Indie folk-pop Filipino band Ben&Ben raised over 2.7 million pesos within an hour in a Facebook Live concert for the Puhon.ph efforts to support frontliners in the fight against the coronavirus disease.
The FB Live Event went online on Ben&Ben’s page on the evening of March 27, 2020, reached over 100-thousand viewers and sent #Ben&Ben and #BenandBenPuhonFBLive to Twitter Trending topic.
The 9-member group of Ben&Ben, composed of twin brothers vocalists-guitarists Paolo Benjamin and Miguel Benjamin Guico, guitarist Poch Barretto, drummer Jam Villanueva, bassist Agnes Reoma, keyboardist Patricia Lasaten, percussionists Toni Muñoz and Andrew De Pano, and violinist Keifer Cabugao, were seen in 9 separate frames on the FB live video playing their hit songs and some covers from their own homes.
“We are staying at home to help the frontliners against COVID-19,” said Ben&Ben, referring to the Luzon-wide community quarantine declared on March 16, 2020.
The Nat Geo Asia #PlanetorPlastic Ambassadors sang songs and in between spoke about frontliners and how to stay safe and healthy.
“We believe art and music is the antidote for fear, and that is why we are here,” said Ben&Ben in response to a netizen question about developments on the anti-virus for COVID-19.
Ben&Ben encouraged viewers to donate to Puhon.ph whose beneficiaries include the “One Nation Against COVID-19 Project” initiated by Manila HealthTek, the producers of the locally developed COVID-19 test kits, the UP Manila National Institutes of Health, developers of the GenAmplify test kits, IMPACT, a project initiated by different professionals in Cebu City to provide personal protective equipment to frontline health workers of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, CDO COVID Donation Drive for the Cagayan de Oro City health workers, and the PantawidCovid Project, a local youth-led initiative that provides food packs to families of street vendors in Manila throughout the enhanced community quarantine period.
As the Ben&Ben FB Live concert was wrapping up, the twins announced that they have already raised over 2.7 million pesos.
Donations are still accepted on the Puhon.Ph website.
More Filipino musicians have initiated fundraisers to support the Philippines’ frontliners, among them, the Ryan Cayabyab-initiated Bayanihan Musikahan FB Live concert series which recently featured Reuben Laurente, the Filipino singer onboard the distressed M.S. Westerdam cruise ship that was suspected to carry COVID-19 patients.
SEND CHEERS in the comments below to Ben&Ben and Puhon.ph for their initiative to support the Philippines’ frontliners in the fight against COVID-19!
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