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President Rodrigo Roa Duterte visited and cheered up young cancer patients at a government hospital in Mindanao a few hours before Christmas Eve. This was at the Southern Philippines Medical Center’s House of Hope in Davao City which the President visited on Saturday, December 24. Currently, it has 229 patients admitted. There are 72 children with cancer and 157 non-cancer patients.

President Duterte gave away 300 pieces of gift packs which contained biscuits, candies, tetra pack juices toys, and canned goods to the cancer-afflicted children and their caretakers.

For a brief moment, the children and their parents or watchers were treated to a brief respite from their pains and worries brought about by the affliction of the young patients with this dreaded disease.

President 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 child patients undergoing treatment at the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao come from remote areas in Mindanao that are distant from Davao. 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.