This community pantry in Marikina uses coupons like a grocery store

A grocery-like community pantry in Marikina City makes use of a coupon system designed to make the distribution of goods more organized.

According to Bam Alegre’s report for “Unang Balita,” each person is given one coupon worth 500 points which they would then have to budget while choosing items on the shelves.

Essential items like eggs, canned goods and rice were also stacked neatly in grocery lanes.

Organizers of the “community grocery" said implementing a coupon system can help residents observe social distancing.

“I believe kailangan po na we strike a balance between implementing our policies like the social distancing and 'yung we think about our people," Lionel Villanueva of I-Fern said.

(We need to strike a balance between implementing our policies like social distancing and doing what we can for people in need)

"As long as the bayanihan spirit is there, yung mga tao na willing talagang tumulong, palagay ko po okay din naman na ituloy talaga natin ito," he added.

(I believe it would be okay to continue this initiative, as long as we have the spirit of bayanihan and helping each other out)

According to the report, organizers of the community grocery plan to keep the pantry in Marikina going for an entire week.

Community pantries have been popping up across the country as more and more citizens share food and supplies amid the scarcity caused by the community quarantine measures to address COVID-19 pandemic.

President Rodrigo Duterte blasted certain community pantry initiatives for making people line up for food, saying such activities could make the transmission of COVID-19 more probable.