Pagcor Director Eric Nuguid (4th from right) turns over Christmas presents to the Bacolod Girls’ Home Foundation through its director Ellen Lagtapon (3rdfrom left) during Pagcor's gift-giving event in Bacolod City on December 3. The wards of the foundation are among the 7,000 beneficiaries in 36 charitable institutions nationwide of the ongoing “PamaskongHandog ng Pagcor 2011: 25 Days of Christmas, 25 Years of Pagcor” gift-giving project. Also in photo are AVP for Information Technology Albert Villarama (3rd from right), Casino Filipino General Manager Dario Cordero (2nd from right) and Branch Manager Estrella Luz Cabebe (right).
MANILA, Philippines—Officials of the Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp. (Pagcor) played Santa Claus on Sunday to 167 abandoned babies and neglected and abused children from Bacolod.
Four foundations – the Bacolod’s Boys’ Home Foundation, the Bacolod Girls’ Home Foundation, the Holy Infant Nursery Foundation and the Holy Family Home Bacolod Foundation – were the latest beneficiaries of Pagcor’s project dubbed “Pamaskong Handog ng Pagcor 2011: 25 Days of Christmas, 25 Years of Pagcor.”
This year’s 25 days of Christmas gift-giving project of Pagcor started last November 25 and will last until December 19.
Seventeen-year old Raymark Villanueva was one of the 167 beneficiaries who received gift packs containing toiletries and food items from the state-owned gaming firm.
Raymark was barely three years old when a parish worker took him to the Bacolod Boys’ Home Foundation where he had been cared for until now.
Every Christmas, he would secretly wish to someday meet his parents and feel their love.
No one knows if Raymark’s wish will ever come true. But he is nonetheless happy because Bacolod Boys’ Home has provided him the semblance of a family that provides him his basic needs, including guidance and care.
Bacolod Boys’ Home Foundation also provides its wards with education and values formation and love.
“It is not easy to care for the boys with different backgrounds but loving them with kindness is the only way to make the boys feel that they, too, are important,” said Fr. John Cardinal, executive director of the Bacolod Boys’ Home Foundation.
“We all need each other to lighten our load. Living together makes life easier to bear. We express our gratitude to government agencies like Pagcor for reaching out to the less privileged,” Cardinal said.
The Bacolod Girls’ Home Foundation, meanwhile, provides shelter, food and education
to neglected and orphaned young girls from Bacolod City and neighboring towns until they finish secondary education.
After finishing high school, the girls are either reintegrated to their relatives or are given the opportunity to attend college by benefactors and guardians.
Pagcor Director Eric Nuguid (7th from left) turns over the state-gaming agency's Christmas presents to Fr. John Cardinal (center), executive director of Bacolod Boys Home, and the beneficiaries of the foundation during the “Pamaskong Handog ng Pagcor 2011: 25 Days of Christmas, 25 Years of Pagcor” gift-giving event in Bacolod City on December 4. Also in photo are AVP for Information Technology Albert Villarama (6th from left), Casino Filipino General Manager Dario Cordero (6th from right) and Branch Manager Estrella Luz Cabebe (3rd from right)
An elated Ellen Lagtapon, executive director of the Bacolod Girls’ Home Foundation expressed appreciation for Pagcor’s “evident concern for the marginalized girls in Bacolod City. You inspire us to continue doing our best for them.”
Pagcor also reached out to the orphans and abandoned babies at the Holy Infant Nursery and the abused girls at the Holy Family Home Bacolod.
Aside from the gift packs, the state-gaming firm also fulfilled the foundations’ wish lists for Christmas that include computers, printers, electric fans, karaoke set, DVD player, digital camera, sacks of rice, sugar, milk and diapers. The gifts were turned over to the foundations during the Christmas party held at the Casino Filipino – Bacolod Amphitheater on Sunday.
Pagcor director Eric Nuguid, assistant vice president for information technology Albert Villarama, Casino Filipino Bacolod general manager Dario Cordero and branch manager Estrella Luz Cabebe led the distribution of gifts to the beneficiaries.