フィリピンのクリスマスとギフトバッグ

冬も深まり、いよいよクリスマスがやってきます。クリスマスへの意気込みが日本とは違うフィリピン。

そんなフィリピンのパシッグ市から販売されるギフトバッグ「パマスコン ハンドグ」が話題に上がっていた。このギフトバッグ、お米やパスタにフルーツとチーズ等々たくさん入っていて１つのハンドグのコストは５６５ペソ(約１,２００円)。これをタダで貰えるだなんて…豪華すぎる。

日本でもそんな豪華な思いやりのあるギフトバッグ、提供して欲しい。ですが、お国柄と文化の違いから生まれる伝統なのでフィリピンでだけ楽しめる文化ですね。
コロナ禍でも文化や伝統を大事にするためにパシッグ市も入念に対策を組んでいるそうです。

以下、Manila Bulletinより抜粋

Pasig City starts distribution of ‘Pamaskong Handog’ gift bags

Pasig City began on Saturday (Dec. 5) the distribution of “Pamaskong Handog” gift bags to each family in the city.

Pasig City starts today, Dec. 5, the distribution of ‘Pamaskong Handog’ gift bags to every family in the city. Mayor Vico Sotto kicked off the house-to-house distribution of the gift bags to the first 13 barangays in the city.
Mayor Vico Sotto kicked off this year’s house-to-house distribution of Christmas gift bags to the first 13 barangays in the city where each family will receive a gift bag from the local government.

With the ongoing threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Sotto said the distribution team were subjected to swab tests to ensure the safety of residents.

“Medyo malungkot dahil bawal muna ang mga party. Nandyan pa rin ang banta ng [COVID-19] (It’s a bit sad because parties are not allowed this year. The threat of COVID-19 is still here),” he said.

“Pero gagawin natin ang lahat para maging masaya pa rin sa Pasig ngayong Kapaskuhan (But we will do everything to ensure that Christmas will still be merry in Pasig),” he added.

For this year’s Pamaskong Handog, the local government has allotted about P204 million to produce 360,000 bags, according to a cost breakdown shared by Sotto on his social media pages recently.

Each gift bag costs P565 which includes two kilos of rice, spaghetti, condensed milk, nata de coco, corned beef, luncheon meat, fruit cocktail, canned sausage, and cheese.

Aside from food items, the local government also included washable cloth masks in the gift bags.

Residents were told to present a proof of residence and their PasigPass, the city’s digital contact tracing solution, upon receiving the food bags.

“When no one is in the house to receive, you can still get your Pamaskong Handog bags. We will leave a letter with instructions on how to claim it,” the local government said.