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Four more community pantries, including one that offers halal food, were opened in Cagayan de Oro on Tuesday, April 20.
The new pantries popped up a day after University of the Philippines (UP) physics instructor Rene Principe Jr. opened Cagayan de Oro’s first community pantry on Pasil Road, Barangay Kauswagan. Through the pantry, Principe aimed to help the needy and make a political statement on the government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
Soon, restaurateur Norkhalila Mae Mambuay-Campong followed suit by setting up the first halal pantry in the city on Tuesday afternoon.
Three other pantries were set up almost at the same time at the Holy Rosary Petron gas station on CM Recto Avenue, on Aurora Street in Zone 3, Barangay Agusan, and at the RVS Plaza in Barangay Bugo.
Campong said her community pantry, opened just outside her halal-certified restaurant Babu Kwan, and near the Masjid Oro Jamah mosque on Aguinaldo Street, is not exclusive to Muslims.
“The halal community pantry is for everyone in need, Muslims and non-Muslims. There’s emphasis on halal so that Muslims can freely get supplies without fear of getting haram supplies,” she told Rappler on Wednesday, April 21.
Halal foods are those considered lawful according to Islamic teachings, while haram foods are those that are forbidden.
Observe protocols, no red-tagging
Mayor Oscar Moreno called the rise of community pantries in Cagayan de Oro “acts of generosity” that should be allowed freely. But he also appealed to organizers to observe public health protocols, especially the rule on physical distancing, and to keep the community pantries and queuing people off the roads.
He said that while city hall won’t penalize those who don’t observe minimum public health standards set by the government, community pantry organizers need to bear in mind that the “penalty imposed by the virus (COVID-19) is a lot worse.”
Moreno told Rappler, “Distancing is for public health. We expect everybody to observe it properly. Being ‘penalized by the virus’ because of the breach is dangerous to [the] person violating and [to] his loved ones.”
Moreno also frowned on red-tagging, cautioning what he called “overzealous groups” against intimidating those who organize community pantries in the city by linking them to the communist insurgency. He pointed out that generosity and aiding people in need were not criminal acts, and was not armed rebellion.
He said community pantries are just like cooperatives, and that “it is not illegal to criticize government’s failure, more so if a person tries to do where government fails, but without taking the law in his own hands.” – Rappler.com
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