Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 27) — Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Tuesday reminded the public to abide by curfew rules, even when lining up to receive free goods from community pantries.
“Hindi po pwedeng maging dahilan ang pagpila sa pantry para magkaroon ng exemption sa curfew,” Roque said in a Palace briefing on Tuesday.
[Translation: Lining up at a pantry doesn’t exempt anyone from observing curfew.]
Over the past days, a number of residents were slapped with ordinance violation tickets for leaving home during curfew hours to line up early at the pantries. Metro Manila has been implementing a unified curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Roque also urged community pantry organizers to coordinate first with their respective local government units before setting up stalls.
“Ang ninanais naman po natin na itong bayanihan sa pamamagitan ng community pantry ay maibsan ang kagutuman sa panahon ng pandemya. Pero ayaw rin natin na ang mga community pantries ang maging dahilan para kumalat po ang COVID-19,” he said.
[Translation: We want community pantries, which show the spirit of unity among Filipinos, to help alleviate hunger in this time of pandemic. What we don’t want is for these community pantries to also be the cause of COVID-19 transmission.]
On Monday, the country’s COVID-19 case tally breached one million, making it the second Southeast Asian nation next to Indonesia to hit the grim milestone. Of this total, nearly 915,000 have recovered while 16,853 have died.
With the economy still suffering due to the pandemic, many Filipinos have turned to community pantries to help them get by. In recent days, more and more stalls have popped up nationwide, replicating the initiative which first started in Maginhawa street in Quezon City.
At the pantries, basic goods are donated and obtained following a simple rule: “Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha ayon sa pangangailangan (Give what you can, take only what you need).”
