FILE PHOTO: Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Monday, September 23, 2024, during 2025 budget deliberations at the Senate. – Bersamins said in a statement on November 19, 2024, that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. encouraged government agencies to avoid lavish Christmas parties “in solidarity with the millions” affected by recent typhoons. Bersamins said Marcos issued the call sans a formal written order, relying on the ”kindness” of his fellow government workers. Photo from Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. encouraged government agencies to avoid lavish Christmas parties “in solidarity with the millions” affected by recent typhoons.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamins said Marcos issued the call sans a formal written order, relying on the ”kindness” of his fellow government workers.

“Per the call of our President, we encourage all government agencies to avoid lavish celebrations this Christmas,” Bersamin said in Filipino in a statement released Tuesday.

“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,” he added.

READ: Marcos: Share our Christmas gifts with typhoon victims

Marcos urged government agencies to donate instead the funds it will save from not staging grand Christmas parties to cyclone-hit communities.

Marcos also vowed that cyclone-devastated areas would feel the Christmas spirit early, in the form of relief goods and assistance to rebuild their houses and livelihoods.

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