Senate probe on red-tagging of community pantries ‘an option’ – Binay

Ana Patricia Non refills the Maginhawa Community Pantry on Thursday, April 15, 2021, which she set up to help people who are badly affected by the pandemic and have difficulty finding food to serve on their tables. The pantry accepts donations like canned goods, vegetables, vitamins, and face masks, among others, from kindhearted individuals as those are essential for sustenance and survival. The pantry is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.  INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate may also conduct its own investigation into the red-tagging of community pantries, Senator Nancy Binay said.

“That is an option that we can do in the Senate,” Binay said in an interview over CNN Philippines Wednesday night when asked if senators are also looking to push for a probe on the issue, similar to what the House Makabayan bloc has recently called for.

The senator, however, was quick to also underscore the need to review the budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).

“Budget season is coming…I will really make sure that we’ll be addressing the budget for NTF-Elcac. Maybe it’s high time that we really review their budget,” Binay said.

The NTF-Elcac, which has been linked to a number of controversies involving red-tagging, was criticized for sharing social media posts claiming community pantries are being used for propaganda of communist groups.

At least two senators sought are seeking to defund the NTF-Elcac following the remarks of the task force’s spokesperson, Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., against the organizer of the Maginhawa Community Pantry, which inspired many private citizens to set up their own food donation drives in various parts of the country.

“The enemy right now is hunger. And we must commend these community pantries for doing their part in helping our kababayans with this present problem,” Binay said when asked about the red-tagging of community pantries.

“For me, we should all concentrate on how we will survive this pandemic. The priority should not be about red-tagging or the communist problem. We should prioritize our response with this pandemic,” she added.

She likewise pointed to the lapses of the national government in handling the pandemic, saying that “all hands on deck should be welcomed.”

/MUF