MEMORANDUM

TO: Judge Panganiban

FROM: Skyler Ignacio

Date: May 08, 2021

SUBJECT: Opinion on organization of community pantries across the country.

MEMORANDUM

I. FACTS

“Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan,” this motto

has inspired many individuals and groups to contribute to those who in need. This
bayanihan is remarkable for us today. The physical mobility and resources is limited, we
still manage to gain a collective understanding of the situation. We know that the
pandemic has serious effects on our health and on our jobs. Many of us, especially the
marginalize, struggle to feed their families. Feeding the hungry and binding people
together are the intended purposes of community pantries. Their continued emergence
tells us another thing the weakening of the state.

In a state such as ours, that does not have concrete plans to protect the people
from the pandemic, to feed the marginalized and to properly govern the nation amid
these trying times, human security is hardly experienced by the people. Individually, we
can attempt to secure this for ourselves. We can come together, as in the case of
community pantries, to maximize our sense of security. But the full spectrum of public
security requires the state to perform its function and to provide security for its people.

Community pantries are significant movement. But it cannot save us from

the pandemic for the basic reason that they are designed for a specific purpose. They
fill the stomach, but they cannot eradicate the virus. They can put food on the table for
a family at a definite time, but the long term effects of this pandemic demand a set of
programs and policies that will safeguard our means of human survival like food,
health, jobs, education and technology. In other words, the government must efficiently
and adequately address the complexity of the problems created by the pandemic.

It is the community taking the initiative for the poor to meet their most
important basic needs, when the state should be the providing this in the first place. In
a crisis, it should ensure the survival of its people. It starts by putting food on the table
of every household. Whether community pantries continue to persist while the crisis
exacerbates, the state must do its job. It must sustain the population by using all its
resources intelligently and faithfully for the people.

Weak states often fall to the rule of a strongman, a leader who promises a swift
solution to the problems that plague the nation through his own means. President
Rodrigo Duterte himself, through his populist rhetoric, tried to convince the public that
the complex problems of illegal drugs, graft and corruption, and territorial disputes can
be solved by himself.

In his weekly address to the nation about our country’s response to the
pandemic, his styple remains the same. He was confident that the virus will naturally go
away. He reassured us that the vaccines will be here soon and that we should just wait.
But what the people need and demand from the government are away beyond pure
rhetoric. What will save us are not the words and simplistic approach of a strong man in
this weak state but concrete and effective solutions with long term benefits such as
mass testing, vaccinations and good hospitalizations benefits.

The current situation reveals the shortcomings and limits of the present
administration. With wrong priorities, corruption in the healthcare system, and unclear
and ineffective solutions to address the pandemic, the people can sense that they
cannot bet all their hopes on the strongman. Workers are losing their jobs. Households
are living on a tight budget. Individuals are paying high hospitalization costs. For the
poor, having one or all these problems will put them in greater precariousness.

The state and the strongman have failed to secure the basic needs of its people.
When people got hungry, it was the people themselves who responded with a concrete
solution of feeding them through community pantries. Whether this phenomenon will
last long or not, community pantries have left a mark in our history and have reminded
us that strength of a nation is in the people, not on a single ruler nor its government.
After all, the people are the most important element of the state.

II. ISSUES:
1. What does this signal about our situation?
2. Does this violate IATF rules?
3. What measures should be taken?

III. DISCUSSION
Amid the discussion of community pantries, things are bound to get political.
Some human right lawyers argue that “community pantries are political”, they said that
such initiatives are one of many that continually try to fill in the gaps if government
response. One recalls the donation drives for personal protective equipment for
hospitals. One recalls the sheer amount of foods donated to hospitals and impoverished
communities since the start of lockdown. Each is an attempt to make the burden a little
lighter for Filipinos in an immediate, tangible and sometimes, sadly temporary way.

Critics argue that politicizing community pantries to complain against the

government’s neglect disregards the goodness and spirit of “bayanihan” behind such
initiatives. To an extent this is true, Filipinos of all political colors may indeed donate to,
and benefit from, such pantries. However, how can we deny that the circumstances
producing such hunger, such widespread need are political? How can we deny that
misuse of resources, disregard of scientifically sound advice for mass testing, contract
tracing and appropriate quarantine, and consistently defaulting to different degrees of
lockdown are not contributory to widespread hunger?

Community pantries were all the talk across the social media sites, with the
Maginhawa Community Pantry being the first to generate media buzz. A community
pantry is a service that provides food directly to locals suffering from food insecurity.
Some rely purely on local donations. Some coordinate with food banks and
organizations for steady supplies of food and essential goods. The community pantry is
not a new idea, as many have been established elsewhere as an immediate, local
response to hunger, but in the context of the pandemic and millions of food insecure
Filipinos, the idea has proven nothing short of revolutionary. The Maginhawa cart has
served thousands of individuals and inspired many to help sustain the pantry. Other
communities across the country have been inspired to start their own pantries, such
those in Metro Manila and other provinces. With praise comes criticism, and some have
expressed doubt as to how feasible or sustainable these carts can be. When we’ve seen
Filipinos scrambling for ayuda and hoarding basic needs, it might be easy for some to
equate extreme need with greed. Community pantries operate on trust system and
encourage donors to give what they can, and recipients to take only as much as they
need. This would depend on the commitment of united communities, the goodwill of
donors, and the level of organization of such pantries, especially for those who source
goods from farmers or companies.

Community pantries may help combat the extreme levels of food waste in the
Philippines, hundreds of thousands of tons of rice are wasted yearly, and more than
2,000 tons of food scraps are thrown out daily. At the end of the day, community
pantries may not be immune to abuse and fatigue, and are not guaranteed any
longevity without consistent community action and some degree of organization. The
fact remains, though, that such initiatives can mean the difference between life and
death for some. Community pantries are a way for individuals and private groups to
attempt to address gaps in the way government is handling the problems of
unemployment and hunger.

IV. CONCLUSION

I don’t think this will work if it continues to be like this everyday. It will be
no different from the “Ayuda” our people have been used to. If many small scale
community pantries exist in puroks or in cluster of streets in our village the people
would not have to suffer and endure long lines like this under the heat of the sun. The
Community Pantries of the Philppines will never be the solution to the hunger and
poverty of our people. These are just temporary relief. In this pandemic, we may need
to stretch these community pantries more to respond to the suffering of many of our
people.

The pandemic and the rise of community pantries have ushered in a new era
of “bayanihan.” Yes, bayanihan still means we’re halping each other out, but this time,
it’s only because there are no other options. Instead of simple things, like helping a
neighbour move or holding community clean up drives, the inaction of the government
on issues like pandemic born hunger has pushed us against the wall. This new era of
bayanihan has come into fruition because of the major gaps of the government has not
addressed.
If we take a look at the Constitution’s preamble, it literally says the
government’s purpose is to build a “just and humane society.” It’s the government
responsibility to ensure that all the citizens are taken care of and given their due. In this
specific case, what the people need are food and safety. The government has not given
us what we are due. The taxes we’ve paid and the billions we’ve borrowed should have
been enough to make sure that nobody fell through the cracks during the pandemic.