By BIN Staff | 09:30 AM June 01, 2020
Anella Miculob was looking for eggs to use for baking.
She couldn’t be any happier after she got one tray of eggs that she needed plus some barely used flower pots in exchange with a brand new baby suit that she owned.
The deal was sealed with the help of an online barter group on Facebook called Bohol Barter Community (BBCo).
Mae Mardo also received unused shoes through Freecycle Bohol, another online barter group on Facebook.
Bartering is not something new to Filipinos. Historically, bartering was done in the earlier days.
BBCo and Freecycle Bohol are just among the online barter groups that are pushing for cashless transactions amid quarantine restrictions due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
BBCo has more than 34,000 members since its creation last May 15, while Freecycle Bohol has 7,900 members.
The administrators of BBCo implementS strict rules against cash payments.
In Freecycle Bohol, a member can give something by typing “offer.”
The freecyler who posted will decide who can get the item and will also update the post as “gifted” if the item was given.
Upon receiving the item, it’s now the receiver’s turn to offer anything to Freecycle so that the cycle won’t stop.
In BBco, their mechanics are similar.
A member can post the item they want to barter with a short description, photograph and its estimated value. The post also requires the member to place the item they wanted to trade it for.
When a deal is closed, those bartering the items or services arrange a meetup.
The administrators who are composed of young entrepreneurs of Bohol–lead by John Paul Lim, Aimee Lim, Dalareich Polot, Joy Angeli Uy, Ian Uy, Vincent Racho, Wynna Aligam, Paolo Ram and many others–said that the platform also connect and build friends.
In Freecycle, if you need something, just type “request.” If you want to give, just type “offer.”
Backstories of items can lead people closer in just a day and positivity is slowly spreading around the island of Bohol.
Bartering is slowly transcending to sharing with compassion.
Gliceria Sarabia Caberte aka Aurelia Maxima shared two paintings of her daughter, Demi Marie S. Caberte, who has cerebral palsy up for barter.
She bartered the paintings in exchange for her daughter’s favorite snacks – a Big Mac burger with McFloat at a fastfood chain and three packs of Oreo.
In less than an hour of posting, it gained almost a thousand likes and dozens of comments. The fastest hands took home the prized paintings but that didn’t stop other Boholanos to send out more snacks and share more blessings to this talented young lady.
Jham Ayka was grateful for the grocery items she received from a member of Freecycle Bohol.
These acts of generosity are what make people more hopeful in this trying time.
The future may not be certain but one thing is for sure, Boholanos will still continue to be resilient and will be more compassionate now, moving forward.
Let us not stop the cycle.
