Leni asks Pinoys: Adopt a family amid pandemic

MANILA, Philippines — As more Filipinos suffer from hunger and millions go jobless due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Vice President Leni Robredo is urging Filipinos to adopt a family.

“We can help. We can ask our barangays about families that need help, or if we know of a family that we can adopt while they struggle because of the effects of COVID-19,” Robredo said in her radio program on Sunday.

A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that the number of Filipino families that went hungry nearly doubled in the past three months.

The COVID-19 survey, taken from May 4 to 10, showed that 16.7 percent or an estimated 4.2 million families experienced involuntary hunger, or an increase of around 2.1 million families in December last year.

The Department of Labor and Employment earlier said around four to five million Filipinos would be unemployed due to the health crisis.

Lawmakers said the number of Filipinos who might lose their jobs due to COVID-19 could reach 10 million.

At least 2.7 million people have lost their jobs due to closures and flexible work arrangements during the quarantine.