COVID-19 and its collateral damages

By Jennifer P. Rendon

Professional make-up artist Selwin Davila has not contracted the dreaded coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) but he’s not spared from its impacts.

In an interview Friday, days after government agencies called for the cancellation or postponement of holding of public events involving a large number of attendees, Davila said he lost a lot from his make-up business.

“It started with the cancellation of prom nights for high school and college students,” he said.

For one school that holds a promenade dance, Davila could book around 10 clients.

Davila is feeling the brunt after several schools opted to forego prom nights over fears of COVID-19.

“For proms alone, I lost a serious amount of income,” he said without going into details.

Aside from prom, Davila said make-up artists like him are also reeling from the cancellation of recognition and graduation ceremonies.

“It could have been a great source of income, too,” Davila, who also works as a floor director for ABS-CBN in Iloilo, said.

It doesn’t stop there.

“I also do make-up for beauty pageants. That, too, was either canceled or postponed indefinitely,” he said.

The COVID-19 threat has also far-reaching effects like the postponement of weddings and other similar activities.

Davila said that another wedding hair and makeup package he signed with was also postponed.

On March 20, the Iloilo provincial government issued Executive Order No. 028-B suspending all public events involving a large number of attendees for 45 days.

Meanwhile, Mayor Jerry Treñas of Iloilo City announced the suspension of classes in all levels in both public and private on March 16-29, 2020.

On Thursday, the Iloilo City government ordered all persons who traveled abroad to undergo strict quarantine to contain the spread of COVID-19.

But it looks like the virus has also plagued other sectors of the society in one way or the other.

Marco, a seafarer, was scheduled to fly to Manila next week for his training.

“I had to process my papers because I’m supposed to join, either in China or Singapore,” he said.

But Marco said that things are in limbo because of some restrictions.

On Thursday evening, President Rodrigo Duterte announced tougher measures in a bid to deter the spread of COVID-19. The measures include work and class suspensions and travel restrictions as part of the “community quarantine” imposed on Metro Manila.

Land, sea, and air travel to and from Metro Manila will be suspended starting March 15 until April 14, 2020, subject to daily assessment by authorities.

Marco said that with his work at stake, he’s afraid that he might not be able to return to international seafaring as soon as possible.

“But my bank loans would surely not accept that reason. With or without COVID-19, I have to pay my dues,” he said.

Regina, too, felt the adverse effect of the pandemic.

Regina and her husband and their two children are based in Canada. They have already booked their flight months ago for their regular vacation in Iloilo province.

The family of four was supposed to arrive in Manila on March 23.

Speaking over Messenger, Regina said they don’t know how they would go about with their travel given the community quarantine in Metro Manila.

“It’s kinda late for us to make travel amendments,” she said.

Regina said she immediately had their flight rebooked months from now hoping that things would be better.

“Sayang ang vacation if we’ll just spend it on self-quarantine,” she said.

Several overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) also decided to postpone their scheduled vacation because of mandatory self-quarantine.

For many, COVID-19 is not just a pandemic that threatens public health but a tragedy of a global scale.