“Luzon Enhanced Community Quarantine” Our Lockdown Diaries
What happened during your quarantine?
Lockdown Diaries during CoViD-19 Pandemic (Created via mobile blogging)
Manila, March 2020 - Home quarantine took us by surprise, we never imagined it'd happen too soon. This Covid-19 crisis brought the economy down, people dying, unemployment rises, high demands for toilet papers from elite families while the poor’s main concern is how to feed their families on a daily basis. We are bracing ourselves from the impact and still fighting the war against it.
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| Lockdown Diaries during CoViD-19 Pandemic |
The national government pronounced the Metro Manila “Community Quarantine” starting March 10-13, 2020 stating the cancellation of classes in all levels both public and public schools and the suspension of work in government offices.
By the second week of March, the outbreak rose significantly as day passed by. President Rodrigo Duterte took further steps to decide a lockdown for the entire Luzon as Enhanced Community Quarantine effective March 17 to April 12, 2020.
March 7, 2020: Given that there are cases of positive Covid-19 patients already. We headed to the author’s former university to pick up an important document. As a precautionary measure, we were wearing face masks and always had pocket alcohol available and immediately washed our hands once we arrived at our destination. We avoided crowded places like the malls, we didn’t even eat out and decided to go straight back home.
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| Lockdown OOTD. March 7, 2020 |
March 9, 2020: Went to work with two pieces of face masks, one for commuting outside and one for use inside the office premises. Upon arrival at the office, I put my stuff in and immediately headed to the wash area to wash/disinfect the mask I used that morning. The following day, suspension of classes was announced, as well as work (in my case, the office was also suspended.)
March 11, 2020: With the Manila community quarantine in effect and work was suspended, we were able to attend a meeting with a client somewhere in Cubao. Same thing, we didn’t roam around the nearest mall, had a quick snack and bought some take out meals.
March 12, 2020: At this point, the learners will resume class on March 16. They were supposed to take their fourth quarter examination. We had to pick up the books, notes, folios from the school locker. That time the school had just finished disinfecting the entire vicinity. Same thing, wear protective gear and avoid crowds. It is quite alarming when you bring your kids with you outside.
March 14, 2020: Market day, we wore our outside shoes and minimized bringing unnecesary items. All we have are the list of things to buy for the week: stocks, eco bags and purses. As previously, we shared a blog about “Essential Things to do during Covid-19 Enhanced Community Quarantine” as somewhat prelude to things to remember when you’re out for errands. It’s quite helpful being able to know the step by step procedure of sanitizing yourself the minute you return home.
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| Essential Things to do During COVID-19 Enhanced Community Quarantine |
March 16, 2020: After the 4-days suspension, we resume office while the management carry out a plan who’s to include in our organization’s skeletal workforce, those that are to work from home (WFH), the employees who agreed to have compressed work. That day, I already started my compressed work week until the news came in at 4:00 PM, it was the enhanced community quarantine. Declaring suspension of work and public mass transportation, controlled food distribution, checkpoints along the metro, etc.
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| March 16, 2020 |
As soon as we read the afternoon news updates, we collected some of our personal belongings such as my notes, daily journals, USB, etc. Cleared our working desk, kept all junks inside the drawers, cleaned my tumblers, removed my cubicle’s electric cable and kept things organized as much as I could. I knew right then, we will isolate the place for a month. Though all of the important, pending, and heavy files are stored in the PC. Some are shared on cloud storage and online drives. We were all bound to work from home.
March 17, 2020: Day 1 - Luzon Enhanced Community Quarantine is in full effect.
March 18, 2020: It’s a good thing that the grocery/mall was located near the village. We managed to have our grocery with full gear: eye glass/protective goggles, disposable food gloves, masks. After lunch, the social distancing measures were being implemented. By the time we’re finished, the ques were filled with shoppers.
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| Take care of your immune system |
March 19, 2020: We’ve managed to buy pet food for our aviary and dogs.
March 20, 2020: Wet market day, we decided to have one member of the family to do the shopping. We prefer to buy fresh meat/poultry, fresh vegetables and fruits from the wet market. The choices are abundant unlike in groceries, meats are frozen and almost grayish in color, chickens are frozen with too much water absorption. In other words these are rotten already. Please practice how to detect, scrutinize fresh from “bilasa.” After your market, sanitize your hands, arms, legs, shoes with soap and running water. Next is to sanitize the remaining money you have. Wash the coins and wipe your paper money with wet wipes/rags/towel with either bleach/disinfectant solution or alcohol. Then sanitize the surface of your palengke load. Lastly, sanitizing your gate by spraying it with bleach or disinfectant solution is better. Spray your flooring with the same solution from where you came in - from your house gate to your main door. Also, sanitize your door knobs, hand rails and mobile phones every now and then.
