A resolution seeking to commend community pantry organizer Ana Patricia Non and other volunteers in the food bank initiative nationwide has been filed in the Senate on Monday, May 10.

Senator Grace Poe pushed for the adoption of the Resolution No. 714, which praises community pantry volunteers "for igniting the true Bayanihan spirit of Filipinos amid the COVID-19 pandemic."

"Even with the implementation of the Amelioration Program (SAP) and the numerous livelihood assistance programs of various government agencies, help seems scarce and hardly enough to provide food on the table of every Juan," Poe said in the measure.

"This propelled 26-year-old, University of the Philippines alumna Ana Patricia Non, to address hunger in her community by parking her bamboo cart filled with food items beside a tree in Maginhawa St., Quezon City bearing the now famous slogan: 'Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan (Give what you can, get according to your needs)'," she added.

Poe said Non's viral initiative, which has inspired over 6,700 community pantries all over the Philippines, "is proof that the Filipino bayanihan spirit is alive and Filipinos remain willing to help despite experiencing hardships themselves."

The senator said that such "spirited moment of selflessness" must be encouraged and assisted by the government "instead of closing it down or subjecting it to red-tagging".

Government officials had accused community pantry organizers as being connected to the communist movement.

The red-tagging and reported profiling by law enforcers forced the suspension of some community pantries, as volunteers feared for their safety and security.

This prompted calls from lawmakers to defund the government's anti-insurgency task force, whose officials have previously red-tagged other activists and advocacy groups.

In the Senate, a resolution was filed to review the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict's (NTF-ELCAC) disbursement of its P19-billion fund for this year.