key: cord-0739677-sodhsbn7
authors: Canete, Jonathan James O; Rocha, Ian Christopher; Dolosa, Jian Dennis P
title: The Filipino community pantries: a manifestation of the spirituality of ‘Alay Kapwa’ in the time of the pandemic
date: 2021-06-15
journal: J Public Health (Oxf)
DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdab210
sha: c7b0805575dc50ca93b7e8535633097fd1b07c02
doc_id: 739677
cord_uid: sodhsbn7

The coronavirus disease of 2019 pandemic has brought not only disaster to humanity but also the best in each human individual. Filipinos, in a special way, have exhibited the inherent greatness of the human person in the construction of the community pantries where people who can sustain their needs in time of pandemic would donate some provisions to those who are needy. The establishment of various community pantries across the Philippines embodies the spirituality of ‘Alay Kapwa’, a spirituality that connects people together especially in time of crisis to be persons for others rather than harboring an unnaturalistic human and primitive attitude of self-centeredness.

To the editor, A recent correspondence a rmed that the 'COVID-19 pandemic is continuously damaging the social well-being of many people across nations'. 1 There are various ways and means for people cope up with the menacing e ects of the pandemic. One of the explicit responses of most people to stay mentally fit in front of the depressing state of humanity's current collective history caused by the pandemic is to hold on to their faith to a divine being 2,3 whose existence emanates hope. Other people would result into altruistic behavior as a form of coping mechanism to the social stressors evident in society. This altruistic behavior of people in this time of pandemic is a manifestation of the intrinsic sense of connectedness present in each human individual. Ancient philosophers would argue in a rmation on the man natural behavior and capacity to socialize; socialization is natural to each human individual simply because it is present in the very fiber of humanity. The pandemic caused by coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has magnified even further this natural behavior of the human person to congregate. No forms of restriction like the national policy of social distancing to maintain the spread of the COVID-19 virus could hinder people from coming together expressing their humanity. 4 People's coming together in expression of their humanity in this time of pandemic springs from the inner sense of social responsibility towards one another especially in time of great needs. It is obvious that the pandemic has a ected various sectors in society that provides employment and social welfare to many people. Therefore, a good number of people lost their jobs and many went hungry and were in desperate needs to provide food for their families. 5 Seeing the meager condition of many people, those who have jobs and are able to sustain the needs of their families have rendered aid and provisions to those who are a ected. A recent correspondence could call this as the value of fraternal charity where people are moved by their social nature to respond to the needs of others. 'Done in the spirit of fraternal charity, an individual's way of socialization gives hope to those who are in despair. The COVID-19 pandemic does not deter the human person to exercise his fraternal instinct but gives him su cient reason to employ it all the more.' 6 In a special way, Filipinos concretely manifested the spirit of fraternal charity in forming various community pantries where stalls of donated goods were established and placed in a systematic way by conscientious individuals, and the needy people would fall in line to receive these goods. The phenomenon of the Filipino community pantries revolves around the phrase: 'Give according to your means, take according to your needs' which in its very essence a philosophical notion that stimulates social responsibility or fraternal charity on the part of the people, and challenges the inadequacy of the Philippines government in responding to the needs of the Filipino people in this time of pandemic. 7 Nonetheless, more than the political revolutionary side of the Filipino community pantries, the spirit of fraternal charity and the intention to respond to the su ering of others are the principal moti-vating forces for some Filipino individuals to establish this community pantries and for others to donate goods. Rosales and Agena 1 recognized this behavior as the spirituality of 'Alay Kapwa' where in the context of the Filipino community pantries, the organizers and those who are giving goods recognizes the needy persons as human individuals whose existence is closely tied-up to their own existence, and the humanity of the needy is the same humanity of those who are giving. This shared humanity as expressed by the spirituality of 'Alay Kapwa' fuels the phenomenon of the Filipino community pantries and strengthens the sense of fraternal charity present in each individual especially demonstrated in times of great need. The current situation in humanity's collective history caused by the pandemic has engraved the best in each and every human individual to be what their nature calls them to be-individuals for each other in times of joy and in times of great needs.

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We, Mr. Jonathan James O. Canete, Mr. Ian Christopher Rocha, and Jian Dennis P. Dolosa from the Philippines, authors of the paper titled The Filipino community pantries: A manifestation of the spirituality of "Alay Kapwa" do hereby declare no conflict of interest in the writing of the aforementioned manuscript. There is no human as well as animal subject used in the creation of the paper. And that the paper is built on theories by di erent authors to establish my position in this study.