Take a bath and soak your clothes in a basin or just put them in a separate laundry basket where you can wash them after your food preparation.
Put your shopped goodies straight to your dirty kitchen so you can wash the food you bought with running water. Before Covid-19 pandemic, it’s been a practice in our home to wash the fruits with running water, some we scrub with rock salt, wash and dry them after. Practice washing thoroughly your eco bags, hang them to dry for re-use on your next palengke day.
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| Read books, watch your fave movies/series, and cook healthy and “pangmatagalan” meals |
March 22, 2020: Home Quarantine Pass from our barangay was distributed.
March 25, 2020: Load up on fruits, too bad the vendors of “saging” (bananas) have gone goin’ bananas. Too much fake news thrives on misleading opportunities. Buy seasonal fruits instead.
March 30, 2020: It’s time to replenish the stocks, both from the grocery and wet market. Going outside seems getting scarier as the figures of positive cases increase. While the sari-sari stores were in town, some of these merchandise were a bit higher than most convenient stores. Given that the people have no choice, they tend to patronize canned goods over healthy meals. The psyche of seeing, having instant food can overcome a day’s survival. But when you think about it, you shell out almost the same amount as cooking food versus canned goods/instant noodles.
As for the work from home status, the area has been experiencing poor internet connection.
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| Quarantined. March 30, 2020 |
April 1, 2020: Managed to do groceries by lunch time to avoid crowds. Some food stores like Jollibee and Rice in a Box were operational but for take-outs only. Some merch that I was supposed to buy was out of stock like yakult, graham biscuits, tomato paste, fresh milk, and some chocolate brands. The rest like toilet paper, sardines, gardenia bread, and instant noodles are very much abundant. Alcohols are strictly 2 bottles per shopper.
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| Day 16 of quarantine: A little bit of sunshine. April 1, 2020 |
April 2, 2020: Our village scheduled misting/disinfecting the roads and alleys. As reported by our Intel (gossiper) :) The main road (5J.P. Rizal St.) has one (1) reported Covid-19 positive and its family are under PUI (Person Under Investigation) and are now heavily guarded by Barangay and DOH staff.
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| Misting/disinfecting the village. April 2, 2020 |
April 4, 2020: For our list of #LockdownDiaries home-cooked meals. I’ve posted it on @foodamnphilippines Instagram. Still planning to create a blog post about it soon! And we think it’s high time to organize our stamps and old coins collection. I actually have the blog draft about the Philately event we attended last February 15 at Manila Post Office. Being in quarantine, there’s a lot that runs around your mind. Play with your pets, do the kitchen, do general cleaning, read books or watch the movie version of it! Of course the laundry and the cluttered bedroom in distress, and the office work need to be accomplished in compliance with work from home.
April 5, 2020: Planning what to eat next! Also, able to finish an article in compliance with work from home. The narrative is composed of the latest data of reference summation about "The Plight of Business Owners: What kind of help MSMEs need in the time of Covid-19 outbreak?"
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| What kind of help MSMEs need in the time of Covid-19 outbreak? can be access via www.issi.upd.edu.ph |
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| What to eat during COVID-19 quarantine can be access via www.foodamn.com |
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| hoto along Commonwealth Avenue/UP Diliman area. Taken April 7, 2020. |
April 8 and 9, 2020: Given our EchoManila client's site a bit of a revamp, quite happy with the result. The usual WFH is partly done. Finally done with narratives about Postal Heritage Talks and Tour by the Royal Postal Heritage Guided Tour. Come by and check it. Focus, focus, there's still a lot of things to do. Quarantine seems not enough, with a longer period of time to spend at home, time seems to fly fast. We got this checklist on our minds and once stuck with one chore, the day ends at it. Freelancer life is not easy, plus the pending regular office work. And then here comes the kitchen war, what to cook the following day. Not that we are complaining, in fact, grateful that we have the resources to survive the Covid-19 pandemic. Our general cleaning schedule has been accomplished at 25%. It means "chill ka lang" . There's three more weeks left to get things done.
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| Postal Heritage Talks and Tour by the Royal Postal Heritage Guided Tour. February 15, 2020 |
April 10, 2020: We've gathered some impressive photos of Covid-19 or Quarantine global get-up/OOTD. Mostly from foreigners who posted them on social media from March to April 2020. View them at: STYLED: Quarantine OOTD / COVID-19 Getup [https://bit.ly/2XlD1ov].
