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Putting Back the “Community” in Community Pantry

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By L. S. Mendizabal

On the seventh day since the first community pantry on Maginhawa St., Quezon City was erected, one of its initiators, Ana Patricia Non, took a break but did not rest. The 26-year-old small entrepreneur, “Patreng” to many, gave a press conference via Facebook Live, explaining why she and her fellow organizers ceased operations temporarily: They did not feel safe after the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict accused her of being a “communist,” a brand the Duterte administration has proclaimed to be synonymous with “criminal,” “terrorist,” “a menace to society.”

“People are grateful because the community pantry revived their spirits to help one another in times of crisis . . . But even that had to stop. It hurts that we were forced to close even for just a day. Think of how many families, how many meals the community pantry would have provided,” Patreng said in Filipino, her voice cracking, barely able to hold back tears. “We had to stop for the time being to ensure our safety and to clear the allegations.”

On the same day, Metro Manila Eastern Police District set up its own community pantry with rice, canned goods, face masks and face shields. Also stacked are copies of the Gideon Bible and the police journal magazine replete with red-tagging propaganda because, y’know, “Communism is bad.” Throughout the Duterte regime alone, PNP is notorious for tens of thousands of extrajudicial killings in the war against drugs and anti-terror campaign. From accessorizing dead bodies with pieces of cardboard that said, “Pusher ako, huwag tularan (I am a drug pusher, do not emulate)” to giving away food and bibles under cardboard signs stating a rather interesting iteration of the Maginhawa Community Pantry slogan,

“Magbigay nang naaayon sa kakayahan, dumampot ayon sa inyong pangangailangan (Give what you can, seize what you need)”—their altruism is of the violent kind.

Ana Patricia Non (Photo from Altermidya)

Death, hunger, gloom and doom

Since the novel coronavirus claimed its first victim in the Philippines when the government failed to promptly close our borders, there’s been no mass testing or contact tracing. Hospitals are full. Frontliners are grossly underpaid, overworked and dying. COVID funds amounting to a trillion pesos have yet to be felt by 18 million beneficiaries still waiting for a second cash dole-out.

Unemployment is at an all-time record high. According to IBON Foundation, the total number of unemployed and underemployed soared to a staggering 12 million in February 2021. With the absence of food subsidy and the disruption of food systems, the poor are the hardest hit by draconian lockdowns, or this administration’s single palpable response to the pandemic. Minimum wage earners must go out to work or find work every day, risking COVID exposure. Staying home is a luxury the poor simply can’t afford. To them, dying from hunger is a more immediate concern than dying from the virus.

Academics of the Philippine Sociological Society in a study on the community pantry initiative claim that Filipinos have also been experiencing feelings of “gloom and doom.” WHO says that isolation, bereavement, fear and loss of income during the pandemic have been detrimental to individual mental health. Constant news of human rights violations may cause gloom and doom as well, for how can you sleep soundly at night knowing a 12-year-old boy just died after barangay tanods chased him when he was “caught playing outside?”

Omega Avenue community pantry. (Photo by Roberto de Castro)

A social phenomenon bred by state abandonment

On April 14, Patreng and her little bamboo trolley of free vegetables with a signboard bearing the words, “Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan (Give what you can, take what you need),” first stood on a street corner in the city with the most COVID cases and deaths in the country. Small vendors and tricycle drivers nearby have since helped Patreng repack and distribute goods as well as facilitate the daily queue of neighbors they’ve invited themselves. And just like that, a movement was born.

Within three days, PSS identified 44 community pantries nationwide with majority in NCR. As of this writing, there are 500 from as far up north as Cagayan all the way south to “DDS Country,” Davao City. PSS in its initial analysis of the community pantry calls it an “emergent agency”—an independent initiative taken by stakeholders to effect changes on their situation. Emergent collective behaviors rise when preexisting structures fail to meet people’s demands. Notably, a good chunk of the community pantries that swiftly followed Maginhawa’s example are of organized masses from marginalized sectors who initiated community kitchens and collective gardening since the first enhanced community quarantine. PSS notes that these earlier emergent agencies didn’t quite capture the people’s imagination the way community pantries have.

