4.1 million working age Filipinos stranded by quarantines —SWS poll

An estimated 4.1 million working-age Filipinos were found to be stranded by quarantines, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed on Saturday.

The SWS' COVID-19 Mobile Phone Survey, which was conducted on May 4-10, found that the number is 5.4% of the projected population of 75.8 million working-age persons.

The SWS asked the respondents the question "Gusto po sana naming malaman ang lugar kung saan kayo kasalukuyang tumutuloy. Kayo po ba sa kasalukuyan ay... (Namamalagi sa lugar ng permanenteng tirahan, o Namamalagi sa ibang lugar dahil doon na inabutan ng Enhanced Community Quarantine o ECQ)? [We would like to know about your current location. Are you currently… (Staying in your place of permanent residence, or Staying in another place because of the Enhanced Community Quarantine or ECQ)?]"

It found that the proportion of those stranded in another place due to quarantines was 6.4% (est. 1.1 million) in Mindanao, 5.3% (est. 1.8 million) in Balance Luzon, 5.0% (est. 710,000) in the Visayas, and 4.8% (est. 490,000) in Metro Manila.

The SWS survey further revealed it was 5.0% (est. 2.0 million) in Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) areas, and 5.9% (est. 2.1 million) in General Community Quarantine (GCQ) areas.

It found that there were more stranded men at 6.2% (est. 2.3 million) than women at 4.7% (est. 1.8 million).

The most stranded ages are those 18-24 year old at 11.5% (est. 980,000), compared to 6.9% (est. 1.2 million) among 25-34 year olds, 4.2% (est. 800,000) among 35-44 year olds, 4.1% (est. 570,000) among 45-54 year olds, 3.2% (est. 520,000) among 55 years old and above, and 2.7% (est. 20,000) among the 15-17 year olds.

The government placed Luzon under ECQ in mid-March, and local government units in Visayas and Mindanao also imposed their own quarantines. The quarantines have since been relaxed but remain. Public transportation including flights were affected by the quarantines, causing many to be stranded.

The SWS survey was conducted using mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) of 4,010 working-age Filipinos (15 years old and above) nationwide: 294 in the National Capital Region, 1,645 in Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside of Metro Manila), 792 in the Visayas, and 1,279 in Mindanao.

Sampling error margins were ±2% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila, ±2 for Balance Luzon, ±3% Visayas, and ±3% in Mindanao. —KG, GMA News