Bela Padilla, together with the Philippine Army, gives out supplies to those affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Image: Instagram/@bela
In an effort to alleviate the struggle of the marginalized amid the COVID-19 pandemic, actress Bela Padilla handed out food and grocery supplies to citizens from different cities in the metro with the help of the Philippine Army. This followed her fundraising initiative which got P3.3 million in two days.
Encouraged by her fundraising success and egged on by her “new friends” from the Army, Padilla is considering doing a second round.
“We repacked everything this morning, we split the donations into different cities, we handed them out ourselves… and we are willing to do that again if you guys want one more day of this,” she said on her Instagram Stories yesterday, March 19. “Let me know.”
Screengrab from Bela Padilla‘s Instagram Stories. Image: Instagram/@bela
The actress and her team also gave some supplies to other uniformed personnel manning the checkpoints.
Earlier this week, the actress first expressed her concern for street vendors and other workers who would be affected by the community quarantine through social media. This prompted her to begin a fundraiser online, as more of her friends from the industry reached out to help her.
Screengrab from Bela Padilla‘s Instagram Stories. Image: Instagram/@bela
Padilla also thanked the Philippine Army, which provided transportation and manpower to support the actress’ initiative via her Instagram post yesterday.
After spending the day visiting different areas, Padilla shared her “learnings” with her followers. She noted how some residents from other cities were still roaming around despite the strict advisory to stay under home quarantine to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Most of the cities have been complying with the lockdown… but there were a few cities we visited that was shocking because everyone was on the road,” she said. “It felt like a summer holiday instead of a community quarantine.”
Padilla then implored local governments to strengthen their efforts to educate the community about the pandemic since not everyone has access to this information. /ra
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