'Will trade Nikes for chicken': Millions stripped of jobs barter possessions for food
Struggling to make ends meet, Lorraine Imperio swapped a set of Nike slip-on shoes for a complete dressed chicken on an online bartering site, among dozens which may have sprouted up during the Philippines’ virus lockdowns.
With millions stripped of their jobs and several forced to remain home to slow the coronavirus spread, Filipinos have flocked to Facebook groups to exchange their possessions, including kitchen appliances, children’s toys and designer handbags-mostly for food.
“It’s so difficult nowadays. You don’t know where you’ll get the money to settle the bills for groceries,” said Imperio, a mother of two whose husband works part-time at a doughnut shop in Manila.
His hours have already been slashed as a result of the pandemic and he now only earns about 9,000 pesos ($185) a month, half of which is used to pay the rent for the family’s apartment.
Online bartering groups have provided a lifeline to the Imperios and other Filipinos hit hard by the country’s months-long virus restrictions that were only available in March and have sent the economy plunging into a deep recession.
At least 98 groups, some with thousands of members, are operating over the archipelago, according to an AFP tally.
Nearly all of them started through the pandemic as much Filipinos resorted to the ancient trading practice to feed their own families.
Google search volume in the Philippines for the keywords “barter food” soared 300 percent in-may from April, iPrice Group within a recently available study, as lockdowns squeezed household budgets and made travelling about difficult.
Its analysis of 85 popular Facebook barter groups, with an increase of than two million members altogether, found food and other groceries were being among the most sought-after items.
People post photographs and specifications of the products they want to swap, indicate what they need in return and negotiate via the comments section.
After successfully bartering baby bottles that she no more needed, Imperio swapped a baby’s down jacket and a Ralph Lauren hoodie for six kilogrammes (13 pounds) of rice.
While the Nike slip-on shoes were traded for a chicken, another pair hasn't had any takers after three weeks.
“Old items are more difficult to market,” the 28-year-old said. “With bartering, it’s simpler to convert them into food.”
Swapping to survive
Jocelle Batapa Sigue launched Bacolod Barter Community four months ago out of frustration at not being able to go shopping and a desire to greatly help others.
Her husband held the family’s only quarantine travel pass, which persons were required to carry if they left their homes through the lockdown.
“It’s problematic for me to get what I want when I tell my hubby to get it,” said Sigue, who's a legal professional in the central city of Bacolod.
The group has a lot more than 230,000 members with more joining each day, she said.
Sigue estimates thousands of items-from shampoo and birthday cakes to cell phones and eyeliner-change practical her site daily.
“Without the pandemic, I don’t think the barter community would be popular,” she said.
An estimated 5.2 million Filipino families had experienced “hunger due to lack of food to eat” at least once in the last three months-the highest in practically six years, a survey in early July by pollster Social Weather Stations showed.
But it is not just cash-strapped persons bartering their belongings.
Others are taking the opportunity to dispose of goods they no more need after quarantine measures upended normal life.
Chona de Vega, 57, traded her hair-straighter and electric kettle for a bag of groceries and today plans to get rid of her iron.
“I have no use for this,” said de Vega, who lives in Manila and spends the majority of her time in the home because of travel restrictions.
Charles Ramirez, who runs a 14,000-member bartering site in the capital, said a “big percentage” of his group are in poverty and mostly require groceries.
“Folks are realising that while they have no money, they have accumulated a whole lot of material things (they are able to swap),” said Ramirez, who create his group in-may after losing his job as a grocery wholesaler.
“It’s a depressing feeling, of course, having to forget about things you have accumulated merely to have the ability to survive.”