April 12, 2020: After twelve (12) days, it's been decided that one of us should do the grocery. Got up early to reach the grocery by 7:30AM. Some stocks are replenished, those that were out of stock the last time I went were fully stacked. This time, there were a few juice packs left. Alcohol, canned sardines, and lysols are all gone and liquor ban in Quezon City is still being implemented. The outpour of the shoppers started by 9AM, by this time I'm done with my list. The cashier counters were enclosed with transparent plastic. There weren't many counters open, the reason why the shopping carts lined up while practicing social distancing.
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| Day 27 of quarantine: Easter Sunday. April 12, 2020. |
April 13, 2020: Work from home - drafted and submitted 5-page Work Outputs from 16 March to 10 April 2020. And at the same time continuing the policy draft: The State for Filipino Online Freelancers.
April 14, 2020: The quarantine journey is still a long way to go, our community created a group to disseminate information within our Zone (village). Apparently, the zone has one (1) case of family with PUM (which was initially the death of a 91 year old female last Saturday, 11 April) due to heart attack, but since the person died from home. No one can identify yet if she died with Covid-19 symptoms.) The very reason why the residence is now being guarded by a staff from the barangay (LGU). Also, we were told that the zone was to be given an allocation of 100 packs of relief goods. Since the households of this zone have 140 as reported. Some homeowners waived their share. The priority right now is to give to those who are in dire need due to lockdown and the frontliners of the village such as the security guards, street sweepers, and the garbage collectors.
April 15, 2020: The community is currently collecting data of the qualifiers for SAP to be submitted to DSWD.
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| Social Amelioration Program - form issuance monitoring |
April 18, 2020: Day 33 of quarantine, first time to receive relief goods from Quezon City Local Government Unit (QC LGU). Thanks to us, taxpayers.
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| Relief goods - 7 kilo NFA rice and 14 pieces canned goods |
April 22, 2020: Day 38 - The last time we went to the flea market was last April 6, exactly two weeks ago. The trick is (as repeatedly recommended) to buy in bulk to avoid public exposure. List down your food items for two weeks. These days, food leftovers are a must, try to cook a serving size that will last for 2 to 3 days which you can store in the fridge (freezer particularly to avoid contamination) to reheat later. "mayaman ka man o may kaya o mahirap,lahat ng pamilya sa ngayon -- ginagawa yan. Walang dapat ikahiya." As always, wash everything from your head to toe, every single thing you brought from home. From palengke goods, "sukli," eco bags, purses, masks, hand gloves, face shield, cap or umbrella, and dirty shoes. EVERYTHING!
So, what's in the menu line up? :) "Abangan": Salmon singing, tahong simmered with sili leaves, beef kara-hare, banana con yelo, chicken balls and squid balls overload, sisig (pork maskara) and etc!
April 23, 2020: Day 39 - National government announced the extension of enhanced community quarantine in NCR and selected regions nationwide until 15 May 2020. Going to the grocery for the third time, people will cram in again at the grocery after this announcement. The last grocery we had was last Easter Sunday (12 April) to replenish the consumed items. This time, there were empty shelves of instant noodles , powdered juices, pineapple juice, and pancake mixes. I managed to get yakult lite just in time.
Also, surprisingly we received the offshore door-to-door cargo right on time. We were expecting a long delay of delivery. Manila port is doing their job efficiently despite the lockdown. Thank you frontliners!
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| Commonwealth Avenue + MRT construction |
April 25, 2020: Day 40 - You heard the line "be productive" even when you are in quarantine. Today is the weekend, the 40th day of ECQ. So what are your plans? "Sa sobrang productivity on mind, 'di mo na alam kung and uunahin." My sample to do list for today, take note for TODAY! :)
"Work from home or paid article writing or or online courses or binge watching CLOY or finished our jigsaw puzzles (there are three boxes of 1000 pieces jigsaw to assemble), or continue with spring cleaning (not to mention the laundry?), what to cook/clean the area, or bathe the pets, or organise the collection of stamps/old coins, or organise file. (sigh) Quarantine was never easy, indeed.?"
April 28, 2020. Day 43 - Quarantine reveals human needs: drugstore, grocery, and flea market. Set aside leisure and shopping activities. We BUY only what’s essential.
