Senate cancels Christmas party; funds go to typhoon victims

The Senate on Monday decided to cancel its annual Christmas party and instead, donate the funds intended for the festivity to help the victims of recent calamities. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the Senate employees themselves suggested the cancellation of the party. "I commend our Senate employees and the Secretary of the Senate herself for being among the first to suggest, even as I was already preparing to announce it, to cancel our scheduled Christmas party and, instead, to just donate the budget for the Christmas celebration to the typhoon and flood victims," Enrile said in a speech during the flag ceremony that marked the Philippine Senate’s 93rd anniversary. The Senate, through its discretionary funds, earlier donated P500,000 each to GMA Kapuso Foundation, ABS-CBN Foundation, Inc., and the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) to support their ongoing efforts to provide immediate relief assistance for the typhoon victims. [See: Senate donates P1.5M to victims of ‘Ondoy’] Also, the Senate welfare fund of P120,000 was donated and divided among the three organizations. Enrile said the loss of lives and extensive damage to property caused by tropical cyclones Ondoy, Pepeng, and Quedan require immediate actions and cooperation from all fronts in providing relief assistance to the victims and "we know that these organizations have the appropriate machinery to provide such." The amount collected by the Senate Public Assistance Center (PAC) will also be used to purchase goods for the barangays, which are in dire need of assistance as identified by the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on tropical storm Ondoy. - GMANews.TV