Across Metro Manila this year, the Christmas season has arrived not quietly but in full glow. City halls, parks, streets and public spaces are once again illuminated with shimmering trees, attractive parols (Christmas lantern), cascading lights and large-scale installations that invite people outdoors — to linger, to take photos, to feel that familiar sense of shared celebration. The season’s decorations have grown more ambitious and some even more thoughtful, turning civic spaces into places of celebration and also reflection.
Parañaque City is among those that have embraced this spirit with thoughtfulness. On 1 December, the city government, led by Mayor Edwin L. Olivarez, formally inaugurated its Christmas tree and decorations at the Parañaque City Hall complex — unveiling "Pasko ng Parañaqueño," a concept that treats the Christmas season not simply as spectacle, but as story, identity and values made visible in light.
Conceived by creative director and events and tourism consultant Nilo Agustin, “Pasko ng Parañaqueño” is anchored on the idea that Christmas decorations can dazzle as well as speak, teach and remind. Throughout the city hall grounds and façade, light installations unfold as a visual narrative of what it means to be Parañaqueño —rooted in faith, grounded in community, and open to all.
At the center of the display stands a Christmas tree that is deliberately simple in form but rich in symbolism. It is borne by four figures of Queño, the city’s mascot, each one representing an ideal or value: maka-diyos, maka-bayan, maka-kapwa and maka-kalikasan. These values — faith, love of country, compassion for others, and care for the environment — are presented as lived principles that shape everyday life in the city.
“More than a festive icon, Queño stands as the values ambassador guiding every Parañaqueño towards its vision as the ‘Mega City by The Bay,’” explained Agustin.
Surrounding the central tree, which is located behind the monument of hero Jose Rizal, are smaller, uniformly-sized Christmas trees, each representing one of Parañaque’s 16 barangays. Together, they form an image of unity and bayanihan.
The Christmas trees are in stylized conical shape, and paneled, evocative of stained glass windows as well as the Filipino parols.
The belen or the Filipino depiction of the Nativity scene, prominently set against the city hall façade, deepens this narrative. Here, the Holy Family is not isolated in a distant biblical past. Instead, they flanked by figures that mirror the city’s present-day reality.
Running along the façade are illuminated panels designed like stained glass windows, each depicting different professions, sectors and communities that make up the city — fisherfolk and farmers recalling Parañaque’s coastal and agricultural roots, jeepney drivers and construction workers representing daily labor, professionals and government workers reflecting service and responsibility. Doctors and nurses stand among them, a nod to the frontliners whose work has defined the pandemic years. Elderly citizens and persons with disabilities are included with dignity and care, affirming their place at the heart of the community rather than at its margins. One panel, in particular, has drawn warm attention: the inclusion of the LGBTIQ+ community among the sectoral representations. Rendered with the same respect and prominence as the other figures, it is a heartening gesture of visibility and inclusion — quietly affirming that Parañaque’s Christmas story is one that recognizes diversity and belonging as part of the common good.
These panels function almost like an outdoor gallery — decorative, yes, but also informative. Among them is a panel honoring embroidery, a thoughtful tribute to Parañaque’s history as a center of hand embroidery in Metro Manila. In recalling this once-thriving craft, the decorations reconnect the present to the past, reminding viewers that the city’s identity has been shaped as much by skilled hands as by modern growth.
“The various sectoral representations… speak greatly of the dynamic spirit of the Parañaqueño character. Together, they weave a story of unity where each Parañaqueño contributes his share to celebrating Christmas not only as a season of joy but as a commitment to values and thanksgiving,” averred Agustin.
These light installations were created by the Quiwa family, a prominent lantern-making family, from San Fernando City, Pampanga, famous for its Christmas lantern traditions and industry.
Cascading lights spill from trees and walkways, framing the city hall grounds in a gentle glow that softens the urban landscape. At night, the space becomes a place not just to pass through, but to gather — families strolling, workers pausing after office hours, children pointing at figures and lights that invite questions and stories.
In "Pasko ng Parañaqueño," the Christmas season is presented with careful design and clear intention to tell a story of faith practiced in every day life, of community built across differences, and of a city that remembers where it came from even as it looks ahead.