Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction

As the outbreak of the corona virus pandemic in Bula, General Santos City. Many
people are affected by this situation, and many people wants to go to church every
week, but some of the other religions make ways to serve God to do a live stream on
social media so that people rather than to go to church because of the pandemic, many
people can get sick if they leave to the house but to prevent the risk, some people
bringing safety and preventive kits to lessen the chance taking the risk of coronavirus.

According to (Thomas, 2020). In many ways it is still far too early to predict how
the Coronavirus pandemic will impact the churches elsewhere. At the point of writing
these thoughts we are only just starting to emerge from the lockdown, and most
churches have not recommenced public worship, although some small attempts to
recommence face-to-face gatherings in small groups are being made as permissible
group sizes increase.

The importance of this research is to know the impact of the Sunday lockdown to
the church goers.

According to (Harris, 2020) Many Christian churches were forced to close their
doors when governments imposed restrictions in response to the spread of the corona
virus COVID-19. Many chose to develop or maintain a presence online. As a
consequence, many churches closed their doors. worship has not been possible in
many places. Thus there was a pause in face-to-face worship at most Australian
churches for over three months, including Easter and Pentecost 2020.

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Statement of the Problem

This study determine the Impact of Sunday lockdown as perceived by the

different church goers in Barangay Bula, General Santos City.

Specifically, to find answer to the following question:

1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 Age
1.2 Sex
1.3 Religion

2. What are the impacts if Sunday lockdown to the church goers in terms of:

2.1 behavior

2.2 Faith

3. Is there a significant relationship between the profile of respondents and the

impact of the Sunday lockdown as perceived to the church goers in Bula,
General Santos City.

Hypothesis

There is no significant relationship between profile of respondents and the impact

of the Sunday lockdown as perceived to the church goers in Bula, General Santos City.

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Scope and Delimitation

This study focused on the impact of Sunday lockdown as perceived by the

different church goers in barangay Bula General Santos city. The respondents of the
study are the different church goers in barangay Bula.

Significance of the Study

To the researchers – this study serve to a basis more knowledge about the
impact of Sunday lock down as perceived by the different church goers in barangay
bula, General Santos City.

To the church management - this study served to give benefits to the church
management.

To the Barangay Bula – this study serve what are the perceive of this study to
the residents of barangay bula.

To the future researchers – this study serve to a Basis to support and assist the
future researchers and to improve this study.

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Definition of Terms

Church goers – conceptually means a person who goes to church, especially

one who does so regularly.Operationally, although the word is most usually assigned to
the members of a church.

Impact – According to dictionary the action of one object coming forcibly in to

contact with another. Operationally, impact have a strong effect on someone or
something.

Perceived – According to dictionary interpret or look on someone in a particular

way regards as. Operationally, perceived become aware of come to realize or
understand.

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 Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the related literature and studies which were found to have
direct bearing to presents the study. The conceptual framework is also presented to
explain the process on the conduct of the study.

Related Literature

In spite of the fact that our faithful cannot be physically present in the Eucharistic
celebration, the crisis gives us the opportunity to unite ourselves with one another in the
bond of spiritual communion through the digital technology. In the absence of digital
technology, we remind our faithful that a mere desire to be part of the Eucharistic
celebration, with the given circumstances, already unites us spiritually to the Body of
Christ (Peter-Gutierrez 2020).

However,a highlight in the above statement of the CBCP is the value of spiritual
communion which the Philippine Church shares as a practice with the rest of the
Catholic world during the pandemic. A prayer would be recited expressing desire to
receive the Eucharist in lieu of the actual reception of the consecrated bread. Father
Tenefrancia and Father Can tiller said that even in their locality people were taught the
importance of receiving Christ through an expression of spiritual desire. In fact, both of
them agreed that the crisis was a moment to highlight this aspect of the faith, which had
been unknown to many Filipino Catholics (Emmanuel, 2020).

However, the greater desire for the Eucharist and the much deeper expression of
communion lies not just in the recitation of the prayer. It is in the various expressions
and alternative celebrations that allow the faithful and their leaders to be connected to
one another that the sacramental life can become enriched as a sign of God's presence
in the community. The Body of Christ is not just the physical bread nor its metaphysical
substance(Christian- Manuel, 2020).

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 The altar of the Church therefore is sacred not just because it is where
transubstantiation happens, but because – and more significantly in existential terms – it
is where grace abounds (e.a, 2019)

Today we experience the most tragic experience in our town not only in our
locality but also worldwide. But, in general view, the coronavirus has a positive
implication in our humanity and that is, it awakens our consciousness of what are the
significant things in our lives that should be given focus for us to live longer (Froilan,
2019).

Although COVID-19 is a historical thing because it affects not only in one place
but also worldwide. People came to realized that having the right discipline and attitude
towards living could save lives and makes humanity live longer. It also healed our
mother earth as a certain great part of our ozone layer has been healed. Giving and
sharing is everywhere as some do not have anything to put on their tables (w.u, 2019).

