2020 Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines 9 growth rate drop by a staggering – 16.5% in the 2nd quarter of the year, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority in August 2020.18 Based on the report of the same agency in July 2020, the pandemic has also made a huge dent on the unemployment rate, making it to skyrocket to 10% from 5.4% last year.19 This makes poor people even more vulnerable and marginalized as experienced by various basic sectors, especially the urban poor.20 21 8 The Philippine government issued the following proclamations and statutes to mitigate the virulence and negative effects of the pandemic: a Proclamation No. 922, placing the country under a State of Public Health Emergency, which facilitated the implementation of RA No. 11332 – the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events Public Health Concern Act on 08 March 2020;22 b Presidential Proclamation No. 929 Declaring a State of Calamity throughout the Philippines Due to Coronavirus Disease 2019; c Memorandum from the Executive Secretary on Community Quarantine Over the Entire Luzon and Further Guidelines for the Management of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation 16 March 2020; d Republic Act No. 11469 – “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” on 26 March 2020.23 In line with this, the CHR issued a series of advisories on the human rights impact of COVID-19, including one on this law.24 The Bayanihan to Heal as One Act is a law that has implications on several rights. Here are the following provisions that concern human rights: Right or Concern Section of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act Non-discrimination (Prioritization of vulnerable sectors of society) Sections 4(b), 4(e), 4(n) Rights of the poor and social amelioration measures Sections 4(c), 4(n), 4(aa), 4(bb), 4(cc) [penal clause in 6(e) for a violation of the thirty-day grace periods] Labor rights, including the rights of health workers Sections 4(d), 4(e), 4(f), 4(m), 4(t) Right to property Sections 4(h), 4(i) [penal clauses in 6(b) and 6(c)] Right to food Section 4(i), 4(p) [penal clause in 6(c)] 18 See http://www.psa.gov.ph/press-releases/id/162842. 19 See https://psa.gov.ph/content/employment-situation-july-2020. 20 See https://mb.com.ph/2020/08/19/urban-poor-most-devastated-by-pandemic-lockdowns/. 21 Karaos, A. M., Urban Poor Vulnerabilities, Solidarity Networks, and Pathways to Resilience, 12 May 2020 22 Office of the President, Presidential Proclamation No. 922, s. March 8, 2020 available at https://www.officialgazette. gov.ph/downloads/2020/02feb/20200308-PROC-922-RRD-1.pdf, accessed 21 September 2020. 23 See the implementing rules and regulation here: http://www.covid19.gov.ph/bayanihan-irr-and-guidelines/. 24 Commission on Human Rights, Advisory Series on Human Rights in the Time of COVID-19 in the Philippines, CHR (V) A2020-002, available at http://chr.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CHR-Advisory_Human-Rights-in-theTime-of-COVID-19-in-the-Philippines-CHR-V-A2020-002.pdf, accessed 21 September 2020.