4,000 children to enjoy Pasko sa Uptown in Cebu City
Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama, who started this Pasko sa Uptown activity, says Christmas is for children. | CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Pasko sa Uptown in Cebu City targets 4,000 children from the urban poor sector as beneficiaries for their annual gift-giving.
The Cebu City Progressive Uptown Movement (CCPUM), with the coordination of the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP), said that all 80 barangays will be joining this year.
The 4,000 children have been prelisted from the barangays from selected families through the Gender and Development (GAD) focal persons. They will receive bundles of joy, packed snacks and meals, and toys during the distribution.
The distribution will be from December 14 to 21, 2021, with 10 barangays targeted per day. Volunteers will be using the barangay gyms for the distribution, which is why the barangays are asked to cooperate.
Criselito Nieves, president of CCPUM, said that each child must be accompanied by a fully vaccinated parent or fully vaccinated responsible guardian. There will be no need for authorization whatsoever for the guardian.
Minimum health protocols such as wearing of face masks and social distancing will also be required during the distribution.
The goal of the CCPUM is to provide hope to the children, who have been stuck inside their homes for nearly two years because of the pandemic.
Nieves is thankful for the sponsors, who gave their resources for the children, knowing the economic struggles the business sector faced because of the pandemic.
“Sa atong mga sponsors, medyo struggle gyod kay we all know nga daghang mga sectors nga nag temporary close down. Naay uban nga nireach out gyod nga dili pa nila kaya makasupport sa atong project. Ato ra pud silang gisabot. We are thankful sa atong mga partners karon,” said Nieves.
(To our sponsors, it was a struggle for them because we all know that many sectors had closed down. There are others who really reach out that they could not support our project. We understood them. We are thankful for our partners now.)
Currently, the CCPUM is still hoping for private partners that can provide toys for the children because they have yet to procure enough funds for the toys.
Nieves said he hoped that those, who have kind hearts could reach out to them because although the bundles of joys were already enough for the children and their families, the toys would bring additional joy to them.
Engineer Dante Arcilla, new head of the DWUP, said the project that had been going on for 11 years was a symbol of hope for the children of struggling families for a brighter future.
He said he hoped that the project could continue on for the years to come and when the pandemic would end, the project would grow even bigger to accommodate more children beneficiaries.
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