MALACAÑANG stood firm on the need to strictly impose curfew hours and that would include people queuing at the community pantries to avail of the free food and other essentials.
In a press briefing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that waiting in line for their turn to get free food from the sprawling community pantries could not be exempted from the implementation of the government-imposed curfew hours amid the pandemic.
“Hindi po puwedeng maging dahilan ang pagpila sa pantry para magkaroon ng exemptions sa curfew,” said Roque when asked whether local and barangay officials should continue issuing tickets and imposing a fine on persons who are already on the streets even before 5:00 a.m. just to make sure that they would get the free food early in the day.
“We welcome bayanihan po para maibsan ang kagutuman sa gitna ng pandemya, pero ayaw rin natin maging dahilan ang community pantry para kumalat ang COVID-19. That is why we are calling on community pantry organizers to coordinate their efforts with barangay and local officials,” the Palace spokesperson added.
Curfew hours for areas under modified enhanced community quarantine [MECQ] is from 8:00 p.m. until 5:00 in the morning of the following day.
There are already over 350 community pantries sprawling across the country, but Metro Manila and its adjoining provinces of Rizal, Laguna, Cavite and Bulacan – collectively referred to as NCR Plus, are hosting the most number of the community pantries.
But even before Roque issued that statement, the Maginhawa Community Pantry has already found ways to see to it that fewer people queue by transforming their kiosk as drop-off point and instead deploy whatever donated supplies have been arriving to barangays for faster distribution of goods and avoid crowding.