LUNA, Apayao – Governor Elias C. Bulut, Jr. called all heads of the national line agencies stationed at the Province of Apayao along with some of his department heads on October 23 to finalize the plan of putting up a Christmas Village within the Capitol compound and the gift giving activities for identified beneficiaries of the different municipalities.
Timely for this Christmas season, Bulut desires to provide another avenue where government employees could once more literary showcase their ability as public servants in entertaining, presenting their basic services and products in an unusual means and also offering gifts to less fortunate Iapayaos for at least two weeks starting December 5.
Composed of seven clusters from different national line agencies including the Local Government of Luna, the heads or their representatives readily agreed with the plan and expressed their full support for this innovation which the governor has once again perceived after successfully initiating and has sustained the unique celebration of the Philippine Civil Service Anniversary every year where employees usually compete in sports and contested events.
Each cluster is tasked to reach out for the identified beneficiaries in a particular municipality for the gift giving activities. Priorities in the sharing of gifts are the agtas, persons with disability, senior citizens, poorest of the poor, out of school youths and selected high school students and elementary pupils.
The group agreed to provide among others food items, clothes, wheel chairs for the disabled, jackets and blankets for senior citizens, shoes and slippers, umbrellas or raincoats, hygiene kit and Noche Buena pack.
Identified with their colors, each cluster is to visit one municipality. The Green Team is assigned to San Jose, Pudtol for the agtas and the Pink Team to Sta. Marcela for the PWDs while the Red Team will be visiting the senior citizens of Conner.
The Yellow team will be at Calanasan for the “poorest of the poor” beneficiaries and the White and Violet Teams at Flora and Kabugao for the selected high school students and elementary pupils, respectively. For the Orange Team, they are to give gifts to out of school youths at Luna.
The opening and lighting of the Christmas village is set on December 5 in which each cluster will present for two days as scheduled with their “pakulos” to entertain visitors and to sell or provide foods and to readily give gifts if they wish to.
BY GERRIAHZON S. SEBASTIAN