Maginhawa pantry organizer to Parlade: Skip Satan, read whole Bible

Anna Patricia Non, the initiator of Maginhawa Community Pantry, advised anti-insurgency spokesperson Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr. to read the whole bible about serving one's neighbor after he likened her to Satan's deceiving act of Eve.

In an interview on One News, Parlade claimed that Non’s  community pantry initiative, which inspired other Filipinos to create their own, is similar to how the devil gave an apple to Eve.

In an episode of The Mangahas Interviews, Non said she downplayed and even laughed at the military official's statement.

"Binalewala ko lang at tinawanan ko lang po. Una malayong malayo po ako kay Satanas. And, ang bible po ang maraming books... mahaba ang bible. Unang kuwento palang po iyan sa Bible. Baka gusto pong basahin ni General para po malaman niya ang lesson ng pagbibigay sa kapwa," said Non in an interview with veteran investigative reporter Malou Mangahas.

(I brushed it off and found it funny. First of all, I am far from the likes of Satan. And the bible has a lot of books, and it is quite long. Satan's story is just the beginning. Maybe General can read more so he would learn the lesson of being generous to other people.)

"Natural po iyon sa bible eh, baka kailangan niya pong matutunan. Skip niya po si Satanas kasi mahaba pa ang bible and marami siyang malalaman at madidiscover. Kailangan lang buksan niya yung puso at isipan niya po," she added.

(It is natural in the bible, maybe he wants to learn about it. Skip Satan's part and look into the other contents of the bible and he will discover more. He just needs to open his heart and mind.)

Contrary to the demonic remark, Non said the motto of her pantry is very common and hailed from the Bible and Quran, the sacred scripture of Islam.

She also confirmed that the motto, "Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan (Give what you have, take what you need)," is also from socialist doctrine.

"Tapos nasa bible rin siya and totoo naman po na sinabi rin siya ni (Karl) Marx. Pero nasa Quran din siya at palagi siyang ginagamit and very common po siya. Bukod sa phrase, natural sa mga tao na magbigay kung ano ang kaya nila and kunin kung anong dapat," she said.

(It is in the bible and it is also stated by Marx. But it is also from the Quran and it's very common. Aside from the phrase, it is natural for people to give what they can and take what they need.)

Parlade has previously dismissed claims that they are red-tagging community pantry organizers but he also admitted that they are checking the background of the initiators.

Several senators earlier called for the defunding of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) over the task force's controversial moves against the community pantry organizers.

After Non's initiative at the Quezon City street, more Filipinos and even those abroad were inspired to set up their own community pantries to help the needy in their neighborhood. —Consuelo Marquez/LDF, GMA News