Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Saturday appealed to elderly people not to go out of their houses to line up in community pantries—after a senior citizen died while falling in line at the Angel Locsin’s community pantry in Quezon City.
“We are on (modified enhanced community quarantine) so senior citizens should not go outside for their own safety,” Vergeire said at a weekend Laging Handa public briefing.
On Friday, 67-year-old Rolando dela Cruz fainted and died while lining up at the community pantry organized by the actress in Barangay Holy Spirit. A balut vendor, Dela Cruz reportedly went to the venue and lined up past 2 a.m.
Locsin has apologized for the incident but Dela Cruz’s family was not blaming anyone. The police are already investigating the matter.
Under an MECQ, senior citizens over 65 years old—along with people below 18 years old, with immunodeficiency, comorbidity, or other health risks, and pregnant women – are still not allowed to go out of their houses.
Vergeire said the benefits of community pantries could be highlighted without sacrificing health protocols against COVID-19.
Vergeire said: “Let’s show the benefits of what the community pantry can do for our citizens, but at the same time, let us ensure that all of us are following health protocols so we do not become infected in such events.”
Guidelines issued
Meanwhile, the Quezon City government has issued guidelines for community pantries that have emerged in various parts of the city to guarantee strict enforcement of minimum health protocols and maintain peace and order.
While reiterating the city’s full support for such endeavors that promote the spirit of “bayanihan” to overcome difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Joy Belmonte stressed the need for community pantries to comply with minimum health protocols and ensure sanitation and orderliness in their surroundings.
In the memorandum, Belmonte strongly urged QCitizens intending to operate a community pantry to submit a written notice to the barangay where the pantry is, including indicating the person responsible for its operation.
Belmonte however clarified that no Barangay Permit or Clearance would be required for the operation of the community pantry as long as it provides food to the public for free.
Under the memorandum, the pantry organizers and the barangay may coordinate regarding reasonable crowd control measures, such as setting a cut off time for persons in a queue, limiting the number of persons served in a day or for certain time periods such as morning or afternoon and using marshals to enforce health protocols and disperse overcrowding.
Attendants and staff of the community pantry must wear face masks and face shields while they must require patrons to at least wear face masks before they can get free commodities.
A one-meter distance among patrons must be enforced while eating or drinking is prohibited in the vicinity of the community pantry.
Patrons must also be prohibited from unnecessarily touching or handling items on display to avoid the spread of the virus.
Pantry operators are also ordered to maintain cleanliness in their immediate vicinity by properly disposing of cartons, plastic bags, ecobags or other containers, food scraps and waste.
“They are also responsible for food safety. Food must be fresh or not expired, and no adulterated, spoiled or unsanitary foods shall be distributed,” Belmonte said in her directive.
With the existing public safety hours, community pantries are also required to operate from 5AM to 8PM only.
Belmonte also encouraged pantry operators to adopt a system to mitigate abuse following reports about certain persons exploiting the community pantry and taking more than their fair share.
“For example, the pantries have the option to impose item limits per person or household, or limit their patrons to bona fide barangay residents,” she pointed out.
The Mayor directed member offices of the City’s Law and Order Cluster, regulatory departments, and the Barangays to strictly enforce her latest issuance. “Law enforcement shall refrain from intervening except in cases of manifest breach of health or safety protocols,” she stressed.
The guidelines were finalized during a meeting yesterday afternoon attended by various Quezon City government departments and Maginhawa community pantry organizer Anna Patricia Non.
‘Serious mistake’
Still on the issue, Barangay Holy Spirit Chair Felicito Valmocina said Locsin’s social media post that everyone was welcome gave him the chills, after Locsin invited her fans via her social media pages to go to her community pantry.
“I asked my information technology staff to trace it. Her Facebook followers are 21 million, in Instagram 8.6 million, in Twitter 12.6 million. So that is why all these people came over because of her post)” Valmocina told the government-run Philippine News Agency in a phone interview.
Valmocina said Locsin’s camp sought their assistance two days before and requested only for two tanod (watchmen).
He thought it would only be a small community pantry, judging from their request, but he doubted it, owing to Locsin’s popularity.
“I was monitoring from 5 a.m., there were already a hundred people. Then 6 a.m., 7 a.m., 8 a.m., the crowd was already at 2,500. The lines have reached COA near the Commonwealth Avenue Market. It was almost two kilometers long,” Valmocina said.
Valmocina then decided to deploy about 70 watchmen for crowd control.
“We learned they came from Rizal province, San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan, Navotas, Malabon, Tondo, and even Cavite. When asked why there were there, they answered, our idol posted this. She invited us here,” he said.
Legal issues
Valmocina said he already sought the advice of lawyers on what steps to take next.
He will also take up the matter with Mayor Belmonte and other village officials.
“We are having a meeting right now and we are summarizing what happened. We will look into what violations they committed and what should we do about it. If we need to file charges, then we will,” he added.
The Quezon City government earlier said it was not informed about Locsin’s pantry.
In a statement, Belmonte said, “it would have surely made a difference” had they been advised about Locsin’s pantry.
“Advanced coordination will allow all stakeholders to be proactive, rather than reactive. Sadly, in this case, we were not advised regarding any plans,” she said.