President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday urged anew organizers of community pantries and other food distribution activities to comply with Covid-19 health protocols to prevent superspreader events amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
During his Talk to the People address, Duterte said while he lauds the people behind these community pantry initiatives to help ease the burden of the people, he stressed that they must follow the regulations to prevent the further transmission of the disease.
“Wala namang question itong (No question about) pantry scheme. As a matter of fact, I salute the people behind this and those who originated it. Ang nagkulang sila (What they lack) and maybe they are ignorant of the prohibition imposed by law, not by me,” Duterte said.
He noted that 86 persons tested positive after going to a food distribution event in Barangay Matandang Balara, Quezon City more than two weeks ago.
“We must ensure that these activities would not go out of control and become super spreader events,” he said.
He said that if it is a matter of assessing whether the community pantry organizers are doing good or not, they are “doing super good”, but stressed that they must abide by government protocols to avoid overcrowding.
“Saludo ako at maganda ang konsensya ninyo sa tao ninyo (I salute you and you have good spirit towards other people) but please read the restrictions first,” he said. “See to it that the regulations are complied with.” (PNA)
