Christmas spending down 20%
MORE DONATIONS FOR “YOLANDA” VICTIMS
PEOPLE spent less this Christmas for grocery items and other gift packs with sales going down by 20 percent compared with the previous year, according to one supermarket chain operating in Pangasinan and other parts of Luzon.
However, the chair of the CSI group of companies, Dagupan Mayor Belen Fernandez, does not consider this a setback because consumers, she said, opted instead to give their money to victims of Typhoon Yolanda in the Visayas.
“Sales for Christmas parties and exchange gifts were instead used by people for nobler purpose,” said Fernandez, whose CSI employees sent donations to the calamity survivors.
She noted that many companies cancelled their Christmas parties, which is usually a significant source of sales for appliances and baskets of goodies for raffle draws and giveaway items.
“People spent less this Christmas for their noche buena, too,” she added.
Nonetheless, Fernandez remains optimistic that private businesses — which suffered in 2013 due to stiff competition, lack of government support and the debilitating effect of Typhoon Yolanda towards the end of the year — will pick up in 2014.
DONATIONS
The Dagupan government itself gave P500,000 for victims of Typhoon Yolanda and led a campaign to solicit more donations from the city’s public and private sectors.
Fernandez recently handed over P1.76 million of donations to Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Austere Panadero.
Panadero said the donations were immediately turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development Central Office through Director Lourdes Fajardo of the Financial and Management Service (FMS).
The breakdown of donations is as follows: P51,420 from city government employees; P86,100, Shakey’s; P30,000, Casa del Nacho management and employees; P50,000, Headzone/ Flawless; P100,000 – RPR Promotions management and employees; P200,000, CSI Houseware and Appliance; P142,100, Goldilocks; P100,000, Best Home; P163,096, CSI Hardware Plus; P25,000, USATV; P7,500, Tokyo Tokyo Dagupan; P5,000, AI Janitorial Services; P298,704 , CSI management and staff; and P5,000, Beauty Resources Enterprise.
Most of these companies are owned or affiliated with the family of Fernandez.
Aside from these, the city also helped in the delivery of used clothing donated by students of the Pangasinan Universal Institute (PUI) in Dagupan.–Eva Visperas
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