BAGUIO CITY – The sixth child of a construction worker and a housewife became this year’s Silahis ng Pasko Baguio Lucky Christmas Baby.
Baby boy Jacob Mapanao was born at 12:30 a.m. Dec. 25 through normal delivery at the Baguio General Hospital to parents Teresa Mapanao, 33 and Alfie Gallardo, 37 of Asin Road here with the help of attending attending physician Ellaine Loise Viloria.
He is the youngest in the couple’s brood of six with two girls and four boys, the eldest of whom is 11 years old.
Brother Jerick who came before Jacob is 1 year and 7 months old and is suffering from cerebral palsy and development delay.
The annual search was spearheaded by the city government through the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) headed by Betty Fangasan, the National Correspondents Club of Baguio (NCCB) led by former councilor Narciso Padilla, the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) and Baguio balikbayans.
Fangasan and Padilla who as in the past years was clad in Santa Claus costume personally supervised the selection.
The baby received prizes consisting of cash gift, baby clothes and baby blankets from Bonnie and Josephine Delinela, blanket and rice from CSWDO, biscuits from Padilla, grocery items from the OSCA, and baby pillow set from the Federation of Baguio Senior Citizens Association.
Social welfare aide Dolores Busacay said Jacob’s parents who hail from La Union and met and fell in love while working at the Maharlika Livelihood Center were still unmarried.
“They had planned to get married but due to financial constraints, they were not able to pursue the wedding,” Busacay noted.
The family now stays at Asin Road as caretaker of the house of Alfie’s boss at the construction company./Aileen P. Refuerzo#
