MANILA, Philippines—It could take acrobatic skills to lie on a road gutter to get some sleep, not on your back but sideways. At a noon heat index of 42 degrees Celsius, it could be deadly. But dozens of people performing the act has become a familiar sight near the Philippine Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio […]
Stranded persons start to assemble on the roadside near Libingan ng Mga Bayani in Taguig City to wait for rides to their hometowns. TONY BERGONIA
The government had given them an official term, Locally Stranded Individuals , which has suddenly become part of the lexicon that the novel coronavirus disease has created. Their predicament had been stamped with the initials LSIs. An elderly woman flashed a yellowish picture of a hut standing in what looked like the middle of a field somewhere in Zamboanga del Sur. “We’re going home!” she yelled, waving the picture in her hand protruding from the shade of the tarpaulin tent.A Good Samaritan, who dropped off a plastic bag of burgers, yelled from his car to ask: “What was his work?”
She removed the burgers from the plastic bag to give to her grandchildren and other families sitting on the road with their belongings close by. One burger she placed on top of the piece of luggage which served as a divider between her sleeping granddaughter and the road. Across the stranded individuals’ pitstop stood a small restaurant that had been shuttered during enhanced community quarantine and was slowly reopening when the stranded persons arrived on the other side of the road.
“So the money we pooled was barely enough,” said the car wash worker, who gave his name only as Armando. His children ran out of the shadows of the tarpaulin tent holding out hands to their father who was shouting “Stay there! Stay there!” as he approached his spot on the roadside.Just as his children were starting to spoon the porridge into their mouths, the roar of an Army truck sent people out into the noon sun, running and walking briskly. It wasn’t the stranded people’s ride yet, just a pair of soldiers handing out food in disposable plasticware.
“How long still?! I’m so tired!” he yelled to his mother. “Would I know?! Only if I did!” came the loud reply. According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority , at least 7.3 million Filipino adults lost their jobs in April when Metro Manila and other parts of the country were placed on ECQ, the stringest form of community quarantine meant to keep people indoors and coronavirus from spreading.
Stranded people mistake this Army truck for their ride home. It was just delivering food. TONY BERGONIAAt another pitstop for stranded persons near the Philippine Army HQ, the rains were starting to fall as those waiting for rides in military trucks sat or lay on a portion of the road that had been marked as a bike lane.
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