President Rodrigo Duterte is not ordering the shutdown of community pantries amid COVID-19 pandemic, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Tuesday.
Roque made the clarification after the Chief Executive on Monday night lashed out at people who donate food to others. “People were swarming. So we are again forced to enforce a quarantine to limit people from going around and passing the COVID virus to a lot of people...I want to stress the point that there could have been a better way of doing things. There has to be some sense in what you're doing," Duterte said.
“Hindi naman po sinasabi ni Presidente na itigil ang community pantry, ang worry lang po niya, eh iyong mga nababalita na nga po na nagiging super-spreaders po itong mga community pantries,” Roque said.
[The President is not saying to stop community pantries. He was just worried that pantries can be superspreaders of the virus.]
“Ang pakiusap lang po natin eh makipag-ugnayan po a lokal na pamahalaan at siguraduhin na may social distancing at tumutupad sa iba pang mga minimum health standards ang mga community pantries,” he added.
[He was just appealing to them to get in touch with local officials in ensuring that social distancing is concerned and other minimum public health standards are observed.]
Community pantries have sprouted across the country after the first one, set up on Maginhawa Street in Quezon City last month, drew people in need of food and caught the notice of millions on social media.
The initiative has sparked over 800 similar community pantries, and the Maginhawa hub has since been transformed into a station for donated goods to be distributed to other community pantries in Metro Manila due to the overflowing donations it has been receiving and its ever growing number of patrons.
Metro Manila and other neighboring provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal have been under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) protocol since April 12.
The MECQ protocol, which bans non-essential trips and partially shuts down non-essential businesses and services, has reduced mobility of people to prevent virus transmission but resulted in either job displacement or job losses. MECQ protocol in these areas will be in effect until May 14.
A poll released by the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) last week also showed that six in 10 Filipino families had little to no food amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with 62% of Filipino families experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity.
The same DOST-FNRI poll also revealed that 71.8% of the respondents are forced to borrow money just to be able to buy food, while 66.3% asked for food from their relatives, neighbors and friends.
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