On LOCKDOWN.

March 17, 2020

              I can’t believe this is happening. To prevent the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus, the entire LUZON region has been put on ENHANCED COMMUNITY QUARANTINE. Due to this, we are basically stuck inside our houses.

              When the first wave of COVID-19 cases were announced, we immediately felt the effect on our sales. However, 2 weeks after, sales started to normalize. I remember I was outside the parking area when I read the post on the new COVID-19 cases. It was a Friday, and I knew that sales would continue to drop. Lo and behold, it took only a week before we gave in. After 9 days of struggling with sales and with double digit increase in decline, on Sunday, we decided to close down our Metro Manila venues. It broke my heart when I had to make an artwork that would announce our temporary closure.

              I worried for our venue personnel, I knew that closure would mean salary issues. If we have been losing sales for the past weeks and we had to close our venues, what would we use to pay our staff?

              That Monday, I came to work feeling scared. Then, it happened. our president met with the SPs and announced to us that all our venue personnel were put on lay-off and that the head office would have to follow as well. ☹ Lay-off would mean we wouldn’t have work and hence no salary. I wanted to panic, to cry… but I can’t because I had to find the courage to announce the bad news to my team. It broke my heart to tell them the news. I saw their panic, I saw the fear, I felt the uncertainty and I couldn’t do anything about it.

              At around 4:00 pm that day, we had news circulating about a lockdown. When I said my goodbyes, I was really hopeful that we would still get to see each other the next day. We didn’t. Lockdown has been announced that night and we wouldn’t be able to go out of the house anymore.