Around 4.1 million Filipinos were stranded following the imposition of the lockdown or the enhanced community quarantine by the government to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease-2019, a Social Weather Stations survey has found out.
In the survey conducted from May 4 to 10 with 4,010 respondents, 5.4 percent of working-age Filipinos or those 15-years-old and above were not staying at their permanent residence during the lockdown period.
They were asked the question: “Gusto po sana naming malaman ang lugar kung saan kayo kasalukuyang tumutuloy. Kayo po ba sa kasalukuyan ay…namamalagi sa lugar ng permanenteng tirahan, o namamalagi sa ibang lugar dahil doon na inabutan ng ECQ?”
According to SWS, Balance Luzon (whole Luzon except Metro Manila) recorded the highest number of stranded Filipinos, at about 1.8 million. It was followed by Mindanao, at 1.1 million, Visayas, at 710,000, and Metro Manila, at 490,000.
The survey also found out that two million were stranded in areas under ECQ, comprising five percent of the population, while 2.1 million were stranded in areas under general community quarantine, comprising the 5.9 percent of the population.
The ECQ and GCQ area classification is based on Executive Order 112, which had the following areas under ECQ up to May 15: Metro Manila, Region 3 (except Aurora), Region 4-A, Benguet, Pangasinan, Iloilo, Cebu, Bacolod City, and Davao City. All other areas were classified under GCQ, SWS said.
SWS added that the number of those stranded by the quarantine were 980,000 (11.5 percent) among the 18- to 24-year-olds, 1.2 million (6.9 percent) among the 25- to 34-year-olds, 800,000 (4.2 percent) among the 35- to 44-year-olds, 570,000 (4.1 percent) among the 45- to 54-year-olds, 520,000 (3.2 percent) among those 55-years-old and above, and 20,000 (2.7 percent) among the 15- to 17-year-olds. (Joseph Pedrajas)
