Ogot, Rafael Archie C.

De jesus, Mark
BCS12
Professor. Jumel G. Estrañero
De La Salle University Dasmariñas

THE MAJOR EFFECTS OF COVID-19 IN THE PHILIPPINES

CHAPTER I
Introduction
This chapter discusses the background of the selected topic to research on, along with the
reasons behind the research. It will elaborate information of the effects of covid-19 in the
Philippines.

I. Background of the Study

In December 2019 in Wuhan, China, a disease has been discovered that affects a person’s
health being and can easily spread if made contact and that disease is so called Covid-19
(Centers for disease control and prevention, 2021). Covid-19 is a disease that is caused by
SARS-CoV-2 virus that is highly infectious or contagious if the right medical attention and
prevention is not met which can lead into spreading of the disease faster (World health
organization, 2021). According to the same web page, the most common symptoms that one
person can feel if affected are fever, cough, tiredness, and lost of taste or smell. It affects people
of all ages, although adults are the most vulnerable ones. Children and people with underlying
medical issues are particularly vulnerable (WHO, 2021). With that, in order to avoid such things,
World Health Organization (WHO, 2021) recommended many things such as social distancing,
wearing of masks, hand-washing, enhanced health care-systems, and most especially
containment.
The country's first incidence of COVID-19 was reported in January 2020, and by March,
the country had been placed under a stringent community quarantine, restricting mobility and
business activities and with that, Philippines faced a great problem or complication in the
community such as jobs, educations, food security, and businesses (Future learn, 2021). “The
Philippines economy faces a long road to recovery; the impact on businesses and livelihoods will
be felt for many months to come. Jobs will be in short supply – with certain sectors, such as
tourism and sales, worse affected than others” (Future learn, 2021). It will be indeed a long road
seeing the case that Covid-19 has affected mostly the entire economic of the Philippines. The
Philippines' economic vitality is anchored in strong consumer demand supported by a vibrant
labor market and significant remittances, thanks to increased urbanization, a growing middle
class, and a huge and young population (The World Bank, 2021).
The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has been a suffering from almost every aspect
of the human race and it is affected in some way. As a result, there has been significant
disruption, such as travel restrictions (Chinazzi et al., 2020), students' learning losses are
projected to be considerable as a result of school closures and issues in the delivery of remote
learning (WBG, 2021), global economic problems (Fernandes, 2020), racism (Habibi et al.,
2020), and conflicts in political (Barrios & Hochberg, 2020).
As of recent, there has been a new variant of Covid-19, which is named the variant
"Omicron" (Ingraham et al,. 2021). As of December 2, 2021, the variant "Omicron" has spread to
26 countries and is recorded to have over 50 mutations (Ingraham et al,.).

51
II. The Body
The general problems addressed in this current study is that education in the Philippines

is still negatively impacted despite having faced the COVID-19 pandemic for more than a year.
Apart from that, face-to-face classes have still not fully reopened due to the impacts of the

COVID-19 pandemic. Around November 24, 2020, 24 schools in Cordillera were allowed to

hold face-to-face classes as said by the Philippines DepEd Regional Director Estela Carino

(Rappler, 2021). To add on, Philippines is ranked at the bottom (53rd) of Bloomberg's Covid

Resilience Ranking (Rachel Chang, 2021). A community survey in April 2021 (Fallesen, 2021),

which surveyed 200 people among 135 barangay across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

According to said survey, "The second round of High Frequency Social Monitoring of COVID-

19 Impacts Community Survey showed the pandemic’s lingering effects on the economic

conditions of poor communities, specifically from loss of jobs and income opportunities."

(Fallesen, 2021). We can derive that the state of the Philippines is still suffering great losses

because of the Pandemic.

The first case of Covid-19 in the Philippines was recorded on January 20, 2019. (Edna M.

Edrada, 2020). According to the report made, the first victims in the Philippines that were

affected by the Covid-19 virus were “Healthy Chinese nationals on a vacation in the Philippines

travelling as a couple” (Edna M. Edrada, 2020). As of February, there were 133 PUIs

(Department of Health, 2020) (People Under Investigation) and the cases of Covid-19 have rose

up where in July there were 34,178 active cases out of a total of 47,873 cases (Department of

Health, 2020)

On the 16th of March 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte had signed Proclamation No. 929

(Duterte, 2020), which issued a State of Calamity throughout the entire Philippines for 6 months
and carried out the plan of Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) throughout Luzon. The

Enhanced Community Quarantine instructed all residents to stay inside of their residences while

closing most businesses, educational institutes, public facilities and churches. Several

checkpoints were introduced all around Luzon to control the flow of the people moving around

the country. The ECQ has been extended many times before due to increasing rates of Covid-19

cases all around the country.

This study will break down the relationship between the Covid-19 Pandemic, the major impacts

it has on the Philippines and the aftereffects of the major impacts.

In the form of Questions, this study will answer these following questions:

1. What is Covid-19?

2. What are the major impacts of Covid-19 in the Philippines?

I. Effects ---

II. Effects ---

III. Analysis

The Analysis of this study would be beneficial to the government bodies and

organizations that play a part in fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic, commercial businesses,

journalists, future researchers and to every person that currently resides in the Philippines.
The study would be of great help to anyone and anyone’s property that are affected by the

Covid-19 pandemic.

To the government bodies and organizations that play a part in fighting against the Covid-19

pandemic, this would serve as a qualitative report that could influence their future decisions in

facing against Covid-19.

To commercial businesses, this would serve as a qualitative report, this would provide business

owners with more understanding as to what’s happening all around the country and possibly

influence to make versatile choices to adapt to the present situation.

To journalists and future researchers, this would serve as a qualitative report to reference off in

the future.

To every person that currently resides in the Philippines, this would serve as a report to enhance

one’s understanding of the current state of the Philippines and the cause and effects of the Covid-

19 pandemic from the beginning until the day of this thesis’ publication.
CHAPTER VI
Bibliography
Fallesen, y. D. (2021, April 8-14). World Bank. Retrieved from World Bank Web Site:
https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/307821629731362571/pdf/Results-from-the-
Philippines-High-Frequency-Social-Monitoring-of-COVID-19-Impacts-Round-2.pdf#page=6

Nicholas E. Ingraham, D. H. (2021, December 15). Wiley Online Library. Retrieved from Wiley Online
Library Web Site: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ctm2.685

Rachel Chang, K. V. (2021, December 22). Bloomberg. (E. O’Brien, Editor, & J. P. Jeremy Scott Diamond,
Producer) Retrieved from Bloomberg Web Site: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-
resilience-ranking/#data-reference

Rappler. (2021, November 28). Rappler. Retrieved from Rappler:

https://www.rappler.com/nation/updates-limited-face-to-face-classes-start-philippines-
november-2021/