MANILA— The Filipino's bayanihan spirit that has seen a revival in the sprouting of community pantries across the country has reached Timor Leste, a nation of 1.3 million people south of the Philippines.

In a Facebook post, Philippine Vice Consul in Timor Leste Laser Sumagaysay said that community pantries in the Philippines gained interest there after he and Timorese friends and diplomats discussed the bayanihan concept.

The official shared with them photos of neighborhood pantries that have sprung across the Philippines on the initiative of community organizers who want to help those struggling through their day-to-day sustenance.

"Noting the local economic effect of this month’s historic flooding in #Dili and the year-long COVID-19 lockdown in Timor-Leste, I took the opportunity to discuss with some Timorese friends and diplomats about the concept of 'bayanihan' and particularly showed them photos of #communitypantry set-ups in Ph to which they gained much interest. Colleagues and I, in our private capacities, are now supporting Timorese organizers as they launched their own (and the very first one) in TL (Timor Leste)," said Sumagaysay in his post.

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This prompted locals to set up their own community pantry in capital Dili.

"In my perspective as both private individual and diplomat, being in TL provides the opportunity to live and serve in a nation that is quite less developed but whose people are not in any way less spirited or determined than us Filipinos," he said.

"Let us help spread the #bayanihan spirit in Timor-Leste."

— with reports from Dennis Gasgonia, ABS-CBN News

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