CHR to cops: Profiling community pantry organizers an encroachment, overreach

Collecting data such as the affiliation of community pantry organizers is an “encroachment” of privacy and an “overreach and abuse” of police power, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) warned Tuesday.

CHR spokesperson Atty. Jacqueline de Guia expressed concern over reports that organizers of community pantries are facing threats of profiling or surveillance by police as well as red-tagging on social media.

“We remind the government, particularly local law enforcement officers, that collecting data, including the affiliation of community pantry organizers, is an encroachment upon the right to privacy of citizens and represents yet again an overreach and abuse of police power bereft of any statutory or legal basis,” de Guia said in a statement.

The Maginhawa community pantry, an initiative that has been replicated across the country, had to pause its operations due to safety concerns on Monday after government pages suggested that the project had links to the communist movement.

The National Privacy Commission has also called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to look into reports of alleged profiling of community pantry organizers, while human rights lawyers

PNP chief Police General Debold Sinas said there was no order for police to conduct profiling but the government’s anti-insurgency task force had admitted to “checking the background” of community pantry organizers. 

The Quezon City government vowed to protect the safety of community pantry organizers and beneficiaries.

The organizer of the Maginhawa pantry said operations would resume on Wednesday.

“The community pantry is an example of the exemplary spirit of bayanihan to make up for the gaps of government action in addressing the long-term adverse effects of the pandemic,” the CHR said.

“The shameful and politicking actions of the few ideologically bent, however, has dimmed the hopes of many that have come to see the community pantries as means of sustenance to provide food for themselves and their families.” --NB, GMA News