak
public health system. But Duterte didn’t help the situation by cutting the health
budget in recent years. Is this bungling of the initial COVID-19 response having an
impact on Duterte’s popularity, or on his legacy? According to polls conducted prior
to the lockdown, Duterte remains widely popular. Under current circumstances,
conducting polls may have been logistically difficult, so it is difficult to tell for sure
where public opinion stands on the issue. Online, Philippine netizens are expressing
rising impatience and discontent with the Duterte administration’s response.
Although Duterte has worked hard to silence dissent in the country, doctors are now
publicly complaining about the lack of protective equipment, middle class Filipinos
are openly complaining about the lack of financial support for certain sectors hit
hard by the lockdown, and some poorer Filipinos are complaining about their
desperate struggle to survive the lockdown with dwindling resources.
Following small-scale protests by mostly poor residents in Manila about Duterte’s
COVID-190 response, Duterte greenlighted “shoot to kill” orders to law enforcement
and soldiers implementing the lockdown.

Right now, in the world we are in a fight of our lives against the coronavirus. It
has affected many people including myself. I'm now at home every day and it really is
affecting me socially. Not being able to speak to friends and see people I see on a
regular basis is hard for me. Also, now that it is online class which is really hard and it
has really had an effect on my school life. I am not used to being at home all the time
and working on the computer. I'm usually in a classroom surrounded by my peers.
However, I am human so I will learn to adapt, but for now it is hard. It has affected me
personally in the social and educational aspect, but I know around the city of Detroit it's
affecting others as well. In Detroit, which is one of the cities around the country hit hard
by the virus, the pandemic has also affected the youth. Youth are now forced to stay
home instead of going outside and spending time with friends. Most kids need to be
outside and with people to release their energy and socialize. Now this cannot happen,
because the virus has affected us so much. One thing we also see happening is food
insecurities and social distancing. Due to what is happening in the world, people are
very much afraid and cautious about food supply and interactions with people. People
are afraid and are told to stay inside, so we stock up supplies that will last them about a
month. Usually people get stuff that we will last them about two weeks, but now we
need to stay home as much as we can.

Philippines is being challenge with this novel corona virus which are not only
affect people’s live but also the growth of our economy, since the time that the virus
started many people lost their job and even their family member, even though this virus
make us suffer everyday Philippines still fighting to kill this virus, in terms that people
who are working in the hospital are still doing their job though they’re putting their self in
danger, they still choose to serve Filipinos who are infected by this corona virus to heal
this virus, also the front liners who are not quitting in to observe individuals if they can
still follows the protocols, as well as those individual who is working in media which is
really helpful in a way that they always remind us and give us ideas and information
about what things we can do to deal with this corona virus. Despite of facing all the
challenges we must always in our mind that we are not alone God is always there to
help us to deal with this virus, and instead of arguing the policy that the government
being implement we must follow it since this is for us, for us to stay safe and far from
this corona virus, and as for the people who lost their livelihood we must think of a way
or a job that you can still do either you are inside your house, in order for you to sustain
your own necessities. As of now we can’t still say if how long this corona virus will affect
us what we need to do is to pray and follow all the protocols that are implemented by
the government.