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Vulnerable and Homeless Elders in the Pandemic.

Lolo Lando, smiles as he watches people passes by.

When the lockdown in the Philippines first occurred on March 8, 2020 the Government had announced that people over 60 and 20 below are forbidden to leave their homes and should remain indoors.

This protocol was based on the record that most of the COVID-19 patients and casualties are aged 60 and above, which concludes that transmission occurred mainly among the elderly who generally have weaker immune systems.

However, the lockdown and subsequent restrictions put into place to fight the COVID-19 pandemic had increased the vulnerabilities of the elderly, causing them to lose their job, their homes, their love ones and practically everything.

Lolo Lando sitting in front of a bakery shop.

Lolo Rolando “Lando”, 75 years old, homeless. Having no home to go home to, had no choice but to sleep on the floor of the sidewalk along the busy road of Mega Market in Pasig City, Metro Manila.

While everyone is wearing facemask and face shield as protection from the COVID-19 infection, Lolo Lando doesn’t have neither one and looks like he doesn’t fear having none. Which raises such questions as to whether is he even aware of the virus? the pandemic? or what?

A girl and a boy in a separate photo drop some money in Lolo Lando’s can. “Hirap ng buhay ngayon, kaya kami nagkakalog lang. Pero hindi kami naglilimos, kung may magbigay, salamat. Kung wala, salamat din.”

As someone who was raised and loved in the care of my own grandparents, especially my Lola, it’s heartbreaking to see an elderly like him having a hard time to make a living without families to support him and no comfortable shelters to sleep in. 

I ask him to spare me some time to talk. Our conversation is hard and cut too short, due to so many barriers; one is he can no longer hear me due to age-related hearing loss, second, the surrounding’s noisy and last I’m not able to take off my facemask and face shield and I have to keep at least two-meter distance to comply with the Covid-19 health protocols 

Nonetheless, out of sympathy, I approach and look for a way on how to communicate with him, which leads me to use sign language and draw object in the air, somehow it was effective, albeit slow and I have to do it over and over again.

Lolo Lando  smiling bitterly while sharing his story.

I asked Lolo Lando where did he come from, he smiled faintly and replied, “sa Kapasigan yung bahay namin nung araw, kaso nung namatay yung mga magulang ko, pinalayas kami sa bahay. Dalawa lang kami magkapatid, nung namatay na rin kapatid ko, wala na akong mapuntahan. Kaya dito na lang ako natutulog kasama ko yung dalawa pa dito, babae tsaka lalaki, yung babae iniwan ng asawa niya, yang may-ari ng pusa.” He then pointed out the space in the other corner beside him.

There, I spotted four cats, three are sleeping soundly while the other one seems restless. I tried to take a picture of the cats but after some time, a granny, the owner of the cats came.  She was irritated when she saw me looking at her cats. She immediately grabs them and told me not to feed them. Aloof and cold, she covered her cats with an umbrella. 

A close-up look of the cats, the big cat tries to climb on me but I step back when the Lola popped up.

A fur parent/Lola and her four fur babies. One cat was caught as if it’s complaining. One was sleeping. while the other two are busy eating.

The overly protective fur parent covered her fur babies (away from the heat and away from me) with an umbrella. 

Tatay said, “Ninakaw yung bag niyan na may laman na pera, kaya  iyan”. “Noon nawalan na din ako ng bag may pera din, kasi senior citizen ako nagkakapera minsan, e nalagay ko sa bag. Nawala, ninakaw.”

“Mahirap ang buhay ngayon. Walang trabaho, may anak ako, pero may mga pamilya na rin, eh matanda na ako, hindi na ako kayang tustusan pang-kain o pang-gamot, kaya ito ako sariling sikap na lang” Lolo shared.

After almost one year and four months of being in a lockdown, perhaps most of us are now thinking that we are now finally going back to normal, a new normal.

However, for the people who are less fortunate, who lives outside streets, and who thinks pandemic is still unrealistic, they have no idea what kind of life new normal is. 

In the case of Lolo Lando and Lola, surprisingly, they are not aware of what COVID-19 is. They’re just aware that there is a disease in the country but never informed well about the proper measures to avoid it. Everyday they just go on with their life thinking ‘why does everyone are not going out as much as before? why does everyone covers their faces?’. Whether they’re aware of the virus or not, nothing changes, they are just left with two options; it’s either they will die in hunger or die from the virus.

Being neglected and abandoned is what made people like Lolo Lando, accept their reality and fate. Without choice, they just decided to sat there on the pavement, spending their last stage of life, contemplating the image of every passersby.

In this time of uncertainties and isolations, we are busy looking for the things that can fill the void of loneliness. But in their case, except from being vulnerable, homeless and abandoned in the pandemic, sometimes they’re unaware of what kind of hunger they really feel, if is it just a hunger for food and shelter? or a kind of hunger that seeks love, affection and protection from this harsh society.

A view outside the Pasig City Mega Market. A busy road full of people, jeepney, tricycle, and bikes. Above is a glimpse of a rainbow.