ONLINE BARTER COMEBACK AMID COVID-19 CRISIS

Jade M. Pangilinan

Who would have thought that in our modern era, barter will become a hit once again? Filipinos are well known for being “madiskarte” that an old method of trading was used in order to cope up with crisis in corona virus disease. Bartering is the process of trading services or goods between two parties without using money in the transaction. When people barter, everyone benefits because they receive items or services they need or want. Philippines had adapted barter system long before Spaniards came here. As time passes by, we never thought that barter will hit again in our daily lives. As we face the COVID-19 Pandemic, online transactions were preferred to lessen the face to face encounter of the people. Facebook nowadays have turned into marketplace of the people who sells staff online. The modernized of barter is now called “Online Barter”. The process is still the same, the only difference is they do it in social media. They usually make a facebook group where you can post what you want to barter and what item you prefer for exchange. Facebook groups were made depending on the location. There are Pampanga Barter Community, Iloilo Barter Community, Mandaluyong Barter Community, etc. Because of this, DTI claimed that barter is illegal and need to pay tax for the transaction. Netizens reacted negatively to the claims of DTI because it’s just a simple exchange of goods. Nevertheless, online barter trade is still growing amid COVID-19 crisis.

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The author is Administrative Assistant II at DEPED Division of PampangaDivision Office