Follow the cake
Follow the cake in Makati
By Camille Anne M. Arcilla and Gervie Kay S. Estella |Philippine Daily Inquirer12:01 am | Sunday, September 21st, 2014
The cakes that the Makati City local government gives out to its senior citizens on their birthdays are made in Quiapo, Manila.
From its bakery at 923 R. Hidalgo St., Bakerite has been delivering the cakes to the Makati City Hall since March about 7:30 a.m. every day, replacing Cups and Mugs Kitchenette.
Sonia Delmo, 42, has gotten used to reporting for work 30 minutes before 8 a.m. just to count the more than a hundred cakes bound for a cluster of barangay.
Delmo is one of the six clerks from the Makati Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWD) who distribute chiffon cakes to around 300 senior citizens in the city’s 33 barangays every weekday.
“We have to make sure the cakes are complete because the seniors are already expecting them during their birthdays,” she said.
Residents 60 and above—from those in exclusive villages like Bel-Air and Forbes Park, to those in Barangays Rizal, East and West Rembo, and Pembo, where most of the city’s poorest live—receive a round chiffon cake the size of a regular luncheon plate.
The Bakerite cakes are priced at P306.75 each, as shown in the receipt handed by the supplier to officials of the social welfare department. The previous supplier prepared smaller cakes at P180 each.
Starting 2003
The cake-giving program started in 2003, when Vice President Jejomar Binay was still mayor. It was former social welfare head Marjorie de Veyra who pitched the idea.
“There might have been an instance when the mayor brought the cake to a senior citizen. From there, De Veyra thought, ‘Why don’t we give birthday cakes to senior citizens?’” MSWD officer in charge Ryan Barcelo said.
The cakes bore the words: “Happy Birthday, from: People of Makati,” similar to those on the printed cards posted on the cakes’ boxes. In previous years, it was: “Happy Birthday, from: Mayor Jun Binay.”
By Camille Anne M. Arcilla and Gervie Kay S. Estella |Philippine Daily Inquirer12:01 am | Sunday, September 21st, 2014
The cakes that the Makati City local government gives out to its senior citizens on their birthdays are made in Quiapo, Manila.
From its bakery at 923 R. Hidalgo St., Bakerite has been delivering the cakes to the Makati City Hall since March about 7:30 a.m. every day, replacing Cups and Mugs Kitchenette.
Sonia Delmo, 42, has gotten used to reporting for work 30 minutes before 8 a.m. just to count the more than a hundred cakes bound for a cluster of barangay.
Delmo is one of the six clerks from the Makati Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWD) who distribute chiffon cakes to around 300 senior citizens in the city’s 33 barangays every weekday.
“We have to make sure the cakes are complete because the seniors are already expecting them during their birthdays,” she said.
Residents 60 and above—from those in exclusive villages like Bel-Air and Forbes Park, to those in Barangays Rizal, East and West Rembo, and Pembo, where most of the city’s poorest live—receive a round chiffon cake the size of a regular luncheon plate.
The Bakerite cakes are priced at P306.75 each, as shown in the receipt handed by the supplier to officials of the social welfare department. The previous supplier prepared smaller cakes at P180 each.
Starting 2003
The cake-giving program started in 2003, when Vice President Jejomar Binay was still mayor. It was former social welfare head Marjorie de Veyra who pitched the idea.
“There might have been an instance when the mayor brought the cake to a senior citizen. From there, De Veyra thought, ‘Why don’t we give birthday cakes to senior citizens?’” MSWD officer in charge Ryan Barcelo said.
The cakes bore the words: “Happy Birthday, from: People of Makati,” similar to those on the printed cards posted on the cakes’ boxes. In previous years, it was: “Happy Birthday, from: Mayor Jun Binay.”