Here they go again
Hardly had the admirable community pantry initiatives now sprouting in Metro Manila taken off completely than here come the usual spoilers politicizing the whole undertaking.
We’re referring to critics and so-called “activists” who just can’t stand that itch to relate a noble effort to another failure by government to provide for the people’s needs.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, we all know by now that small stands and kiosks have been springing up all over Metro Manila offering various donated goods and food that anyone can pick up for free. The only condition is that people should get only what they need. It also encourages those who have more in life to donate to this undertaking.
The initiatives have gained traction in both traditional and social media, which have consequently helped spread the inspiration behind them.
Sadly, however, the usual gang of oppositionists have descended upon these otherwise non-partisan projects like flies swarming on what they call another evidence of the failure of government to manage the ongoing health crisis.
A lawyer who sounds like “yellow” and speaks like “yellow” started the ball rolling by asserting in a tweet that “initiatives of individuals to set up community pantries are reflections of government neglect.”
She was followed by a chorus of lawmakers we can call the usual suspects who all gave warnings that the undertaking is indeed noble but only reflects the government failure to take care of its constituents in these trying times.
Community pantries are nothing new. They existed in First World countries even before the ongoing pandemic. But recently, amid the second surge of the virus here, a Maginhawa resident in Quezon City, Ana Patricia Non, thought of organizing such an undertaking to help out those affected by the health crisis.
“The unemployment rate is high, the line for relief goods is long, and Pinoys are hungry,” she said in the vernacular during a television interview. “We have been demanding a lot, but supplies are not enough. We really need to help each other. Community effort.”
A very noble initiative indeed. Sadly, however, the idea that they are done in protest of something is no more than the usual dishonest spin by critics consumed by their own political agenda, the least of whom is to discredit the present government.
The way they paint Filipinos as perennial hapless victims is an insult to the people and the communities who self-organize in the grassroots to become self-reliant.
And look at what these “activists” have done.
Instead of uniting Filipinos around what were intended to be local community projects, the concept had become the center of a degenerated national debate. And we all know where this all leads to.
As it is now, community pantries have attracted so much attention that it is now besieged by individuals, even entire families, joining the long lines to partake of the free stuff on offer — from fruits to vegetables, dairy products, eggs and other necessities that have become scarce on dining tables of many a Juan de la Cruz.
And so, a distribution model that’s meant only for a neighborhood is now subject to the demands of the barangay and possibly beyond. Sustainability has given birth to questions, foremost of which is, what if demand outstrips supply?
Demand usually brings the usual crowd and before we know it, they could become so large that it could pose problems to social distancing protocols, which we are all made to follow during the crisis.
Doling out free stuff could likewise give rise to a mendicant mentality among Filipinos, who are not really new to charity, as a way of getting what they don’t have. What is more disturbing, however, is when politicians and self-proclaimed woke activists politicize these undertakings for their own selfish ends.
Hijacking these good acts of contribution to civic life is just no way of fostering the bayanihan spirit practiced by our ancestors from way back. At the very least, Filipinos trying to do good to others should be left alone.
That is their own space. As those police barricade tapes put up by police in a crime scene say: Police line. DO NOT CROSS.
And we can probably add, EPALS, RED-TAGGERS OUT.
“What is more disturbing, however, is when politicians and selfproclaimed woke activists politicize these undertakings for their own selfish ends.
“Initiatives have gained traction in both traditional and social media, which have consequently helped spread the inspiration behind them.