Although they’re not the cure to end food insecurity, the viral spread of community pantries is but a symptom of the true state of the nation: Like Patreng, Filipinos are “tired of complaining and fed up with government inaction.”

Fish on their way from Laguna de Bai to community pantries in Quezon City. (Pamalakaya photo)

Half a piece of ginger, cups of taho and a tale of two oranges

Community pantries have been practiced in the US and other parts of the world. When COVID hit Thailand, locals installed cupboards filled with food, medicines and other necessities in public spaces in Bangkok to help one another. Called “happiness-sharing pantries,” they spread all over the country, reaching a total of 1 400 by the end of 2020. As lockdown restrictions were lifted in Thailand and stores reopened, the pantries were later abandoned.

In the Philippines, community pantries show no signs of slowing down as Duterte stays in power, hoarding public funds for his election war chest. (The original Maginhawa Community Pantry announced Monday night it will cease to be a distribution center starting today, Tuesday, April 27. It will instead be a donation center from which nearby community pantries shall be replesnished.—Ed. ) A viral element of the phenomenon is its slogan which people have adopted and translated into many different languages and dialects, my favorite being LGBTQ+ organization Bahaghari’s “Gumib luv offering ayern sa kerichinabels, gumeching vatai sa needine lustre.” More than just a catchphrase, Filipinos from all walks of life have been unified by the idea and practice of a mutual aid grounded on giving what they can and taking only what they need.

In contrast to donation drives where the same prepacked goods are given to households without taking into account household size, you have the freedom to get what your family specifically needs from a community pantry regardless of what you donate. How much one takes / gives is a non-issue. In a Bulatlat article, University of the Philippines Professor Sarah Raymundo says that community pantries defy the capitalist market because they highlight products’ utility (use value) over their monetary worth (exchange value).

This encourages people to prioritize the needs of others over their own. For instance, a resident in a resettlement area in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan only needed a small slice of ginger, so she broke one into two pieces “para makakuha rin ang iba (so others may have as well).” In Kawit, Cavite, a taho vendor gave out free cups of his own product by a small roadside table. Inspiring passersby, they bought more cups of taho for his little pantry. Patreng also shared in the press conference how an old beggar picked up two oranges. When he was told to get more, he said two were enough to get him by for the day.

The community pantry is a utopian space where the destitute and benevolent converge, often one and the same. More than bayanihan and volunteerism, it advocates collectivism. This boggles the minds of the rich because they only understand an individualist way of life, not unlike that of a barangay captain in Los Baños, Laguna who threw a fit, accusing organizers of profiting off their pantry. His angry constituents later exposed him on social media for using personal connections to get vaccinated ahead of frontliners.

The Maginhawa Community Pantry. (Photo by Roberto de Castro)

“Communist Pantry,” “just bayanihan” and other anti-people takes

Once the community pantry became a phenomenon, anyone who knows this administration damn well would’ve seen red-tagging from a mile away. Historically, emergent agencies or relief efforts that expose government incompetence are met with hostility. Last year alone, cops destroyed Sitio San Roque’s community kitchen and apprehended youth volunteers distributing food packs to impoverished communities in QC, Malate, Marikina, Bulacan, etc. Armed men killed activist Jory Porquia while conducting relief operations in Iloilo City.

According to UP Prof. Danilo Arao in an online forum on journalism ethics and community pantries, red-baiting is the “highest form of fake news” because it endangers lives. It is the state’s go-to tactic in discrediting and demonizing personalities and organizations so that hurting them is justified. Another objective of red-tagging, Arao explained, is to challenge its target/s to denounce Communist links. Sounds familiar? Mainstream media, GMA Network being the biggest offender of late, has become nothing more than a mouthpiece of a regime that persecutes people like Patreng whose only fault is facilitating change.

