The proposal by DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing, which was later adopted by Metro Manila mayors, for a uniform curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. is a burden to all workers in the National Capital Region.
Undersecretary Densing’s indecent proposal would negatively impact not only those workers who work on a graveyard shift but the entire working class population of Metro Manila; not only those who come off and go to work at night such as the second shift (2 p.m. to 10 p.m.) and third shift (10 p.m. to 6 p.m.) workers but also those on a morning shift (6 a.m. to 2 p.m.) since they are usually on the road by five in the morning.
By restricting public transportation on said hours, we are reminded of the medical workers and essential frontliners who had to walk before and after their grueling shifts, and of the abuses to motorcycle riders at police checkpoints during last year’s enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). We also have stark memories of the discriminatory implementation of the quarantine and health protocols along with the harassment (and killing, as in the case of Winston Ragos) of alleged violators of ECQ guidelines.
It is evident that Densing is indifferent to the plight of public mass transport commuters and the common two-wheel riders as he is too comfortable in his own private vehicle and in the transport services accorded to him as a government official.
If the intention in the proposed uniform night curfew is to restrict the movement of people to quell Covid transmission—and while government does not have the capacity to provide people with their basic needs, which forces the workers to leave their houses and risk their very lives for their livelihood—the least it could do is to ensure their safe transport.
However, we believe that the order for a uniform night curfew is not only caused by reactive panic attack with the spike in Covid-19 incidence. It is also goaded on by the erroneous, insulting, and harmful mindset that the Filipino people, especially the workers and the poor, are to blame for the apparent second wave of the pandemic in the country. This is a view that is prevalent in the security forces (especially the PNP) that regard the poor as pasaway and could only be disciplined by force and intimidation. We fear that the two-week night curfews would only lead to more grave abuses against the people. Indeed, the war on the poor rages on, and is escalating.
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino