Community Responses and Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic 27 moves to prevent the spread of a deadly disease in their locality are rooted in their community organizing training and subsequent struggles for land and housing in the late 1990s when they defied a series of illegal and violent demolitions of their shanties in this particular area where their permanent shelters are now standing. This is supplemented by their sense of neighborhood and culture of solidarity that were honed during that period of struggle, strife, and eventually, success (Asiddao-Santos 2020). Amid the pandemic, the homeowners of ASAMBA commemorated the 23rd anniversary of their Martsa ng Tagumpay (March of Victory) on August 15, 1997 (Manila Times 1997). Their commemoration celebrated their victory in their struggle for land tenure, decent housing, and the right to the city. Erlinda “Ka Linda” Sapiandante, then ASAMBA president, explained that the wisdom they acquired from that struggle significantly shaped them to become Figure 3 Officers of ASAMBA working to reinforce the gates of ASAMBA compound Photo by ASAMBA