A HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION REPORT: THE RIGHT TO SOCIAL SECURITY OF THE WORKERS IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY/ SECTOR Executive Summary The Coronavirus Pandemic, or more commonly known as the COVID-19 pandemic, has created unforeseen situations and brought profound impacts on various sectors. Workers in the informal economy/sector (WIES for brevity) have become more vulnerable during this health emergency due to their inability to survive a prolonged suspension of their opportunity to generate income. The continued enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed by the Philippine government on 17 March 2020 that extended until April 2020 has dramatically slowed down the flow of income for subsistence earners like jeepney and tricycle drivers, those operating small convenience or “sari-sari” stores, those running neighborhood eateries or “carinderias”, the hawkers or ambulant vendors, and those catering to the health and wellness of people such as massage therapists, among others. Because the WIES have no income replacement or social security protection, being unable to work because of sickness, disability, maternity, employment injury, unemployment, old age, or death of a family member may result in the risk of falling deeper into poverty during times of crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly exacerbated the already precarious conditions of the workers in the informal economy/sector. Almost a year after the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), an independent national human rights institution (NHRI) mandated to monitor the human rights situation in the country as well as the government’s compliance with international treaty obligations to human rights, looked into the situation of the WIES, the sector which has carried so much of the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pursuant to this mandate, the Economic, Social, and Cultural (ESCR) Center produced this human rights situation report on the right to social protection of the workers of the informal economy/sector in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In developing this report, the ESCR Center conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) with representatives of the WIES to ensure that the process is inclusive and consultative. Consultation with representatives of concerned national government agencies was also organized.