Netizens praise Erwan Heussaff’s help to the Maginhawa community pantry

While local community pantries in different parts of the Philippines, one celebrity actually secretly made a sizeable donation to the very first one in Maginhawa street. A keen netizen spotted his name among the list of donors on the crowdfunding page that Ana Patricia Non organized.

Netizens praise Erwan Heussaff’s help to the Maginhawa community pantry

Secret donation by Filipino celebrities

Chef and vlogger Erwan Heussaff gave 2,000 US dollars for the cause. Without fanfare or announcement, he supported this good initiative. However, screenshots circulate on Twitter. One user even posted his admiration towards this move:

“I just need to mention this celeb guy who silently supported this cause. Mabuhay ang mga organizers ng mga community pantries!”

Other Pinoy celebrities also help people without publicity. Recently, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto announced his gratitude t for the PHP 1M donation from Erwan’s wife Anne Curtis and Angel Locsin. They continuously make contributions to relief programs since the start of the pandemic.

Even with the red-tagging incident, donations continue to pour into the Maginhawa community pantry. In fact, Patricia’s sister opened a PayPal page with an initial goal of reaching USD 5,000. When the controversy began, the total amount raised for this cause is almost USD 20,000 or PHP 967,000.

A mandate to penalize red-tagging of community pantry organizers

Meanwhile, a House leader is requesting the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe into the reported incidents of red-tagging of community pantries. Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez explained, “There is a need to look into the red-tagging activities to put a stop to it if it results in good ideas like community pantries being forced to close down”.

Aside from that, Rodriguez revealed that one of it shut off its operation after authorities “systematically harassed the organizers. Policemen also profiled a Muslim restaurant owner after she set up a community pantry outside her restaurant.

Sad to say, there’s no law yet to punish red-tagging. Because of this, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon has filed a bill in the upper chamber which seeks to define and penalize the crime of red-tagging. This is still pending at the committee level.