Belmonte orders QC hall offices: Cancel Christmas parties, give budget to indigents

MANILA, Philippines — Expect no Christmas parties this year in Quezon City Hall offices and departments as Mayor Joy Belmonte has ordered them to cancel their celebrations and donate their party funds to indigent citizens.

In a memorandum, Belmonte said it would be inappropriate for offices of the local government to hold Christmas parties while many citizens continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The money that would have been spent on office Christmas parties would do more good as donations to the underprivileged during this extraordinarily difficult time in our nation’s history,” Belmonte said.

Belmonte also noted that all city hall offices and departments must adopt members of underprivileged sectors such as displaced workers and jeepney drivers.

She instructed office and department heads to coordinate with the City Social Services and Development to identify legitimate representatives of their chosen underprivileged sector on or before September 30.

“The representative may be a non-government organization, civic group, charity, association or similar organization,” the mayor said.

Belmonte further ordered Quezon City Hall offices and departments to donate the funds to the sectoral representative no later than December 23.

“Ang diwa ng Pasko ay pagmamahal at pagtulong sa kapwa. Mas mahalaga ito kaysa anumang uri ng pagdiriwang,” she pointed out.

(The spirit of Christmas is to help each other. This is more important than any celebration.) – Miggy Dumlao, Trainee

KGA