President Rodrigo Roa Duterte visited and cheered up children with cancer at a government hospital in Mindanao a few hours before Christmas Eve.

The Southern Philippines Medical Center’s House of Hope in Davao City which the President traditionally visits on Christmas eve has 229 patients, 72 with cancer and 157 non-cancer patients. 

President Duterte gave away gift packs of biscuits, candies, tetra pack juices, toys, and canned goods to the cancer-afflicted children and their caretakers.

For a moment, the children and their parents or carers were given a respite from their usual pains and worries brought about by the dreaded disease.

Duterte brought smiles and laughter to the children and the adults present at his gift-giving activity composed mostly of the children’s parents, relatives, watchers, as well as medical personnel of the hospital.

The House of Hope was established to provide a place to stay for children undergoing treatment for cancer as well as their parents and watchers.

Many of the children undergoing treatment at the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao come from remote areas in Mindanao. Some of the children come as far as the provinces of Surigao and Agusan.

Even before Duterte became President, he was already a supporter of the House of Hope and the young cancer patients. (###PND)