Bayanihan Musikahan online concert series raises P122 million for the poor

MANILA, Philippines – The Bayanihan Musikahan project of Ryan Cayabyab concluded on May 30 with a final concert celebrating the people and organizations that helped the fundraising project. 

National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab together with his friends initiated the project in March to help address hunger during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The concert series was conducted online via livestream on weeknights in the last two-and-a-half months. More than 150 musical artists performed from their homes in the Philippines and overseas to help support the movement.

Top Filipino performers such as Gary Valenciano, Ebe Dancel, Martin Nievera, and Lea Salonga lent their talents to the project. One of the three livestream sessions that featured Broadway star Lea Salonga raised P1.5 million in an hour.

Bayanihan Musikahan raised more than P122 million as of Saturday. Cash donations have exceeded P90 million.

The project started delivering hot food three times a day to more than 400 homeless individuals under temporary shelter at the College of St. Benilde, De La Salle University and 6 other Manila schools and parishes. The sheltered guests showed their appreciation by organizing themselves into repacking units.

Bayanihan Musikahan partnered with Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) and the Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pamilya ng Pantawid (SNPP) to give food to 70,000 urban poor.

The project distributed 103,154 food packs, which included fresh vegetables and produce in the National Capital Region (NCR) and seven other provinces. 

The project also provided cash aid to the Artists Welfare Project, Inc., which makes facemasks, and to super-carinderia enterprises for the urban poor in Quezon City and Manila. They also sent relief goods to indigenous communities in distress in Lanao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, Polillo Island, and Agusan.