Neoliberalism has so deprived us of basic social services and turned everything into a capitalist commodity that Filipinos sharing goods among themselves has become quite the spectacle. That said, what really frightens the state is not its “phenomenal” or “bayanihan” aspect, or Patreng’s political affiliations. The community pantry is not just a place of sharing and caring but sharing and caring between the middle and lower social classes with similar traumas caused by the pandemic and exacerbated by state inutility and terrorism. Some might’ve lost jobs, others loved ones, most of them hope. Now, they find solace and strength in being able to not only take but give, whether it’s 50 kilos of fish from small fisherfolk alliance PAMALAKAYA; sacks of sweet potatoes from a farmer in Paniqui, Tarlac; or three packs of noodles from the kind balut vendor at Maginhawa. The community pantry feeds people for a day but empowers them for much longer as they continue to struggle in a society that takes jobs, loved ones and children’s lives, and thrives on widespread hunger, doom and gloom.

Community pantries as a collective refusal to not starve are a protest whether you like it or not. And it’s disturbing how Malacañang, NTF-ELCAC, some journalists and centrist liberals all sound the same: “It’s just bayanihan and should be free of any politics.” Keep calm and share gulay, they say. A bishop went as far as declaring that these pantries with their signboards will “forever erase the shame” of cardboard justice in the drug war. Great. When they’re not red-baiting whole movements, they’re whitewashing or romanticizing them. Why do we celebrate bayanihan yet balk at the idea of hopeful, empowered masses who feed one another and understand why they starve in the first place?

“Everything is political,” says PAMALAKAYA – Southern Tagalog Spokesperson Ronnel Arambulo. “Widespread hunger is a result of government inadequacy in responding to the health crisis. The national situation should not be seen as a separate picture from community pantries.”

Meanwhile, mayors have expressed support and assured organizers of their safety. A resignation was tendered. Gag orders were issued. These are little victories, indeed, but we must not be complacent. Patreng is right: She may be safe for now but entire communities are not. Believing that community pantries are red-tagged because some have given political meaning to them is only blaming the victim. It says outright, “They deserve to be red-tagged for not submitting to the status quo.” This fascist thinking is harmful to the people.

The Iloilo City mobile community pantry by a local LGBTQIA+ group. (Photo by Irish Granada)

From the masses, to the masses

An organizer posted on FB about buying vegetables from a peasant in Nueva Ecija. Upon knowing they were for a community pantry, she said, “Napanood ko sa TV kanina. Nagugutom ang tao, pinapasara pa nila! Komunista raw. E ano naman? Namimigay lang naman! (I learned about it on TV. People are starving yet the government wants to close them! They call them communists. What about it? They’re only giving out food!)” After donating 200 pesos, she added, “Maganda ‘yang ginagawa ninyo. Pipila kami mamaya pero hindi na gulay ‘yung kukunin namin. Bigas sana (What you’re doing is noble. We’re going to line up at the pantry later but we won’t be getting vegetables. I hope there’s rice).”

It isn’t hard for the poor to understand and embrace the community pantry as their own because they struggle the most and have been quite vocal about their grievances. Instead of calling them “komunista,” “reklamador” or “pasaway,” Patreng listened. If the masses are not afraid to voice out their demands and work towards social change, why should we be? Let’s stop telling them what to do and as them instead what must be done. Let communities lead the way for community pantries. #

References:

Altermidya (2021, April 23). To ask or not to ask: Lessons on red-tagging & community pantry [Video]. Facebook. https://fb.watch/56UyZvIOhF/

Bolledo, J. (2021). “12-year-old boy chased by Pasay tanods loses consciousness, dies”. Rappler. Retrieved from https://www.rappler.com/nation/minor-chased-by-pasay-tanods-loses-consciousness-dies-april-2021

Chatinakrob. T. (2020). “Happiness-sharing Pantries: an effective weapon to ease hunger for the needy during the pandemic in Thailand”. Retrieved from https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/seac/2020/09/16/happiness-sharing-pantries/

