DECEMEBR 24, 2016, on the eve of Christmas, President Rodrigo R. Duterte visited the Children's Cancer Center at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) in Davao City.
Busy as he is, he made sure that the visit to the children with cancer is fitted into his calendar. Thus, there he was just hours before Christmas Day.
Spreading cheer, bringing hope, sharing compassion to children and parents who may be losing hope.
Evening of the 24th, during the evening mass at Sto. Nino Parish in Midsayap, North Cotabato, two men on board a motorbike hurled the grenade at a police vehicle parked just outside the church around 9:30 p.m., killing three and injuring 16 churchgoers.
By Christmas morning, the President was on his way to Midsayap to visit the injured at the Anecito T. Pesante Sr. Memorial Hospital.
We can expect the President to be much busier as reports of massive devastation have been received in Oas, Albay, throttled by typhoon Nina, which hit Bicol Region on Christmas night.
We thus recall past presidencies where the presidential family would retreat to Baguio City for an undisturbed break. Not this President.
The President is showing us how to be a true public servant, by this time, the public servants among us should already be on their toes and following suit, while the ordinary citizens among us should be obeying rules and being the good citizen that we are expected to be.
Let the detractors go on destroying whatever image they can destroy, but let us not allow them to destroy what being a Filipino is. In the end, it's our country, we just have to stand up for it and do our part as citizens.
As we watch some people trying to break up the small gains we are now enjoying, let us read through a poem that has often been quoted in calling on a people to forge on to an ideal.
Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves, When our dreams have come true Because we have dreamed too little, When we arrived safely Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when With the abundance of things we possess We have lost our thirst For the waters of life, Having fallen in love with life, We have ceased to dream of eternity And in our efforts to build a new earth, We have allowed our vision Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, To venture on wider seas Where storms will show your mastery, Where losing sight of land, We shall find the stars. We ask You to push back The horizons of our hopes, And to push into the future In strength, courage, hope, and love. (Attributed to Sir Francis Drake -1577)