6.

The COVID-19 pandemic here in the Philippines have put some of the citizen’s in to hunger
and poverty due to prolong Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). The emergence of
community pantry that started from Maginhawa Street in Quezon City inspired other community
to replicate the concept. Explain briefly by contextualizing the Rawlsian, Utilitarianism, and
Nozick in explaining the community pantry in trying to ease up inequality? (30 pts).

Answer:

The Maginhawa community pantry was initiated by a 26-year-old Ana Patricia Non at
Maginhawa street in Quezon City, this pantry encourages members of the community to get free
basic food items for those in need while urging those who can give to share in the stock. Her
simple action was to help her neighbors who could hardly eat one meal a day, surprisingly it
went viral across the internet and adopted all throughout the country. The idea behind this
community pantry was that people could take base on their need and donate whatever
according to their capabilities dubbed with the catchy phrase “Kumuha ayon sa
pangangailangan, magbigay batay sa kakayahan”.

This moral initiative can be supported by the normative judgments and the three views about the
just distribution of benefits and incentives to the society namely the John Rawls’s maximin
principle, utilitarianism, and Robert Nozick’s entitlement theory of justice.

First in foremost, the idea can be categorized to the John Rawls’s maximin principle which looks
more into the distribution of the economic wealth to the least advantage segment of the
population. Although anyone is allowed to participate in the community pantry, it gives more
priority to the marginalized people in the community or the depressed, disabled and
underprivileged individuals (DDU’s) that were severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic
which relates the theory of the maximin principle. Meanwhile an inequality can be judged in this
idea because it focuses on certain groups but maximin principle says that inequality is not a bad
thing as long as it fulfills the greatest percentage of benefit to the worst-off group of people in
the society.

Consequently, utilitarianism, an approach to ethics which claims that what is morally right is that
which promotes the greatest good to the greatest number. The maginhawa community pantry
can be considered as a practice of utilitarianism because it promotes for social solidarity and
bayanihan to help the community by providing groceries and foods to the poor and unable
family to bridge their meals and needs at least for a day. Currently this initiative helps thousands
of people around the nation and is now continuously growing.

Moreover the Robert Nozick’s entitlement theory consists of three principles which is the
principle of acquisition, transfer and rectification of justice. It implies that whatever the thing is, it
must be acquired and the transfer of holdings from one another with various methods of
exchange is though the legal means only and no one’s rights shall be violated against the
decision or action. In the Maginhawa community pantry, the goods, items, foods etc. were
acquired through donations or contributions and it is distributed to the community or oftentimes
people line up to get their chance to pick up some food. In this case I think no one’s party is
violated in the process and indeed everyone including the organizer was made better off every
time its operation was done and as we can observed the initiative propagated all throughout the
archipelago- hence, it is a clear manifestation of happiness.

Even though there were reports of abuse like people were lining up again under the extreme
heat of the sun or going home to change shirts in an attempt to be unrecognizable in order to
get a second ration from the pantry. Non explained in her interview on the CNN Philippine that
these people are the ones who need the community pantry the most, “Sila po yung nasanay na
hindi nila alam kung kailan ang next meal nila.” She questioned the unfair judgment of
selfishness thrown at these individuals, “Kung maubos ang laman ng community pantry,
magandang problem iyun. Ang goal naman sa pagkain is maubos, maconsume at kainin —
hindi i-display” she continued.

The idea behind the community pantry was that people could take as much as they need and
donate whatever they can. This is tangible evidence that Filipino’s with the absence of
government aid can find its way to respond and be united born-out of necessity.