In the mid of April, social media we're bombarded by the news that someone is organizing a community pantry in Quezon City, Philippines. Due to my curiosity, I asked some of my friends what does a community pantry means and how it works. They said it works based on its core principle, 'Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan' which means, everyone can get anything for free as long it is just right to your needs, and you can reciprocate it by giving anything that you are capable of.
At first, I was skeptical of the idea because it seems impossible to work given that some of the people are abusive. For example, honesty store was closed down in Batanes because they didn't gain a profit at all.
In an honesty store, there's no one guarding the store. Only the customer is the one who is in charge of paying for what they bought.
But in contradiction to what I thought, the community pantry from Quezon City continued to grow. Many private individuals showed their support by donating funds to make the pantry larger and to accommodate more people. Everyone can take part in the program; just by donating stuff that you think is beneficial to other people. It can be money, food, hygiene kits, service, etc.
Day by day, more people are starting to line up hoping that they can get something from the pantry. These people are the ones that are most affected by the pandemic; the one who lost their jobs, businesses and have no choice but to rely on the help of other people.
Soon after this idea has administered in Quezon City, new community pantries across the country have also emerged. It is undeniable that this movement is a huge success. Imagine that this just started from one person but now hundreds of people are also taking part in this amazing cooperative endeavor.
One time, I saw a Facebook post asking for help to gather donations for her community pantry. I checked where does her pantry located and upon looking it is located from Bacoor, the place where I live. I immediately asked if she's willing to receive a fund from coins.ph and she agreed.
She just posted a Gcash account so I assumed that she didn't have a coins.ph. It's better to ask first hahaha.
After confirming she's willing to receive donations from coins.ph, I immediately posted on my noise.cash asking for your help.
I am overwhelmed by the support I received from y'all. My cutie friend @carisdaneym2 messaged me on Telegram just to asked my coins.ph account and transfer funds. Also from our best buddy @jiroshin for donating on Gcash. To our effortless beauty @Ruffa who also shares some of her hard-earned bitcoin cash, and of course, to those people who tipped my post and renoise it to their timeline, thank you! I also shared some of my earnings as a way of saying thanks to the blessings I received from the past months.
However, there are some government officials who antagonize this collective movement of the people, telling it is a movement of communists to destabilize the government which is not true.
Ana Patricia Non, the founder, main head, the one who started the community pantries is been red-tagged by Army Lt. Gen. Antonio ParladeArmy Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, head of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). Parlade said that community pantries are most likely backed up by communist groups which later denied by Non on her Facebook post.
In the Philippines, red-tagging refers to the malicious blacklisting of persons or groups that are dismissive of or not entirely supportive of a current government administration's conduct. Regardless of one's own political views or party affiliations, they are "tagged" as a communist, a militant, or both. It is a kind of incitement that has harmful consequences for those who are subjected to it. Red-tagging may be done by either government employees or paid shills.
Parlade received backlash from different groups and public officials. Different lawmakers suggested defunding NTF-ELCAC as it doesn't contribute to the current situation instead they just worsen it.
The community pantry at Quezon City handled by Ana Patricia Non, temporarily suspended its operation because of the fear that they may hurt, or even killed because of Parlade's accusation. But soon after that, they decided to open it again to serve the people.
Conclusion:
The purpose of this cooperative endeavor is to help the people who are in need, the people who are trying to survive even though the current world's situation is stopping them.
We, Filipinos showed it all again that the 'Bayanihan spirit always runs on our blood. These heroic deeds always mesmerize me and give me hope that we will experience better in the near future.
This is not the end. Many Filipino families are still experiencing hunger, and it is in our hands now if we will continue to support community pantries across the country. Although some government officials are antagonizing these deeds, the collective movement of the people will be more powerful.
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How come this time it was different than the honesty store?