This is the time wherein the society’s status does not matter anymore, no rich
can buy anything they wanted since stores were all lockdown, no poor is ever poorer
because whatever goods they were given were just the same as that of the middle class
(Garcia, 2020).

Since Independence, successive governments have kept the vast majority of the
church goer’s force, both urban and rural, as informal workers, deprived of the church
rights originally enjoyed by the small number of formal workers, although today under
attack by the BJP. Informal church goers is found not just in the informal sector – that is,
workplaces which are exempted from legislation covering the registration of church
goers (education, 2019).

conditions of work, health and safety, and protection from victimization and
arbitrary dismissal – but also in the formal sector, where temporary, casual and so-
called “contract workers”, who are really no-contract workers hired via a contractor, are
a large and expanding part of the workforce. These workers are in theory entitled to
minimum wages and union rights, but in practice the fact that they have no proof of

6
employment means that they can be dismissed at any time without legal redress (Anna
lita, 2018).

It is therefore no surprise that most informal workers suffer from very low wages,
often not paid on time or sometimes not paid at all, and appalling living conditions in
slums where each water tap and toilet is shared by hundreds of residents. For migrant
workers, estimated as being 120 million in 2014 and now several millions more,
conditions are even worse (education, 2019).

The inability to find long-term employment keeps them on the move, travelling to
wherever they have a chance of finding temporary or seasonal work, leaving their
families behind in their home villages, often sleeping in their workplaces or sharing
rented rooms with other migrants. Unlike more settled informal workers, they lack even
the right to subsidized rations through the Public Distribution System (Mark, 2018).

At first it appeared as though the massive reverse migration triggered by the

lockdown was a result of the Modi government’s incompetence and ignorance. But soon
evidence emerged that the policy of keeping migrant workers where they were was
dictated by the interests of church goers, who wanted these workers to be available
immediately when the lockdown was lifted, even as they refused to pay anything
towards the costs of food and accommodation for them (Kenneth, 2020).

However, church goers persisted in their attempts to exercise their freedom, and
the public outcry over the way they were being treated grew so loud that by the
beginning of May the government was forced to state that it was allowing buses and
trains to carry church goers, home. But the conditions were punishing, even when these
trips actually materialized, which did not always happen. Sometimes church goers were
required to pay for medical certificates confirming they were COVID-free: almost
impossible, given the virtual collapse of the healthcare system by this time (Kenneth,
2020).

In addition to the already-existing Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, Modi set
up a PM CARES fund into which nearly a billion dollars flowed within a week. There was
also a huge excess stock of food grains in the country at the time. It would have been

7
possible to provide free food to informal workers wishing to stay in the cities, free
transport to those trying to return to their villages, and emergency funding to enable
their home states to quarantine them and expand the food and employment available
under the Food Security Act and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)
initiated by the previous Congress government. But none of this happened. Much-
publicized relief measures turned out to be a drop in the ocean of what was required
(Emmanuel tan, 2020).

If millions of church goers persisted in their efforts to travel to their home villages
despite the sadistic treatment they received from the state that in itself was a
declaration of their humanity, dignity and agency. But fighting for the church goers rights
of informal workers requires a more organized trade union struggle, while a campaign
for the voting rights of migrant workers, at a time when all democratic rights are under
attack, entails the involvement of an even wider constituency. Whether these will
materialize remains to be seen (Education, 2019).

Review of Related Study

The declaration came close to Holy Week, an important celebration of the entire
Catholic world and more specifically for Filipinos. Despite advances in the secular
character of the Philippine State, religion, faith and spirituality continue to play an
important role in the lives of Filipinos. 

It would take a combined understanding of the poverty and vulnerability of many

Filipinos, the effects of disasters, and the way they live their Catholic faith to understand
why the suspension of the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Mass, would
make so much of a difference. Understood within the context of Filipino culture, God is
most felt in the concrete faces of suffering. 

The function of synthesizing a people's self-identity and their relationship with the
cosmos that covers layers of meaning. In the context of Philippine colonial history,
religious life in general and prayer life or ritual in particular is enriched by the
intercultural mixture of pre-Hispanic, Hispanic and post-Hispanic belief systems.

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 We can understand why, despite pervasive secularism enhanced by the power of
technology on a global scale, Filipinos still naturally seek for guidance in a power or
principle perceived to be greater than human institutions. In the words of the Catechism
for Filipino Catholics (henceforth cited as CFC), faith or religious life among Filipinos
has a cultural basis, specifically, its openness to the transcendent dimension of life.
Filipinos understand and feel what it is to be a believer in general and a Catholic in
particular more from what they do and how they pray than from what they read and
study.

