Sign of Things to Come

The images were all taken in the morning of March 16, the first working day after the community quarantine was announced. Lots of people were shocked at the sudden scarcity of public vehicles, since they had to comply with physical distancing rules. This caused people to find various ways to get to their places of employment or for some (like me), just went back home. I waited three hours for a bus to take me from Coastal Mall to Philcoa in QC, but can't find any. I was supposed to go to my place of work at UP Diliman to fetch as much documents as I can before I start working from home. Tried waiting for a bus at PITX but seeing the long queues outside, I decided to tell my supervisor that I can't make it because of the public transport situation, then flagged down a minibus back to my home in Cavite. Then the conductor told me that I have to wear a mask, else I would have to get off. Luckily I had one. Later when I arrived home (note: I did not pass through the supposed-to-be checkpoints to and from Cavite), I saw at the news that the government was surprised that this would happen, as if they never expected that reduced passenger capacity due to physical distancing measures would cause longer waiting times for commuters. Similar chaos for commuters later that day (now returning to their homes from work) would happen since they had to get home before the start of the stricter ECQ at midnight of March 17. This lack of foresight and preparation in implementing rules and mitigation measures, as well as the difficulties of the people would be seen a lot later during the ECQ up to this day.

March 16, 2020

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English Transportation

English Cities & Suburbs

English Government Local

English Social Distance

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Philippines

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07/01/2020

11/17/2020