APPALLED by the nasty remarks on the government’s dismal failure as the reason behind the emergence of community pantries, Malacañang seemed dealing with it in a different way – taking a ride over the popularity of the community initiative by simply welcoming them.
Interviewed on national television, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that “the government is doing everything” to address what he referred to as “multi-faceted concerns and issues on the ground,” as he welcomed the opening of publicly initiated community pantries nationwide to help those less fortunate who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We welcome any help and support na maibibigay ng sambayang Pilipino. Kailangan natin magtulungan dito, that’s the bottomline,” Nograles, who is also the head of the National Task Force on Zero Hunger, said.
“Kami ay nagpapasalamat sa lahat ng gumagawa ng initiatives para tumulong sa ating mga kababayan. Kami rin naman po sa government we also understand that this fight against COVID-19 is a whole of nation fight.”
He, however, discounted the possibility of the government replicating the idea even as he claimed that its food packs are allotted for localized lockdowns and the typhoon season.
“It’s in that context we are providing the help needed, doon nakareserba ang ating food packs at family packs. Plus remember typhoon season is coming, we also have to reserve ang food packs natin,” he said.
The NTF-Zero Hunger is working with the World Bank on a feeding program for the top 235 towns where hunger is most prevalent, he added.
Nearly one-third of Filipino families, estimated at 7.6 million households, experienced hunger in the third quarter of last year, according to a Social Weather Stations survey released in September.
In January, the country’s unemployment rate rose with around 4 million adult Filipinos, or 8.7 percent of the labor force, found jobless versus the same period last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority earlier said.
The Philippine economy last year registered a -9.5 percent growth, its first contraction since 1998, as businesses closed down due to COVID-19 restrictions.