Pasko sa V. Rama on its 17th year

CEBU, Philippines - The spirit of Christmas refuses to leave the streets of Calamba, San Nicolas and Guadalupe in Cebu City as the Pasko sa V. Rama carried on this year despite the lack of budget.

The Pasko sa V. Rama, a pet project of Mayor Michael Rama when he was still a councilor, is on its 17th year.

This yearly activity aims to liven up V. Rama street from December 1 to December 31 to celebrate the Christmas.

There are also competitions on who has the best decoration.

It used to get more than half a million assistance from the Cebu City Government but this year, the Council did not allow the budget to be charged against the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) Fuds because charges against this account already exceeded its balance.

This year, the proposed cost of the Pasko sa V. Rama would reach P713,450.

Gisela Palacios, Pasko sa V. Rama project chairman, said that the Christmas Spirit of the Pasko sa V. Rama participants is commendable because they chose to join even without the seed money.

The Pasko sa V. Rama was able to carry on this year with solicitations from friends and private individuals but the organizers had to cost-cut.

Palacios said they did not distribute seed money which was P5,000 per participant last year because of lack of budget. Participants instead agreed to shoulder their own expenses.

Due to minimal budget, the competition was also reduced to one category this year.

Palacios said the prize for the competition is still to be decided depending on how much they will be able to raise. She added that they are disappointed with the Council for not approving the budget. She said that even during the time of the previous administration, then mayor now Rep. Tomas Osmeña was in full support of the project.

She said that it is not fair that the project was affected by politics. —/JPM (FREEMAN)