THE NEW PH THE FILIPINO COMMUNITY

This year’s list are leaders who understand that to move forward, we need to come together

ANA PATRICIA NON

It’s a fact that humanity has always fared better as a group, where people are cooperating harmoniously, a shared goal in mind. In this year’s #NewPH, even as we recognize the individuals who led and organized their communities, in reality, it is the whole that we are applauding, the whole that did the work, and the whole who will reap the rewards.

These people come from different backgrounds and work in different industries. But they all share the foresight to initiate change and the selflessness to keep on going, even when the times got tough (and boy did it get tough). From community pantry organizers to fashionable tastemakers and public servants, this list goes beyond political lines and cultural ideals: at their core, they are people who got things done for the Filipino, when the Filipinos needed it most.

With a single bamboo cart that carried goods and a sign that says, “Give what you can, take what you need,” Ana Patricia Non not only inspired a nationwide movement of kindness but fully reignited the spirit bayanihan in the country. During the second height of the pandemic, Non started the Maginhawa Community Pantry with one goal in mind: to unite community members and sustain a table that provides food for those in need. “Walang hinihiling na kapalit, kahit picture or acknowledgment,” she says and highlights that the success is all because of the mutual aid given by everyday Filipinos such as the farmers from Paniqui, Tarlac who freely donated their crops to help. Today, 600 similar donation-driven efforts across the Philippines carry the same vision–to give dignity even to the smallest efforts.