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| Ever Gotesco Mall in Commonwealth Avenue |
April 29, 2020. Day 44 - Flexing our DIY trolley using an old bike's balance wheel and hand-painted old sack bag. "Grabbing Food" is what everybody does now, from groceries to flea markets, this guy is your best bud.
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| DIY Grabbing Food |
May 01, 2020. Day 46 - Today, business as usual for some restaurants in Calle Bistro. "Open na uli Starbucks and Tim Horton... na-excite ako para sa kanila... as if pwede... ang bilin sakin “do the grocery dude, the essentials” 
Yet today is surprisingly not normal. Sobrang haba ng pila sa entrance going inside the mall... pila na sya sa grocery. Dahil ALAY ako.... taga-grocery.... no choice.... (and I need to settle my hosting bills and other errands to do) dati excited ako mag grocery kahit quarantine. But today is exceptionally not the case. Ang init, ang boring, tapos titingin ka inside tim horton and starbucks. Fudge! LOL. Today is Mayo Uno. Labor Day talaga! Parang skilled work ang pag grocery.... the battle is not yet over.... Next week uli! Ciao!"
At 11 AM, I went back to the main gate of the village, went under a thermal scanner - the security guard read "40°C, came from a brisk walk in extremely humid weather. Then he reads again, the same result. I got off shrugging, "na brief na naming sila about tanghali tapat effect." If not, they'll be super worried, imagine the security guards so concerned they'll report you to your barangay captain and the rest of the QC Response Team!" Dapat laging handa, mag-explain. :)
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| Calle Bistro |
May 02, 2020. Day 47 - #QuarantineFatigue: The toll of being quarantined is sinking in. New quarantine month, we're supposed to have another batch of new goals 
(Nakaka stress na lumabas to do errands, kase pagbalik ng bahay sandamakmak ang disinfect/hugasan/lalabhan/paliliguan 
)
Seems like there's a stereotype when doing "productivity," since we're all working from home, we get to accomplish what's required to do according to our own phasing. Heck, beyond that the smart ones brag about certification and the likes. C'mon, not everyone lives in comfortable zones. Even when you have the freedom to do so, you cannot DO THEM ALL! First there's the unreliable internet or worst limited internet. What do I have in my to-do-list? There's a bugging list of webinars, as much as you wanted to get in. TIME is a matter of doing house efficiency versus personal productivity. Yeah, the pending online course from Virtual School Webinar Series, SPARTA, design online course, Japanese language course, digital courses, loads of eBooks , etc. You get to think of so many article topics to write and mapped with your team how to strategize and come up with an idea for post Covid-19 engaging with the "new normal." So tell me, how do you do it YOUR Where are you?
Note: ECQ was extended until May 15, 2020.
May 03, 2020. Day 48 - Came up with the Post-ECQ "Things to do with the new normal"
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| Guide to new normal |
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| The OOTD during grocery |
Good job to our homeowners association for installing a PNB mobile ATM. This 1-day access booth is situated at the main gate of the village.
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| PNB mobile ATM |
May 05, 2020. Day 50 - A rundown of street photography along Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City and its establishments.
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| Commonwealth Avenue corner Don Antonio Avenue |
As much as possible, we try to buy goods we need personally, since it's a walking distance from our village. In a way the money saved from the logistics (food delivery) can be bought with extra food. Food deliveries are convenient, but we doubt the food sanitation and safety of food handling. There was news coming out when delivery crews tend to disregard the surface where they held the goods. Then here comes the delivery, you receive the items and fail to sanitise the packaging and place them at the top of your riding table. "Minsan, kung kayo mo naman, gawin mo na ng personal."
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| McDonald's in Commonwealth Avenue |
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| Red Ribbon shop in Commonwealth Avenue |
May 7, 2020. Day 52 - Have you received your Social Amelioration Program (SAP) payout? The Barangay Batasan Hills payout did test the patience of the constituents. Here in our community, the people on the scheduled list had to endure the 3PM heat index 49 degree Celsius. Imagine them lining up from 10AM and receiving the SAP at around 11PM. Some who are scheduled at 12noon were able to finish the lapse at 6PM.
May 11, 2020. Day 56 - My co-team and I were able to finish articles for the EchoManila sites covering the digitalization and social media marketing of MSMEs, in time for post ECQ and the new normal business concepts and strategy of small businesses.
How Social Media Marketing help your business?
How can social media help you achieve your business goals?
Why small businesses are choosing EchoManila as their next e-Commerce solution?
Echomanila is a full-service e-commerce incubator which aims to help small businesses increase revenue with strong online presence and digital marketing.
Note: Metro Manila is now under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), season 4.
