The year 2021 marks the start of the last decade to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With the socioeconomic downturn caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, how far has the Philippines been set away from the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030? 

It has been over a year since the onset of the pandemic and the National Capital Region and a few other provinces have gone back to stricter community quarantine measures to mitigate the rise in cases. 

This report includes the data collected from Metro Manila right before the government placed it under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). Even as the survey is still proceeding in other provinces, the Zero Extreme Poverty Philippines 2030 and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Philippines deemed it necessary to release an advanced report covering Metro Manila to help policymakers, civil society, and other development actors to determine necessary responses to curb the hardship of the poor and vulnerable under a second lockdown. 

COVID PULSE PH: Urban Poverty Before the Second Hammer Fell is a policy note that highlights preliminary results in Metro Manila from Phase 3 of a survey commissioned by the Zero Extreme Poverty Philippines 2030 and UNDP Philippines.