Actress’ campaign for quarantine-affected street vendors exceeds donation goal

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 18) — The crowdfunding effort of actress Bela Padilla to help street vendors affected by the community quarantine has gone better than expected.

Her online fundraising campaign surpassed the ₱1-million target on Wednesday after she received a hefty donation of ₱2 million.

The actress launched the donation drive on March 15 upon the imposition of a Metro Manila-wide quarantine to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease or COVID-19. She set up an account on crowdfunding website GoGetFunding to help vendors who may be unable to provide food for their families while the region is under a monthlong quarantine.

In the GoGetFunding page named “pagkain para sa pinoy,” Padilla wrote: "During this inevitable pandemic, there will be a lot of Filipinos who won’t be able to rely on their normal sources of income. Our favorite taho, dirty ice cream and banana cue vendors won’t be able to secure enough money to guarantee food for their families at the end of the day for one month until our community quarantine is over."

Because of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country, President Rodrigo Duterte on March 15 placed Metro Manila under “community quarantine," restricting travels to and from the region beginning that day until April 14. Several cities in Metro Manila also imposed an 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.

The chief executive later ordered the expansion of the said measure, placing the entire Luzon island group in what authorities call an “enhanced community quarantine" starting midnight of March 17 until April 13.