Merely waiting for the announcement of General Community Quarantine (GCQ) soon. How daily activities will juggle with the new normal.
May 16, 2020. Day 61. With limited land space, Our lime tree (mini) & green tea are growing fast. We've harvested a couple of lime fruits that we make into lime water.
May 20, 2020. Day 65. MECQ “new normal” for mall-goers. In 65 days of being in quarantine. THIS was the only (nearest) mall I’m allowed to visit. “BFF na kami!” #TeamKapitbahay 🤓
May 22, 2020. Day 67. For clean freaks! Para sa OC-ness natin! 🤓’coz everyone is disinfecting like crazy, getting paranoid with the COVID-19 shenanigans. Found an alternative to Virkon-S (still out of stock), 1-gallon Virabac concentrate - neutral disinfectant cleaner from our community sellers. PHP550 for a gallon.
May 28, 2020. Day 75. With different mask parading online, We had the worst and inhumane merch bought this quarantine! 🤣 Victimized by Lazada seller (from China) . Deceived by misleading aesthetics. Today, we got these pathetic son-of-a-gun (tho we knew something is off, seller’s product cancellation was disable) 😁
It says. 6-layered-composition, waterproof, dust-proof, anti-haze. And Truster Seller kuno pa sila. It nullifies the purpose of using THE MASK as a shield and protective measure (‘coz it’s made of foam), likewise dapat ‘magbasa’ 🤓 nasaan ang hustisya? LOL
May 27, 2020. Day 74. This is what the new normal looks like for those who are Work From Home (WFH). Zoomies for today! First zoom meeting this month.
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| Thanks JPRX for my new hair (trim and color yan)! aka Bowies Salon 💈 |
June 2, 2020. Day 79. We're back to work on a skeletal force on alternate schedules, now that the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) is up from June 1 to 15, 2020. Workers without vehicles are having a hard time getting a ride going to their respective workplace. Bikers in the main thoroughfares have seen a major increase, women in particular are also seen riding the bike with their working bags on. The only hindrance with biking per se in Manila is that there are no safe bike lanes for everyone. The humidity brought by the weather adds a toll to every rider. Your look and scent from excessive sweating and road pollution upon entering the workplace will bring further inconvenience, not to mention your dehydration. Good luck to our laborers and commuters.
June 06, 2020. Day 83. Businesses under GCQ.
June 24, 2020. Day 100. Manila's pathetic bike lane during rush hour (7:00 AM) along Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. 
July 18, 2020. Day 124. Going to work two days a week, this is how Tuesday and Wednesday rituals on Covid-19 days looks like.
July 20, 2020. Day 126. Instagram has this "wearyourgoddamnmask campaign by an American photographer.
(July 8) Adults waiting for the school bus (the office shuttle service). Our new normal.
July 30, 2020. Some of the digital works and webinars attended for the last week of July.
(Centre image) Creative Entrepreneur (mindset) was discussed at the recent “Costing for the Animation Sector” facilitated by DTI last July 24, 2020. The webinar was under the deck of Ms. Marie Grace Dimaranan, school director and CEO of Top Peg Institute of Animation & Design.
August 1, 2020. Day 138. We are under GCQ, Work in progress: brackets and angle bars for our kid who will return to school under blended distance learning. Preparing the room as a study nook, to make it somehow a conducive place for learners who are bound to do remote learning Mon-Fri for almost 7AM-3PM. There will be a bookcase, a spacious table for laptop and study materials with proper ventilation and lighting . These are all do-it-yourself (DIY), we bought materials for the woodwork, repainted the walls and organized the furniture. Due date: before August 24 (wink!)
August 4, 2020. Day 141. NCR, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal areas are reverted to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) until August 18, 2020. Work arrangements at home are back in full blast, cancellation of public transportation, use of quarantine passes in these areas are being implemented.
After a year... Delta variant emerges
August 6, 2021. NCR is under ECQ again for two weeks from August 6-20, 2021. Workers are back to square one. We're into work-from-home (WFH) setting again. A new version of Home Quarantine Pass was issued per barangays.
Btw, I was able to avail the vaccine provided by my employer. First dose was given June 19. Completely vaccinated by July 15, 2021 with Sputnik V (Gamaleya).
August 21, 2021. With new cases 17,800 + , the IATF announced MECQ. An ECQ without the "ayuda"
Stay safe. Stay home.
Lockdown Diaries during CoViD-19 Pandemic is a collection of photos, life events and observations happened in Metro Manila.
UPDATE as of August 21, 2021
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