The impact of Sunday lock down as perceived the church goers matter and form,
substance and accidents, act and potency. The sacraments are celebrations of life and
meaning, not a subject of hairsplitting debates on validity and conformity. This was
highlighted when safety, security and health became the national priority of the entire
Philippine archipelago and thus pushed to the backseat the celebration of the
sacraments and the other treasured rituals of Catholics.

An online survey examined the experiences of clergy and lay people in the
Church of England during the lockdown caused by Covid-19 from May to July 2020.
Comparison of 1001 people who received ministry in rural areas with 1823 who
received ministry elsewhere suggested fairly similar experiences in terms of accessing
online worship and support from their churches. Rural worshippers were slightly less
likely to access worship from their own churches. Comparison of 274 rural stipendiary
parochial clergy with 507 counterparts ministering elsewhere suggested their churches
were equally busy in offering online worship. 

This article documents a systematic analysis of the online materials produced by

UK churches for children’s faith nurture in response to the closure of physical ‘Sunday
Schools’ during the Covid-19 pandemic. A theoretical underpinning guided the
development of a framework to examine the discipleship tools and to uncover examples
of good practice which could inform children’s online discipleship globally.

Faith nurture in the home has been raised in recent years (Mark, 2016), church
attendance remained as key to supporting a child’s faith journey (Turner, 2014).
Therefore, the impact of social distancing and consequent church closures in spring

9
2020 was expected to have a significant impact on children’s faith nurture globally.
Many churches produced online outputs as part of an emergency response to meet this
need (Evangelical Alliance, 2020). This article examines the online content that was
targeted towards children in order to understand the potential impact of this content on
children’s faith.

It must be highlighted that the online responses of churches were emergency

solutions to an unplanned scenario, so this analysis does not seek to undermine or
criticize their attempts within this incredibly difficult situation. In fact, those producing
this content must be applauded for their efforts. Specific expertise is required to produce
such content and there are substantial barriers such as training, resources and time.
Furthermore, it is acknowledged that the majority of those producing this online content
may have been unaware of many of the theories and ideas utilized for analysis within
this research project, so this article in no way seeks to judge or criticize. 

The research comprised primarily a systematic and comprehensive review of PH

church web content aimed at school-aged children (aged 5–11 years). This review
occurred 8 weeks after churches physically closed, allowing churches time for settling
into this new regime. The theoretical underpinning of the framework used for analysis of
the web content is detailed below. The web review was supported by background
information from a four-question survey completed by church representatives, enabling
the context to be clear and ensuring that viewing of the online resources was complete
and accurate. 

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 Conceptual Framework

Independent variable Dependent variable

SUNDAY The Impact of the Sunday

lockdown to the church goers

LOCKDOWN Behavior

Faith

Demographic Profile:

Age

Sex

Religion

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 Inverting Variable

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

Cooperation and serving are the independent variable that can show the impact
of Sunday lockdown. The intervening variable which were the age and sex in the
service of the respondents of the study. Cooperation and serving at Bula Non-Catholic
Church can possibly affected by the dependent variable.

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 Chapter III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

In this study, the researchers used a quantitative research design, descriptive

and correlative research studies. Were used in identifying the impact of Sunday
lockdown as perceived on church goers in barangay bula General Santos City
Furthermore, the researchers used descriptive study in order to identify the profiles of
the respondents and correlation study to relate the demographic profile of the
respondents and the impact of Sunday lockdown.

Sampling Method

The researchers used purposive sampling to determine their respondents and by

according to the objectives of this study. Furthermore, as they gather the number
respondents, the researchers used another sampling which is convenience sampling in
order to identify their specific needed respondents.

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Research Locale

The study will be conducted at Bula, General Sanatos City. South Cotabato,
Region XII, Mindanao.

Research Instruments

Survey used in establishing the demographic profile of the respondents and

generating information about The Impact of the Sunday lockdown as perceived by the
different church goers in barangay bula General Santos City. In this study the
researchers will use questionnaire in conducting the survey. It serves as a tool for
gathering data that needs for the study.

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Data Gathering procedure

Before conducting this quantitative research, the researchers ask permission to

their adviser to conduct a study in selected church goers in barangay bula. After asking
permission, the researchers made a letter to conduct a survey to be signed by the
principal. After it was approved, the researchers then determine the population of their
respondents. Then, they formulated survey questionnaire that will answer their queries.
They then officially conducted the study and gathered their needed data. After the
researchers gathered the data from their target respondents, they analyzed and
interpreted. Lastly, after tabulating all the results, the researchers come up with a
particular conclusion.

Statistical Treatment

Mean scores will interpreted as follows using:

NUMERICAL RATING MEAN INTERPRETATION

5 4.50-5.00 Always

4 3.50-4.49 Often

3 2.50-3.49 Sometimes

2 1.50-2.49 Seldom

1 Below 1.49 Never

Table1. Mean scores and its interpretation

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