18 Orlino and Hapal of around 265 percent. On the other hand, advocates also fear that gender-based abuse and violence during the lockdown might increase even more as stay-at-home measures may hinder abused women and children from reporting and seeking help. Based on the data from the PNP-Women and Children Protection Center (PNP-WCPC), a total of 804 incidents of gender-based violence and abuse against children and women were reported from March 15 to April 30, 2020 (Ranada 2020). One of the identified age groups who are at high risk of being infected by COVID-19 are senior citizens or older people. UN Women (2020) reported that one effect of the pandemic on the senior citizens is the delayed issuance of their social pension. Not all of the elderly receives the pension because only indigent senior citizens are qualified. This leaves other older people more vulnerable as they lack access to immediate and needed support given the lack of financial support from the government. One of the loopholes of the SAP subsidy is its local governmentcentered approach in which some older people who are not in their registered local cities are deemed ineligible for the subsidy (ibid.). Finally, urban poor households living in informal settlements in Metro Manila are also among the most vulnerable groups during the pandemic. As individuals are ordered by the government to stay in their homes and to practice social distancing, informal settler families who are congested in the small spaces of their makeshift dwellings become more at risk of contracting the virus as it spreads rapidly in this type of living arrangement. A September 2020 survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that “71% of Filipino families received money-help from government since the start of the COVID-19 crisis” or a national total of 16 million families, 2 million less than the announced target of 18 million families but which was nevertheless “a respectable 89 percent” accomplishment (Mangahas 2020). On the downside, the same SWS survey showed that the Metro Manila region and Luzon provinces were highly privileged over Mindanao and the Visayas islands in terms of percentage of families receiving assistance, the number of times aid was given, and the average amount received per family. Lastly, the SWS calculated that a total of Php 120 billion was distributed out of the Php 200 billion released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the social amelioration program, leaving a gap of Php 80 billion that has to be accounted for. Despite the SWS findings that almost three-fourths of Filipino families receiving social amelioration aid, the government planning agency NEDA admitted that “more Filipinos could slip into poverty and joblessness until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic” (Lopez 2020). In an August 2020 report, the state-run think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) projected that “even with the SAP and small business wage subsidy in place … (and) on top of an economic recession and temporary unemployment, the COVID-19 pandemic is seen (as) inflicting a bigger