‘Silahis ng Pasko’ opens Baguio holiday program

NATIVITY CHARACTERS Schoolchildren dressed as shepherds from the biblical Nativity story take part in the 41st staging of “Silahis ng Pasko” at Burnham Park in Baguio City. The event opened this year’s Christmas program in the summer capital. VINCENT CABREZA/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAGUIO CITY—Public school pupils and children as young as 4 years old marched on Session Road toward Burnham Park on Monday, dressed as characters, animals and objects described in the Nativity story.

The “Silahis ng Pasko” parade, which has been held for the last 41 years and joined in by Baguio City schoolchildren, marked the opening of the summer capital’s Christmas program.

Silahis ng Pasko, mounted in 1973 by founder Narciso Padilla and a group of local media workers, is a traditional charity event in which many old-timers participated.

The city government provides funds for the event as well as other high-profile activities lined up for the monthlong “Christmas in Baguio” project. But Padilla, now 83, says the charity group’s volunteers solicit money or goods to be given as gifts to children in hospitals on Christmas Day.

The annual Christmas chores have not been discouraged by the dwindling contributions from old families and corporate sponsors, Padilla says, as “people will always help because this is about children.”

Civic groups and the American military commanders of Camp John Hay are also hosting a program, “Share a Joy,” where gifts donated by residents are distributed to poor families. The program will be revived this week by Camp John Hay’s new

administrator, John Hay Management Corp.

On Monday, Padilla, a former city councilor, turned up in a white beard and red Santa Claus suit when he met the young marchers at Burnham Park. He was swarmed by children looking for free candies.

In the 1970s and 1980s, American soldiers stationed at Camp John Hay, the US military’s rest and recreation center, used to distribute candies to children while decked in a costume of old jolly Saint Nicholas. But many residents remember Padilla walking on Session Road and handing out lollipops when they were in grade school in 1973.

Padilla says he has grown too old and wants somebody with integrity and goodwill to replace him and continue his chores each holiday season.

Silahis ng Pasko’s Santa Claus won’t go out of style, he says. Santa Claus has become a nondenominational and nonreligious icon, and will be relevant to a Baguio City that has become multicultural, he says.