DOJ chief, privacy body, solons, Arta support community pantries
COMMUNITY pantries, volunteer-driven initiatives to help people in a pandemic, on Tuesday got solid support from the Justice secretary, the privacy commission and lawmakers, among others.
This, amid reports that the first of such community pantries—the one started by entrepreneur Ana Patricia Non on Maginhawa Street in Qc—had been spooked by apparent attempts of overzealous law enforcers to “profile” Ms. Non, even as some government platforms were accused of “red-tagging” what began as a spontaneous act of volunteerism.
Various groups also denounced the apparent red-tagging of the community pantries, which began over a week ago and have since spread like wildfire across Metro Manila and even several provinces.
On Tuesday, Department of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told law enforcers to leave organizers of community pantries alone unless they are violating any law.
In an interview, Guevarra told reporters that any person voluntarily helping others should not be subject to police interrogation, “unless there is a reason to believe that he is violating any law, ordinance, rule or regulation for the good or welfare of the community.”
Guevarra issued the statement following reports of profiling activities and red-tagging by the police on some organizers of the community pantries.
“Suffice it to say that a person voluntarily doing an act of kindness and compassion toward his neighbor should be left alone,” Guevarra said.
Having lawyers present in the pantries to deter profiling would be unnecessary, he added.
“Organizers of community pantries have no legal duty or are under any compulsion to fill out any forms, as these are not considered business, much less, illegal activities. So, the presence of lawyers at the sites, in my opinion, is unnecessary,” the justice chief said.
Earlier, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said it has not given the Philippine National Police (PNP) a directive to conduct profiling of those behind community pantries.
Non, organizer of the Maginhawa Community Pantry (MCP), had said she would temporarily discontinue the initiative for fear of her life after the police conducted a profiling on her, and the phenomenon was being red-tagged in some government platforms.
On Monday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire had said there is “no need to stop the community pantries,” which, she said, are “good for the people” in times of a pandemic. Instead, she said, the local government units (LGU) must simply help them and provide guidance if health protocols are being breached by the long lines of people seeking to get goods from the pantries.
Arta support
BESIDES the DOJ and the DOH, the idea drew support from the anti-red tape body.
On Tuesday, the Anti-red Tape Authority (Arta) went to the barangay hall covering the vicinity of the Maginhawa Community Pantry to make sure no permit will be required anymore for this initiative.
NPC raises privacy concerns
THE National Privacy Commissioner (NPC), for its part, urged the PNP to act on alleged profiling of community pantry organizers.
In a news statement issued on Tuesday, Privacy Commissioner Raymund E. Liboro raised concerns over alleged profiling of organizers of now widespread community pantries.
“Individuals were purportedly asked to provide personal data including their e-mail addresses, Facebook account name, family background, among others,” NPC said.
While NPC has not yet received any complaints, the agency noted that such concerns in Pandacan, Manila, are circulating in social media. It is still looking into other areas where said profiling exists. Community pantries have been set up across the country to provide food to the people who need it most as the country’s economy continues to struggle with the pandemic-induced lockdown. It is also a platform where people can donate food supplies.
The initiative encourages people to only take what they need and donate what they can.
“We would like to emphasize that collecting personal data must be done fairly and lawfully with respect to the rights of a data subject, including the rights to be informed and object,” Liboro said.
With this, NPC urged the PNP Data Protection Office to investigate such reports and “take appropriate measures to prevent any doings of its personnel on the ground that could potentially harm citizens and violate rights.”
NPC noted that PNP has taken action before against unlawful profiling, recognizing the value of protecting the privacy of the public.
“Should there be a need to collect personal information to maintain peace and order, it must be accomplished with transparency, legitimate purpose, and proportionality,” Liboro added.
NPC said that such community efforts are indeed “extraordinary,” especially during a crisis.
“In times of adversity, Filipinos have the ability to come together and do extraordinary deeds. We must continue these efforts to build trust within and across communities amid this unprecedented health crisis,” Liboro said.
No ‘profiling’ order from PNP HQ
PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas said,“there is no order from the National Headquarters to conduct any form of profiling of organizers of community pantries.”
“It is beyond the interest of the PNP to delve into purely voluntary personal activities of private citizens,” he stressed.
“We are aware of the activities of these community pantries as an expression of Bayanihan spirit, but we have no intention to interfere but to serve the best interest of the law and order and public safety in such public activities,” the PNP chief added in a news statement.
The spokesman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, however, admitted during a radio interview by DZBB that they were looking into the background of the pantries, whose operators, he said, were a volunteer undertaking to help poor and hungry Filipinos cope with the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The PNP chief added that the operations of the pantries are not different from the activities taken by other groups and even local officials when the lockdown was first implemented due to the pandemic.
“We have seen similar activities during the community quarantine of 2020 when some farmers’ organizations and LGUS hauled their surplus produce of fruits and vegetables to depressed communities in Metro Manila,” he said.
“Similarly, police did not interfere with these activities rather extended utmost assistance to ensure orderly distribution to the needy,” he added.
‘Detestable’
THE Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) lambasted on the red-tagging of the MCP in Quezon City.
Pamalakaya, in a news statement, said the red-tagging of community pantries is “unacceptable and detestable.”
“Community pantries are community initiatives in the face of widespread hunger that the government has terribly failed to address. Yet the government has the audacity to spoil the very endeavor of the Filipinos to look out for each other in difficult times,” the group said.
According to Pamalakaya, redtagging of community pantries is “a shameless display of government’s incompetence and insecurity.”
Taking up the cudgels
SENATORS also took up the cudgels for the volunteer-driven community pantries, allaying administration apprehension over the popular feeding program.
Sen. Joel Villanueva suggested that the community pantries should draw official support, not government suspicion.
Sen. Nancy Binay scored the redtagging of community pantries, wondering why organizers of the initiative are being considered as enemies of the state.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto reminded that community pantries need more food bags, “not red tags, nor red tape.”
Recto noted that the only thing red in the community pantries are the ripe tomatoes. “Those who see red in these bayanihan projects should have their hearts examined,” he suggested, adding that “community pantries need more food bags, not red tags, nor red tape.”