Dionisio, J. et al (2021). “Contagion of Mutual Aid in the Philippines: An Initial Analysis of the Viral Community Pantry Initiative as Emergent Agency in Times of Covid-19”. Retrieved from https://philippinesociology.com/contagion-of-mutual-aid-in-the-philippines/

IBON Foundation (2021). “Joblessness worsens in February and will get worse with ECQ”. Retrieved from https://www.ibon.org/joblessness-worsens-in-february-and-will-get-worse-with-ecq-ibon/

Raymundo, S. (2021). “Community Pantry Ph: Hugpungan ng ginhawa at pag-iral ng use value”. Bulatlat. Retrieved from https://www.bulatlat.com/2021/04/22/community-pantry-ph-hugpungan-ng-ginhawa-at-pag-iral-ng-use-value/

Launch a Truly-Pro Masses Relief Program

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by Edberto M. Villegas, PhD

If the government were just pro-masses than pro-rich and pro-foreigners, it would have directed the Philippine Army or even the Philippine National Police (PNP) to use more trucks so they could pick up the animals, cattle, horses, pigs, chicken, etcetera suddenly left by the evacuees in Batangas in their habitats in order to escape the eruption of Taal volcano last Jan. 12. Whether they wanted to stay behind in their houses or take their animals with them, the evacuees found themselves in a very difficult position because they were ordered to evacuate and they do not own trucks to carry their animals with them. Army trucks, which have transported the population affected by the eruption, should also fetch the animals of the evacuees to save the livelihoods of the latter. More trucks should have been provided by the Philippine Army or the PNP as many of these are just standing idly by in military camps. It is to be noted that the army has acquired 219 new trucks from South Korea in 2017 to augment their other hundreds of trucks. Surely, not all of these are being used to fight the rebels or are they?

If the government were just right-minded, it should bring the rescued animals and even fruits to public lands to sell or auction to interested parties to help the devastated families of the volcanic eruption. The owners of these animals have no more space to care for them as their abodes have become uninhabitable and they are willing to sell their animals to the public to obtain capital to start anew in life. This is the least that a responsible government can do for the thousands of Batangueños and others displaced by the eruption as the masses are the foremost capital of society which make it rich with their labor power to run our agricultural and industrial sectors, but with workers always at a losing end because of low wages given to them by the owners of the means of production. Many Batangueño hog and chicken farmers as well as cattle raisers are even paying good taxes to the government which augment the latter’s coffers. The government has allocated P30 billion as emergency supplemental budget for calamity fund to the approved regular budget of P20 billion of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management, making the total calamity fund at P50 billion in the P4.1 trillion budget of 2020. It must be pointed out that the calamity fund has been decreased by P11 billion in the 2020 national budget. Compare this to the increase of the budget for the Office of the President by 21% from P6.8 billion in 2019 to P8.24 billion in 2020. The P4.5 billion of the Office of the President budget is meant for his so-called confidential and intelligence fund, including monetary rewards to PNP officers who can neutralize drug personalities! The calamity fund instead of being decreased should be raised tenfold since the Philippines lies in a disaster-prone area, as witnessed in its numerous floods, earthquakes and volcano eruptions, which have come in series last year and this month of January. It is more called for now to increase the calamity fund as the Philippines has been declared by the UN as among the leading countries in the world to be affected by climate change.

Bayan Muna representatives Ferdie Gaite and Eufemia Cullamat, along with former Representative Neri Colmenares distribute relief goods to victims of the Taal Volcano eruption.

Compare further the measly amount of the regular calamity fund at P20 billion to the allocated budget for the payment of interest alone of our foreign debts, which has increased by 13% from P399 billion in 2019 to P441 billion in 2020, all to be passed on to the Fillipino people. The Duterte regime has borrowed anew from the Chinese for his so called Build-Build-Build program, mostly expected to be funded by Chinese banks. The BBB program of Duterte is mere bluster as befits him because of the 75 projects planned, only nine have been started and it is already the last lap of his term. Many of these projects will just enrich Chinese banks and firms like, for example, the Kaliwa Dam project in Quezon Province, costing $3.7 billion, 85% of which will come from Chinese loans and which will displace hundreds of Dumagats from their ancestral lands. Why is Duterte so partial to Chinese loans when its interest rate is so high, at 2 to 3% per annum compared to Japanese interest rate which is 0.25% to 0.75%? The loans from China are also all tied-loans, which means we will have to purchase its technology and machines and hire Chinese personnel and workers to undertake a project.

