globusjournal

The impact of the COVID-19 virus extends beyond the threat to physical health and basic human needs. Challenges to achieving food security arise as quarantine protocols imposed to combat the spread of the virus affect employment and mobility, exponentially affecting the urban poor. This paper explored the effects of implementing quarantine protocols due to COVID-19 on the food accessibility of the residents of one of the largest informal settlements, Sitio San Roque, utilizing a descriptive qualitative design. The study dissected the respondents’ situations on varying parameters of food accessibility such as Transportation, Proximity, and Price, where the government response to the resident’s needs was also investigated. The data gathered from the residents of SSR revealed that most residents’ food accessibility was affected by different parameters. They struggled mostly with economic access as most of the population worked in the informal sector, which was drastically suspended. Increasing prices of food commodities also hindered their economic food access, which led them to claim they had a more difficult time as even residents with continuous frontline jobs underwent a difficult time. Contrary to what has been assumed, since the community had long existed, established community markets enabled the residents to access food physically easily. Nevertheless, the findings clearly showed that even though the marginalized can strive to adapt to make ends meet, there is a significant improvement to guarantee the food accessibility of the urban poor.

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic, Community Quarantine, Food Accessibility, Food Security, Sitio San Roque, Urban Poor.