The Makati City government has started giving Christmas bags to over 300,000 of its residents under its “Pamaskong Handog” program, including some 78,000 senior citizens and around 100,000 students in the city’s public schools.
Mayor Abigail Binay has ordered the early distribution of the bags for the convenience of senior citizens and to ensure that students would get their bags before they go on Christmas break.
Senior citizens who are Blu Card holders can get their bags upon claiming their year-end cash gift in their respective barangays on designated dates that started on November 23 until December 11.
The distribution of bags for students in preschool to senior high school, as well as special education (SpEd) centers, has started on November 27 and will run until December 13.
“We want our beloved Makatizens, especially the children and the elderly, to get their bags early and with ease so that they could fully enjoy the contents. We have customized the goods in each bag according to their age groups,” Binay said.
On December 1 the mayor led the ceremonial opening of the kubol (booth) of Pamaskong Handog bags at the City Hall Quadrangle and personally distributed bags to a number of senior citizens.
This year the city government is giving away more than 58,000 bags to children in day care, kindergarten, elementary, SpEd and alternative learning system which contain the following items: one t-shirt, two small boxes of raisins, five single-serve packs of instant oatmeal, a medium-sized cheese, a box of ready-to-cook chocolate hotcake, a box of quick-cook champorado, 12 single packs of tonic food drink, two packs each of single-serve choco flakes and fruit cereals, 10 single packs each of crackers and stick biscuits, 20 single packs of kiddie biscuits and an 18-piece pack of assorted fruit-flavored jelly.
For high-school students, each of over 41,000 bags contains one t-shirt, six packs of instant oatmeal, a slab of cheese, a box of ready-to-cook chocolate hotcake, a box of quick-cook arroz caldo, two boxes of champorado, a box of choco milk powder, 12 single packs of tonic food drink, 10 single packs of crackers, eight packs of instant pancit canton and a small can each of pineapple tidbits and pineapple juice.
Meanwhile, over 200,000 bags have been allocated for city residents, City Hall employees, public-school teachers and students and faculty of the University of Makati, each containing two t-shirts; three cans each of tuna flakes in oil, tuna flakes caldereta and corned beef; a can of lite luncheon meat; two cans of vienna sausage; one pack each of spaghetti pasta and sauce; a can each of fruit cocktail, condensed milk and all-purpose cream; and cheese.
The yearly Pamaskong Handog project is a tradition that started several years ago for residents and city employees and was expanded in 2013 to include public-school students as beneficiaries.