Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay on Monday led the ceremonial opening of the “Paskuhan Kubol” (Christmas booth) at the city hall quadrangle and reassured residents that the annual Christmas gift bags are all packed and ready for distribution.
“Yearly, we see to it that the distribution of Christmas gift bags will be done early December so that residents can plan for their Noche Buena and make good use of the products contained in the bag,” said Binay.
The city chief executive said some 97,172 bags will be distributed to residents per household of all 33 barangays of the city.
She added each bag contains a Makatizen shirt, three cans each of plain canned tuna, flavored canned tuna and corned beef, a can of luncheon meat, two cans of sausage, a pack of spaghetti sauce, a pack of pasta, a can of fruit cocktail, a can of condensed milk, a slab of cheese, and a pack of cream.
During the ceremony, Binay also handed Pamaskong Handog bags and tickets to the barangay captains for distribution to their respective barangay officials and employees.
For senior citizens numbering over 76,000, the distribution of Christmas goodies started earlier, coinciding with the distribution of their yearend cash gift on scheduled dates in their respective barangays from Nov. 16 until Dec. 9.
Aside from over 9,000 city government employees, other beneficiaries of the project include 6,265 solo parents and families under Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in the city.
In all, around 230,000 bags have been allotted by the city government under the Pamaskong Handog project this year.
In addition to the Paskuhan Kubol at the City Hall Quadrangle, the gift bags will also be distributed through satellite claiming centers in selected barangays per district from Dec. 3 to 6.
Remaining Christmas gift bags can be claimed at the kubol until Jan. 31, 2020.