‘Gulay Bouquet’ From Patreng Non’s Community Pantry Will Now Have Onions

The “gulay bouquets” offered by the community pantry of founder Ana Patricia Non easily sold out, but she said people who are still looking for gifts this Valentine’s Day may still order since onions from farmers based in San Jose, Nueva Ecija are coming.

“WAIT THERE'S MORE!” Non posted on her Facebook account on Wednesday, Feb. 8, after she thanked the public for supporting their “gulay” or vegetable bouquet initiative to help farmers sell their produce. 

While they had reached the maximum orders for the vegetable bouquets, Non said farmers from San Jose, Nueva Ecija sought their help on Monday, Feb. 6, in selling their produce fast as the government’s decision to import onions would pull down prices of the commodity.

“The best po kayo! Dahil po sa tulong nyo makakapag-rescue na po tayo ng mas madaming gulay mula sa atinglocal farmers,” Non posted.

“Sa mga wala pang regalofor Valentine's meron po tayongrescue naquality onions mula saSan Jose, Nueva Ecija,” she said, adding that the farmers would like to sell their products at P120 instead of P180 per kilo.

According to Non, the farmers are forced to bring down their prices to  as low as P40 per kilo to middlemen due to the supply from abroad. But Non said she told the farmers that need be pressured as they would try to buy their onions at most reasonable prices.

“…laban! Sikapin natin i-claimang deserve ng bawat isa sa atin! #PagkainParaSaLahat,” she wrote.

The price of onions reached up to more than P700 per kilo in December supposedly due to lack of supply. The price has gone down between P180 and P310 per kilo, but the suggested retail price is P125 per kilo.

No surplus

Non told One News’ “The Big Story” on Wednesday they were not selling surplus vegetables as they bought the produce directly from farmers.

Non cited Benguet as one of their sources for the produce and bared plans to expand their sourcing, which include Quezon and Bulacan. 

“Binili talaga natin directly…sa mgalocal farmers natin, mgacontact namin saBenguet tapos nag-e-explore pa kami kung kukuha pa kami saQuezon, tapos saBulacan. Naghahanap talaga kami ng contact (persons) po natin noon pa,” she said.

Non revealed the vegetable bouquet initiative in a Facebook post on Feb. 7. Despite its lighthearted nature, it was actually born to fund their community pantry’s goal to help local farmers who she claimed are being lowballed for their vegetables. Earnings are set to be used for rescue buys of locally farmed vegetables. 

“Siyempre ‘yungcommunity pantry natin dito sacity medyookay okay na. Bumabalik na ‘yung buhay nila pero‘yungfarmers natin kailangan talaga ngrescue buy ng gulay nila kasi nababarat sila,” she noted. 

Non disclosed they would be buying the medium-sized onions from farmers in San Jose, Nueva Ecija at P180 per kilo despite reaching a P120 middle ground. She said they did this even without knowing where to get the funds to pay for them yet.

“In-offer nilangP120 [per kilo] na lang para breakeven tapos sabi namin ng mgacommunity pantry organizers na ‘hindi po namin siya bibilhinP120…sikapin namin P180 [per kilo] kahit ‘di namin alam saan kukuha ng pera or sinong bibili pero trynatin kasi eto ‘yung deserve natin’,” Non said.  “Sa mga wala pang regalofor Valentine’s na akala natin mahal– pwedeng pwede angonions natin.”

Non pointed out that people must know about the farmers’ stories and not just their produce, the reason why they had been active in explaining how the farmers could be victims of middlemen and traders.

“Naniniwala po kami na hindi lang dapat ‘yung mga gulay ang dumadating sa atin dapat ‘yung kwento din nila. Tsaka dapat lahat tayo maayos ‘yung pagkain ng pamilya,”she said.

Non started the community pantry on Maginhawa Street in Quezon City amid the COVID-19 pandemic to help alleviate hunger.

While many people followed her lead as they appreciated the initiative, Non also faced controversies and even a became a target of former spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict spokesperson Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, who said that the organizer of the original pantry that spurred the movement, was deceiving people the way the devil would.