Sara okays P17-M Pasko Fiesta budget

DAVAO City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio has approved the P17 million Pasko Fiesta budget.

Duterte-Carpio, in an interview on Tuesday, said the budget for the City’s Christmas celebration this year is almost double the amount compared to last years’ budget.

“Our budget this year is P17 million [from] P9 million [last year]. The prizes have been doubled and we also included the food for our security personnel, so it really increased,” she said.

She added that among the events where the prizes have been doubled are Lamdag Parade, Banda Dasig, and Parada sa mga Parol.

Duterte-Carpio said there will be 22 activities all in all and the lighting ceremony or the Pasko Fiesta launch will be on December 1.

Davao City Administrator Zuleika Lopez, in an interview on Monday, said the initial estimate for the budget was at P13 million, which is still more than the budget the previous year.

“Before, hindi tayo nagbigay ng mga consolation prizes, we just gave first, second, and third. This time around we will give more consolation prizes. As much as possible we would like to encourage more participants to join para lahat masaya sa Pasko,” Lopez added.

She added that there will be activities for children, private sector, Indigenous People (IP), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) and for the senior citizen.

“As much as possible it is something that everybody should enjoy because, of course Pasko Fiesta sa Davao is para sa tanan, dili para lang sa selected individuals (Pasko Fiesta in Davao is for all and not just for selected individuals),” Lopez said.

Lopez added that the 40-foot Christmas Tree will be lighted on the launching ceremony.