Senators on Tuesday said organizers of community pantries should be spared from red-tagging and government profiling.
In a joint statement, senators Nancy Binay, Leila de Lima, Frank Drilon, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Kiko Pangilinan, Grace Poe, and Ralph Recto urge law enforcement leadership to probe the profiling of organizers.
“The profiling of organizers must stop. It puts people’s lives in danger, knowing how notorious some police, military officers, and personnel are in red-tagging progressives and now civic-minded citizens who only want to do good for their fellow men and women,” they said.
Senators issued the statement following reports of harassment from Quezon City police and government’s anti-communist task force prompted the organizer of Maginhawa Community Pantry, Ana Patricia Non, announced she is temporarily stopping its operations.
RELATED STORY: Maginhawa community pantry re-opens today
The lawmakers also condemned the posts of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on social media.
“Bakit hindi tanungin ng mga pulis ang kanilang pamilya at kamag-anak kung ano ba talaga ang pakay ng mga community pantry na ito,” they asked.
The senators stressed that hunger is the problem and these relief efforts by private citizens should be encouraged and not intimidated.
“The harassment and intimidation of those involved in these relief efforts exacerbate the hunger and hardships of our citizens. We condemn these acts,” the senators said.
“These community pantries have offered a venue for showing the true bayanihan spirit amid the hunger and poverty in this time of the pandemic. It is deplorable to paint this initiative with suspicions of communist links,” they furthered.
READ ON: Malacañang says ‘leave community pantries alone’ amid red-tagging issues
Several community pantry organizers also reported similar incidents with cops asking for their names for profiling.
On Tuesday, DILG Undersecretary Martin Diño said organizers must secure permits from local authorities.
However, he was immediately contradicted by Interior Secretary Eduardo Año who said that permits are not required.
Senators said they support Non’s call for a dialogue between the organizers of the community pantries and government authorities on this bayanihan initiative.
“We see you. We all know this is a community effort. We celebrate your energies and we stand with you all. We will always protect and uphold our fundamental rights, especially those toward a functioning and participative democracy,” they said. (RA)
