Celebs lead telethons for supertyphoon victims

GMA 7 morning show “Unang Hirit” makes way for a telethon, with hosts Lyn Ching and Suzi Entrata-Abrera (standing, left and right) and other Kapuso stars.

Now for a glimpse of that rainbow after the storm.

In an e-mail message, filmmaker Jose Javier Reyes told the Inquirer: “It is now, more than any other time, that celebrity power can be put to great use.”

The country’s top three networks initiated individual efforts to raise donations, in cash and in kind, for the victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

Last Sunday, the TV5 musical series “The Mega and the Songwriter” gave way to a telethon dubbed “Kanta at Biyaya.”

Hosts Sharon Cuneta and Ogie Alcasid joined fellow Kapatid stars—Aga Muhlach, Alice Dixson, Derek Ramsay, Raymond Gutierrez, Martin Escudero—along with Smart Gilas Pilipinas basketball players, in manning phone lines.

ALICE Dixson makes time for the TV5 fundraiser.

Among the 60 singers who performed was, crossing network lines, Darryl Shy of ABS-CBN’s “The Voice of the Philippines.”

Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez related reports from her staff of the devastation in her home city, Ormoc.

P30M in three hours

NOVA Villa

Jump-started by donations from TV5 boss Manny V. Pangilinan and his various companies, the telethon raised over P30 million in three hours for the network’s Alagang Kapatid Foundation.

Since the show was aired on TV5’s international channels, donations also came in from abroad.

Cuneta invited the various companies whose products and services she endorses to pitch in. She pledged P5 million through Aboitiz Foundation and another P5 million through Alagang Kapatid.

She said Aboitiz Foundation hoped to raise at least P200 million. “They’ve made P135 million so far, P50 million of that from their own companies.”

From “The Mega and the Songwriter,” the telethon, dubbed “Tulong Kapatid, Sulong Kapatid,” continued in “Good Morning Club.”

Rated ‘Kapamilya’

Over at ABS-CBN, Korina Sanchez and Kris Aquino held telethons during their respective shows.

KAPUSO stars Diva Montelaba and Mark Herras take donors’ calls.

Teen star Kathryn Bernardo, cagers Jeric and Jeron Teng and fashion designer Renee Salud took calls during Sanchez’s Sunday program, “Rated K.”

On Monday and Tuesday, Aquino’s show, “Kris TV,” featured Kapamilya stars Anne Curtis, Kim Chiu, John Lapus, Pooh and Kim Atienza, doing their share.

Billy Crawford, Vhong Navarro and other Kapamilya stars vowed to hold charity basketball games. As usual, Angel Locsin volunteered at the Philippine Red Cross relief center.

Celeb auction

DINGDONG Dantes and Marian Rivera

For GMA 7’s telethon, Kapuso  stars—led by Nova Villa, Julia Clarete, LJ Reyes, Julia Clarete and Rhian Ramos—made themselves available for viewers who were phoning in their pledges.

Marian Rivera, also a Red Cross volunteer, helped boyfriend Dingdong Dantes in the relief drive launched by his Yes Pinoy Foundation at the Quezon City Memorial Circle. Regine Velasquez auctioned off several of her purses and husband Ogie’s watches.

On the program “Unang Hirit” Tuesday morning, Janine Gutierrez and Elmo Magalona, lead stars of the afternoon soap  “Villa Quintana,” took donors’ phone calls.

Magalona said it was his third time to do a telethon and noted that calamities had become much too frequent.

On the bright side, these mishaps can also serve as opportunities for Filipinos, famous or not, to summon up the bayanihan spirit.