JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

This is a journalist. I’d almost forgotten what they sound like.

My Olympic-level ability to fall asleep was tested last night by reports of how lockdown has affected urban poor communities in Metro Manila. The image of people who live by rooting through garbage, and now having no garbage to root through because everything is closed, is worse than zombie movies. It’s not as if I didn’t know that there exist millions of Filipinos living in abject poverty. I make virtuous noises, give when I can, and join in the collective outrage against corruption (which is really murdering the poor). But in order to live with myself, I file away the knowledge and regard poverty as an abstract evil that all countries face. Otherwise I would be incapacitated by guilt, unable to do anything, and be even more useless than I am now. Quarantine has brought reality into sharp focus. They are not concepts, they are people, and they need help now.

We have had to hit pause on the economy to slow down the spread of coronavirus. When economies slow down, governments usually try to give them a kick by getting the citizens to spend, spend, spend. Obviously we can’t do that under quarantine, and anyway we would prefer to save our money to prepare for bad times ahead. But if the government gives money to poor families so they can buy food and necessities to keep themselves alive, there’s your spend, spend, spend. Millions of people who cannot usually buy food, groceries, medicine in large volumes will get the economy going. The poor can eat, the economy stays afloat. Yes, my grasp of economics is weak, but in any case, the poor get to eat.

So. Government. We have not gotten along at all, but we’re all in the same leaking boat and you hold the purse strings. In the name of everything you hold dear, release the social amelioration funds now. Give the poor money so they can buy food. We’ve been giving what we can, but it’s not enough and you have to do it.

This doesn’t have to be a choice between death by Covid-19 or death by starvation. Feed the poor now so we all live.

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A little insomnia won’t kill us. Back to regular programming tomorrow.

Here’s an excellent initiative tracking the distribution of funds for social amelioration, created by a group of volunteers led by Ken Abante.

COVID-19 PH Citizens’ Budget tracker

Call for volunteers to find and encode data.

Data analytics is badass.