SAN FERNANDO, Cebu (Decemeber 25, 2020) — No pandemic could stop Santa Claus from bringing cheer to the children of this town on Christmas Day.
Only that he could not soar the skies with his sleigh jumping from one home to another to hand in the gifts himself because of the restrictions and quarantine measures government imposed to keep everyone healthy.
Santa himself wanted to stem SARS-CoV2 from contaminating and prevent it from blooming inside individuals into the dreaded coronavirus disease of 2019 (CoViD-19) that has disturbed many people’s lives.
Gladly, Santa’s elves at Taiheiyo Cement Philippines, Inc. (TCPI) and Solid Earth Development Corp. (SEDC) got creative, as they always are, in finding ways to make sure the children receive the gifts they expect every Christmas.
Santa managed to course it today through the barangay officials, purok leaders and some project beneficiaries of the two allied companies and asked them to distribute the gifts to every household.
Masked adults
The kids may not have seen the huge man in red coat with white hair and beard but they still got their gifts through familiar neighborhood adults, who wore face masks and face shields and who had to keep some distance away.
The elves prepared 470 packs for South Poblacion, 300 each for North Poblacion and Panadtaran, and 250 each for Ilaya and Tonggo, disclosed TCPI community relations coordinator Efren T. Labrado.
They also packed gifts for some 1,700 children in eight hinterland barangays, according to Mitzie Almira I. Carin, SEDC division manager for human resources and administration.
They prepared 350 packs for Tinubdan, 250 packs each for Bugho and Magsico, 200 for Tabionan, 175 each for Cabatbatan and Tañañas, and 150 each for Basak and Tubod.
The children could just but pray that the pandemic would soon be gone so they could return back to school, play with their classmates, cousins and friends and, more importantly, so they could again see Santa Claus come Christmas 2021.