Instead of having a development program only meant for show or to grandstand but which is becoming chaotic for lack of careful planning as the BBB which Duterte has dubbed the “golden age of infrastructure”, the government should prioritize the welfare of the general masses. A huge special Industrial Fund for SMEs (small and medium scale enterprises) and Agricultural Fund for farmers should be put up to extend to borrowers low-interest or no interest loans, depending upon the status of a family. These loans can also be augmented by a great portion of government savings every year and the calamity fund lying stagnant in banks. Such industrial and agricultural loans shall include bigger loans for capital investments by Filipino entrepreneurs like pig and chicken raisers, and shops and store owners whose livelihoods were destroyed by a calamity. Evacuees are desperately in need of financial help to start a new life and it is the task of a government to live up to its role as caretaker of the common good, instead of surreptitiously juggling its revenues to favor special interests specially in Congress. A great part of the government revenues come from the masses, especially from Train 1 and 2 or the tax increases of basic goods which have hit the ordinary consumers so hard but reduced the taxes of the rich. The Industrial and Agricultural Funds intended for development undertakings by the majority masses must be increased substantially annually to accelerate national development and prosperity instead of hiking such unproductive fund like the budget for the Office of the President which as we indicated above rose by 21% in 2020 from 2019.

It is about time that preferential allocation be made for Filipino enterprises, including farming ventures, since small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), owned by Filipinos, employ 60% of the national labor force and not the big companies, including the MNCs. Wages in all Philippine enterprises should also be closely monitored by the Department of Labor and Employment. Daily wages should be mandated by law to increase to P1500 which will give at least a decent living to a family of five due to the decline of the real value of the peso caused by the constant rise of consumer prices, which had been particularly taken advantage of by the Western oil companies, specially American and British. These foreign oil companies had almost every month raised oil prices, particularly that of gas so that we have the most expensive gas prices in Southeast Asia. The basic wages and salaries of all government workers should likewise be raised to the decent level of living as with private workers. And whenever there is a rise of prices of goods and services, wages and salaries should be indexed to them or adjusted accordingly. The rationale for the increases in the national budget to favor the Filipino masses and the protection of their economic well-being by laws is that it will tap their full productive capacity which will benefit the whole of our society.

Relief goods being distributed to victims of the Taal Volcano eruption.

As for the budget for the construction of new houses in designated public lands for those evacuees whose homes were destroyed, the responsibility will fall on the lap of the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development which has been allocated a low budget of P5.6 billlion in 2020. Compare this again to the P8 billion allocated to the Office of the President and you will know how greedy this president is for money that is not his.

If the government remains as irresponsible as it is now without even having any semblance of a pro-masses national development program for industry and agriculture, which will involve the direct participation of the Filipino masses in their organizations, the Philippines will be in the same rut as it is at present with its increase of wealth (GDP), mostly derived from credits or fictitious capital (hot money) in the finance market, particularly in the stock market, only benefitting 1% of the population. How could we expect for this Duterte government to launch a truly pro-masses relief program for all Filipino evacuees from calamities when it has even bungled up its so-called flagship program for a drug-free Philippines called Tokhang, which has become a total mess and failure due again to a lack of careful planning and strategy? Or is Tokhang just a big cover-up for something very sinister that favors Chinese drug lords? The masses, led by their organizations, must act now instead of relying on this neo-colonial, tyrannical and corrupt regime, masquerading as the true government of the Filipino people. #

The author is the former chairperson of the Development Studies Program of University of the Philippines at Manila. A Batangan, he is a grandson of General Miguel Malvar.