Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay has ordered the distribution of Christmas Gift bags containing groceries to city residents, public school students and their teachers beginning Dec. 5 in designated distribution booths at city hall and in barangays and schools.
Binay wanted the students to bring home their Christmas gift bags before the long holiday break, so they get to enjoy its contents while on vacation.
“We want to make sure that every student will have their bagful of goodies by the time they go on Christmas break. They can then consume these in a more leisurely manner while enjoying their vacation,” she said.
For the residents, getting their bags early will help them plan ahead for their Noche Buena and promptly buy other ingredients they need in addition to the contents of the bag from the city government, said the mayor.
The city chief executive said the contents of the bags for students have been customized to suit the preferred taste of each school level.
Some 55,000 bags are scheduled for distribution to students in day care, kindergarten, elementary, SPED and ALS. Each bag contains a t-shirt, two packs of raisins, five single packs of instant oatmeal, one slab of cheese, one box each of hotcake mix and arroz caldo, two boxes of champorado, one pack of full cream milk, 12 packs of energy drink, two single packs each of choco cereals and choco flakes, two single packs of bread pan, a 10-piece pack each of crackers and stick biscuits, a 20-piece pack of choco bite-size biscuits, and an 18-piece pack of assorted fruit-flavored jelly.
For high school students, each of some 40,000 bags to be distributed contains one t-shirt, six packs of instant oatmeal, a slab of cheese, one box each of hotcake mix and quick-cook arroz caldo, two boxes of champorado, a pack of full cream milk, 12 single packs of energy drink, 10 single packs of crackers, eight packs of instant pancit canton, and a small can each of pineapple tidbits and pineapple juice.
Meanwhile, some 227,000 bags have been allocated for city residents including senior citizens, City Hall employees, and public school teachers. Each bag contains 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 a slab of cheese.
In sum, the city government has allotted around 322,000 bags under the Pamaskong Handog project this year. The said Christmas tradition was started several years ago by former Vice President Jejomar Binay.
Earlier, Mayor Abby ordered the Makati Social Welfare Department to move up the distribution of over 82,000 bags to senior citizens under the Blu Card program, so they can receive theirs simultaneously with their year-end cash gift. The distribution started last November 19 and will be completed on December 12.