In the bleakest of circumstances, we see Ana Patricia Non igniting hope in our capacity for collective goodwill. Community pantries help us realize that we can support one another even if we do not have millions of resources.

The pantry’s simple working principles was from a popular slogan, “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”, which Non’s sister aptly translated to Filipino, “mabigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan. Helping each other is an instinctive act, not an aberration by any human standard.

That we are on the same rough seas is true, but that we are on different boats is truer. Community pantries provide people in better boats opportunities to support those who are barely clinging to survive.

Community pantries show us that fear does not work, as long as there is hope. It is this same hope that the Government wants to destroy and we all must work against it.

Last Monday, April 19, 2021, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque was quoted saying that the community pantry “shows the best in us during the worst of times” with a qualifier that is not a condemnation of the government.” Yet this qualifier was precisely the trigger of the most recent anti-democratic measures of the security forces – the profiling of activities and harassment of uniformed personnel to volunteers manning the community pantries whose only wish is to provide a platform for people to help one another. These acts come from a deep-seated fear of the government. It wants to put a stop on community pantry becoming a spontaneous popular movement among the people in practically all parts of the country. The emerging mass character of the community pantry is a people’s growing collective indictment of the gross failure of this regime. The tactic of “nipping at the bud” has always been a part of the security forces arsenal to suppress the people.

Social Work Action Network (SWAN) – Philippines denounces these recent actions against the organizers and volunteers of the community pantry whose only objective is to help poor families bring food to their table. We believe that community pantries are good practices of mutual aid and empowerment, of people becoming the best of themselves to reach out and support others. We strongly demand from the government to respect the initiatives of the ordinary people. By such acts, these people uphold the fundamental right to life during this time of crisis. As Pasalo aptly puts it, “is sharing food to the hungry as grave as treason as giving away islands to China?”

We call on the

and the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict to stop profiling the organizers of these activities. You are violating people’s right to their privacy and incentivizing greed and apathy at a time when your very own systems are failing to provide support to the most vulnerable. This idea would not have been born if the Government has been more responsive and efficient in managing this pandemic in the first place. It is not the people’s fault if the incompetence of the government is highlighted by the actions of people with genuine intentions.

We urge:

– Fellow social workers to support the community pantry movement and uphold initiatives for mutual aid

– Local governments to welcome and support community pantries

– Filipinos to continue reaching out to those in need – looking out for each other

– The Government to focus its efforts in in addressing the needs of Filipinos for emergency subsidy and targeted COVID response rather than terrorizing citizen-led initiatives