In Cavite town, little things on lockdown go a long way

BE HONEST The unmanned “honesty store” of the Nuestro couple in Indang, Cavite. —MARICAR CINCO

INDANG, Cavite, Philippines — When the coronavirus pandemic shuttered schools across the country, Rizaldy Nuestro, 43, and wife Margarita, 41, had to make do with what they have.

Their roadside student canteen in Barangay Poblacion in this town was emptied of its young customers; so were the crates of quail and chicken eggs that the farm of Rizaldy’s parents had to dispose of quickly before they go bad after travel restrictions derailed the sale of farm produce.

Dining tables had to be folded away and chairs stacked up. The couple left only one small table at the storefront, laid out the eggs, and put up the sign: “Honesty store.”

No one was around to man the store. Rizaldy said he and his wife only copied the idea of an “honesty store” from similar projects elsewhere and “also, because we wanted to minimize [face-to-face] contact [with people buying from the store].”

Instead of the usual 100 pieces a box, they repacked the quail eggs in 50s or 20s in little brown bags to make it affordable, understanding that the pandemic was not only a health issue but came with financial stresses as well.

“We just had to trust whoever’s out there picking up the eggs,” he said. “We pray that those who didn’t pay were those who really couldn’t afford to. Many here found themselves in a ‘no work-no pay’ [situation because of the pandemic].”

Pleasant surprise

Surprisingly, many were “honest enough” to pay for the eggs, dropping coins in half a plastic bottle the couple cut and left outside the store, said Rizaldy.

There were also times that the Nuestros, along with their 14-year-old son Nathaniel Aaron, had to cook in batches the surplus eggs and deliver them to village watchmen and front-liners at road checkpoints to enforce the community quarantine.

Aside from the eggs, Rizaldy said he and his wife planned to put on sale their upcycled and handpainted flower vases, each for P100 to P150, in the “honesty store.”

The money will pay for the costumes and other expenses of their Church’s 38-man children choir, called Munting Himig, where Rizaldy is the guitarist and all-around benefactor. INQ