Zarate: Gov’t wants to ‘hijack’ community pantries

People visit the Maginhawa Community Pantry initiated by Ana Patricia Non on Thursday, April 15, 2021, at Teacher’s Village, Quezon City. Non says she set up the community pantry to help people who are badly affected by the pandemic and having difficulty finding food to serve on their tables. The pantry accepts donations from kindhearted individuals like canned goods, vegetables, vitamins, and face masks, among others, which are essential for sustenance and in this time of health crisis. The pantry is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — Calling community pantries another form of “People Power” amid the pandemic, a lawmaker claimed Thursday that the national government wants to “hijack” the initiative and steal the narrative of Filipinos helping each other.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate made the remark amid the red-tagging and alleged police profiling of community pantry organizers and volunteers, which have led to the temporary closure of some of the community pantries.

“Worse, dahil naipakita this is another form of People Power, I think at kumalat na ito sa buong bansa for an almost 400 community pantries now scattered all over the country, gustong i-hijack ito, gusto nilang agawin ‘yung narrative na nagtutulungan ang mamamayan,” Zarate said in an interview with ABS-CBN News.

(Worse, since this has become another form of People Power, I think we now have almost 400 community pantries all over the country, they want to hi-jack it and steal the narrative of Filipinos helping out each other.)

“Sila raw ay gagawa rin ng mga pantries without an agenda but actually, they are trying to hijack this and pursue their very twisted counter-insurgency agenda that they now labeled as whole-of-nation approach para lang masiraan, pati ‘yung simple act of kindness ng mamamayan ay kanila na ipapatigil,” the lawmaker added.

(They said they will also establish community pantries without an agenda but actually, they are trying to hijack this and pursue their very twisted counter-insurgency agenda that they now labeled as a whole-of-nation approach that they even want to stop simple acts of kindness.)

Zarate said the series of red-tagging happening recently against community pantry organizers is “premeditated” to cover up the “negligence” of the national government in its pandemic response.

“Nakikita na natutulog sa pansitan ‘yung pamahalaan na matindi na ang kahirapan tapos ngayon mayroong mga good Samaritans na gustong tumulong dahil kung hindi sila nakukulangan, talagang pagod na rin sila sa pag-aantay sa gagawin ng pamahalaan,” Zarate said.

(People are seeing that the government is sleeping on the job and now there are good Samaritans because people are either feeling the government is not doing enough or they are tired of waiting for the government’s response.)

The Makabayan Bloc in the House of Representatives, wherein Zarate is a member of, has filed a resolution seeking an investigation on the red-tagging and alleged police profiling of community pantry organizers and volunteers.

Ana Patricia Non earlier temporarily halted the operations of the Maginhawa community pantry over “red-tagging” on social media. Non is the organizer of the said initiative in Teacher’s Village, Quezon City.

One of the screenshots included in Non’s Facebook post showed that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) and the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) shared posts, which stated that community pantries are being used for propaganda of communist groups.

Non likewise shared that three members of the police force asked for her number and her affiliations.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Debold Sinas has denied issuing orders for the police to profile organizers of community pantries while NTF-Elcac spokesperson Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. said they are just “checking” the situation of community pantries to make sure that organizers do not have any other agenda.

KGA