By Ninfa B Quirante

Catbalogan (26 October) -- Some 600 villagers from all over Catbalogan town swarmed the Samar provincial Capitol lobby today to receive a pack of 2-kilos rice, sardines and noodles from their endeared Governor Milagrosa Tan.

This, said Tan was her early Christmas present to her poorer constituents whom she said has supported her through and through. She added that it is just so little for what the people has done to their Governor. Barely two weeks ago specifically on October 6, she distributed bugas and cash to Pedicab drivers purportedly victims of typhoon Milenyo.

Not a bit affected by the controversies hounding her office, Tan appeared again to greet her ‘supporters’, she told the cheering crowd that the “pamaskong handog’ was just the beginning, that weekly henceforth, until Christmas, she will be appearing as Sta. Claus to other constituents for the same Christmas presents.

With these hard times, receiving 2-kilos of rice for free is always a welcome gesture for the poor Catbalogan villagers, recipients of which came as far as San Andres and the nearest (just behind the Capitol building) Barangay 6.

One senior citizen, who just stood observing, jeered at the scuffle, calling them mendicants who would sell their soul to anyone who could quench their urgent hunger for dole-out. He just, said he, would not queue for the distribution, adding, the practice to tolerate indigence. He noted that the practice only save the poor for a day.