Social Responses and Narrative Experiences of the Filipino Middle Class to the COVID-19 Crisis

The incessant spreading of COVID-19 disease has recently been the major concern to the Filipino since January 2020. The crisis becomes uncontrollable and impacts on all walks of life in terms of their routine living, working conditions, mental health, and social interaction. As observed in the past few months, the Philippine government has attempted to deal with the transmission of infection and economic predicament. However, there has been tremendous criticism towards the government's methods of solving the problems, and one of the controversial discussions is the inequity of offering assistance packages to socio-economic groups. This article seeks to grasp the perceptions of the Filipino middle class who are mainly excluded by the aid of the government from the COVID-19 crisis since they are misrepresented as capable of self-help and self-responsibility in the neoliberal economy. The results evidently show their responses and narratives to the crisis through dealing with behavioural and social adaptation and psychological coping strategies. In times of the pandemic with low awareness of the government, most middle-class people are still precarious because of the entire dependency on the financial system and employment security to maintain subsistence in the present and future