LGUs URGED: SUPERVISE COMMUNITY PANTRIES
THE Department of Health (DoH) urged local government units (LGUs) to supervise the emerging community pantries to prevent a possible Covid-19 spreader event.
The makeshift establishments where people can get donated fresh produce have caught on throughout the country.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said while the DoH recognizes that the pantries are an important way to help those in need especially during the pandemic, LGUs need to oversee them to prevent a widespread virus transmission.
“Kailangan ma-guide sila ng mga local government units natin kung paano ang proseso para hindi po nagkukumpol-kumpol ng mga tao . . . . I call on local government units na tignan natin ang pantries na ito para maging organized and prevent further infections (They should be guided by local government units on what the process should be so that people won’t converge . . . . I call on local government units to look into these pantries to make it more organized and prevent further infections),” Vergeire said.
She said the LGUs must make the process of doling out donation at the pantries more organized.
On Monday, Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said the popularity of community pantries is not a condemnation of the government’s pandemic efforts.
“I don’t see that as a condemnation of the government. It simply shows the best in us during the worst of times,” Roque said during his press briefing.
He said he disagrees with former vice president Jejomar Binay and Senator Panfilo Lacson who said the rise of community pantries show the government is absent and the people can no longer rely on the government for help.
“Itigil na po muna ang pulitika, iyan po ang pakiusap natin. Huwag po sa panahon na nagkakaroon ng ganitong surge. Bayanihan na po muna tayo, huwag bangayan (Let us stop politicking, that is our appeal. Not now that we are facing a surge in Covid-19 cases. Let us help one another and not argue),” Roque said.
He said the government was addressing the public’s clamor for food and basic necessities through cash assistance and other aid.
The government is giving out P1,000 worth of assistance to families affected by the two-week enhanced community quarantine in the National Capital Region and in Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal and Laguna.
Roque admitted that to date only P4 billion of the P23 billion funding for the cash aid have been doled out.
He said the government is also distributing food packs and cash assistance through the different programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Labor and Employment.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto is challenging the Department of Agriculture (DA) to buy and bring the vegetables being dumped by farmers in Northern Luzon to Manila and distribute them to community pantries.
“May mga pictures na tinatapon na lang ang kamatis kasi walang bumibili. Bakit hindi na lang ito bilhin ng pamahalaan at ipamigay sa mga komunidad na nagtayo ng sarili nilang food banks? (There are pictures showing that tomatoes were thrown away because nobody buys it. Can the government just buy these and give it to the communities who established their own food banks?),” Recto said.
“You don’t have to be a genius to dispatch sweeper trucks and buy directly from vegetable farmers. You help both the farmers and the consumers,” he said.
“And that’s the least that an agency, which spends money telling people not to waste a single grain of rice can do. Kung sinasabi na huwag mag-aksaya ng butil ng bigas, bakit tone-toneladang mga gulay ang nabubulok? O kung kayang mag-angkat ng baboy mula Brazil, bakit hindi kayang ibaba ang gulay mula Benguet? (If they can say not to waste a single grain of rice, why are tons of vegetables rotting? Or if they can afford to import pork from Brazil, why is it they cannot transport the vegetables from Benguet?),” Recto asked.
To boost their stock, community pantries could benefit from “government support” but it should be done “quietly and sans fanfare,” he added.
“Some agencies have the mandate and the funds to do it. But they must have the finesse to not make epal. Food donations need not be trumpeted,” Recto said.