Want To Help PUV Drivers, Street Vendors? Connect With Them Via SuperTsuper, #PasokMgaSuki

The enhanced community quarantine imposed over Luzon to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected the livelihood of the vulnerable sectors of society, such as the public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers and street vendors who rely on their daily income for food and other needs.

While people who are privileged enough have a roof over their heads, stocks of grocery items, and steady sources of income despite work suspension, the vulnerable sectors are forced to rely on subsidies and outreach programs, which may not be enough.

For this reason, a group of individuals thought of bridging the gap by building an online community where people could directly donate monetary assistance to those in need.

SuperTsuper, a Facebook group founded by Mariel Louise Cunanan and her co-administrators, allows support to be given to PUV drivers through GCash transaction.

“It started when I saw a tweet about how an Angkas driver was messaging his old clients, asking for help through GCash because he couldn’t work as a result of the lockdown... then [I realized] that there was a whole sector being overlooked,” Cunanan told The Philippine STAR.

The group was created on March 31. As of April 3, she said 175 drivers and their families had received help through the initiative.

Among the drivers who benefited from the project were Grab driver Paul Advincula and jeepney driver Alvin Boñon.

“Maraming salamat po sa lahat. Sa mga (administrators), sa mga nakapag-share ng blessings, napakalaking tulong po sa ’ming arawan ang kita. Hindi po namin kikitain at lalong hindi namin mapupulot ang inyong naitulong,” Boñon wrote in a comment to thank those who assisted them.

As of Monday, April 6, SuperTsuper counted almost 32,000 members.

Another initiative is #PasokMgaSuki, a Facebook group intended for street vendors.

According to Amalia Lin Cabangbang, one of the five administrators of the group, #PasokMgaSuki was modeled after SuperTsuper.

“Ever since the quarantine started, we have been thinking of ways to help other people, and it became a challenge for us because we were used to the traditional kind of outreach. And then the other day, we were added to SuperTsuper... We asked the (administrators) if we could copy their initiative, but the group will be for the street vendors since like the drivers, their livelihood is also greatly affected by the quarantine,” Cabangbang explained.

Like SuperTsuper, the vendors receive donations through GCash transaction.

#PasokMgaSuki started its operations on April 3 and helped 73 street vendors all over the Philippines on the same day.

Among those vendors were Anna Rivera Abieras and her husband.

Their store is located in front of a school in Dasmariñas, Cavite. Sales had been down since the phreatic explosion of Taal Volcano in Batangas in January, and it got worse amid the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine that started on March 17. With schools closed, there were no buyers, so Abieras decided to just sell their goods at home. Still, there have been only a few buyers.

“Kahit magbukas man kami, wala din po bibili kasi sadyain po ang pwesto at wala po bata na nalabas. Kaya po ang ginawa namin, dito na lang po kami sa bahay nagtinda. ’Yun nga lang, madalang din po ang nabili,” Abieras lamented.

According to Cabangbang, the group may continue even after the enhanced community quarantine.

“As long as they need help and as long we can help, this will continue... Although we hope that when the situation normalizes, the government will assist them to start over again,” she said.

#PasokMgaSuki now has more than 3,000 members.

The initiatives appear to have started a trend.

SuperTsuper, the group that #PasokMgaSuki was modeled after, got its idea from ORDER HERO, a group formed to help food delivery riders victimized by bogus customers and cancelled orders.

MeAnn Ortiz, the founder of the group, bared that ORDER HERO started with a question from her sister Richelyn: “Paano ba kikita ’yung mga naka-cancelan ng order? Bilhin na lang natin, pero ’yung kaya lang dapat natin ubusin.”

“So we thought, maybe we’re not the only ones who are willing to buy cancelled orders from these riders. Maybe madami pa. So we tried creating a group for riders and for people who are willing to help,” Ortiz said.

The group was established on March 29. As of April 4, around 10 cancelled orders had been saved by “heroes,” or those who would pay for the transactions.

Jena Nubla, another administrator of the group, expressed hope that riders would no longer need their group in the future.

“We hope that someday, our group would eventually become obsolete because riders would no longer have to deal with cancelled bookings and no-show orders. We hope that ORDER HERO would be a catalyst to push delivery apps to finally improve their systems,” Nubla said.

ORDER HERO [OFFICIAL] currently has more than 237,000 members.

The Facebook pages of these groups upload the details and photographs of the beneficiaries, thus vetting can be done by those who want to help them.

The people seeking help are from different parts of the country.