INTERIOR Secretary Eduardo Año yesterday warned community pantries of closure if there will be violations of COVID-19 health protocols while people are lining up for free food.
Año, a key member of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said the DILG will soon issue an advisory or memorandum to local government units (LGUs) on how to manage the operation of community pantries.
He said there should be close coordination between pantry organizers and LGUs so that minimum health standards, like wearing of face masks and shields and physical distancing, are enforced.
“Kung hindi mai-implement o may maba-violate yan, ito ay ground para pa-stop natin yung community pantry. (If that is not implemented or that is violated, that will be ground to stop the community pantry),” he said.
Año said he does not want community pantries to be the cause of surge of COVID-19 infections.
“Kung nakita natin yung nangyari sa India ngayon, ayaw nating mangyari yun. So kailangan talaga ay ma-implement natin yung minimum health standards. (If we saw what happened to India, we don’t want that to happen here. So we really have to implement minimum health standards),” he said, referring to the surge of COVID-19 cases in India where a two-month festival saw the gathering of millions of people at the Ganges River.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said people lining up at community pantries are not exempted from the 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew being implemented in the National Capital Region (NCR) and nearby provinces.
The curfew is effect in the areas covered by the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until April 30 such — Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal.
Community pantries have sprouted nationwide in the past two weeks. The most prominent is in Quezon City whose organizer was linked to communists by a red-tagging general who is now under fire from senators and other sectors. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Noel Talacay
