42 Igting and Tabiola Given the amount of food requirements and other basic necessities of the household vis-à-vis its meager resources, Bea finds it difficult to buy in bulk all the household’s necessary supplies within the schedule set by the barangay. On one occasion on a Thursday, the family ran out of money and food supply. On her way to the pawnshop to claim the money transfer from her cousin in the province, Bea found herself imploring the barangay personnel to let her out of the community. She told the barangay personnel that the money transfer was tendered to her name and that she badly needed the money to buy food. Still, the barangay personnel refused to allow her to leave. As an act of desperation, she showed the personnel her drug prescription for hypertension and pretended that she also needed to buy her maintenance drugs. She was finally allowed to leave. On another occasion, on her way to claim the pension of her husband, Bea was apprehended by the barangay personnel for leaving her house out of schedule. She reasoned: “My family needs to eat. Tell me. Is the food pack of the government enough, especially for us who have nothing, who lost our job? If you do not let me out, would you be able to feed my family—all twelve mouths?” In her effort to convince the personnel, she even struck a deal with them. She said she would only go to the establishment located just in front of the checkpoint, just to get the pension. She showed the contents of her bag and promised to show them again later just to prove that she only claimed the money. After intense negotiation, she was finally allowed to go. This grueling interrogation was also experienced by Wennie’s son. She sent her son to buy medicine for her ailing father, but he was stopped by the barangay tanods (civilian guards). Her son was asked a series of questions, leading to unnecessary delay. Wennie expressed, “We understand that these measures have to be taken because of the pandemic, but the government needs to orient its personnel properly so they can perform their tasks well.” During the community quarantine period, Wennie’s father got seriously ill and died, an incident which she described as “too painful to fully recount” and the “worst thing that ever happened to me and to my family.” On social amelioration measures “Even dogs choose what they eat. I hope people in government act as if they were in our situation.” For mothers who largely depend on their earnings from Igting for their daily necessities, the COVID-19 pandemic caused them enormous economic distress. As such, they had been looking forward to receiving the food packs and cash aid under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) of the government. But because of