All Department of Education (DepEd) offices and schools, including those in Negros Occidental, have been instructed to scale down their Christmas celebrations, and to utilize their savings as donations for calamity-hit communities.
Hernani Escullar, spokesperson of DepEd Western Visayas, said on Friday, Nov. 29, said that they received a memorandum following a directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. encouraging all government agencies to avoid excessive or extravagant celebrations during the Christmas season following recent calamities, especially in Luzon.
This call is “in solidarity with the millions of our countrymen who continue to grieve over lives, homes and livelihoods lost during the six typhoons that pummeled us in a span of less than a month”, the DepEd memorandum said.
Escullar said savings derived from scaled down activities in Western Visayas will be sent to Bicol, which was the worst hit by Typhoon “Kristine”.
A donation drive will also be conducted in the DepEd offices and schools to help the victims of the calamites, he said.
However, donations should be made voluntarily, Escullar stressed.*