ECQ again? Community pantry leader speaks out

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. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — More than a hundred days after she set up the first community pantry along Maginhawa Street in Quezon City, Ana Patricia Non said she could not stop helping those in need, as Metro Manila is placed on lockdown on Aug. 6.

But now she passed the bucket to the government to do what it ought to do.

“It’s ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) again. Let’s change our lines from ‘tayo-tayo na lang’ and hope it becomes ‘kayo naman.’ Private individuals like us have done so much. Lockdowns aren’t enough,” Non said in her Facebook post on Friday.

“We have done more than our part … It’s time for the national government and local governments and big corporations to step up,” she stressed.

“Let us not be afraid or ashamed to ask our leaders for accountability. It’s time for them to act. It’s time to ask them what they have contributed for the people?” Non added.

President Rodrigo Duterte has approved placing Metro Manila on the most restrictive lockdown from Aug. 6 to 20 to prevent the spread of the more infectious delta variant.

It will be the fourth lockdown in the National Capital Region (NCR) since the pandemic started last year.

The lockdown is expected to cost the economy P105 billion each week the NCR is on ECQ and to add 444,000 more jobless Filipinos.

“The government should make programs and campaigns for its people because they are the one with the time and resources to address this issue,” Non said.