MANILA — There will be no Christmas parties in offices at the Quezon City Hall this year as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said Tuesday.
In a memorandum, Belmonte has ordered the cancellation of Christmas parties of all city hall offices. Instead, funds for the celebration will be diverted to augment the city's relief operations for constituents affected by the pandemic.
"The money that would have been spent on office Christmas parties would do more good as donations to the underprivileged during this extraordinarily difficult time in our nation’s history," Belmonte said in a press release Tuesday.
Belmonte added it would be "inappropriate for offices... to hold customary Christmas parties while many of its citizens are experiencing hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic."
Instead of holding Christmas parties, Belmonte encouraged her employees to "modestly celebrate" the season in their own homes.
Quezon City has recorded 18,657 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, according to city hall data.
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