On Christmas Day, when most people, especially those who hold power and lofty positions in government, hide in vacation places, President Rody Duterte visited victims of a bombing attack in front of a Catholic Church in Midsayap, North Cotabato.
"I just want to give them comfort and boost their spirits," he told me as he entered the Pesante Community Hospital in Midsayap yesterday where most of the victims, including those who suffered minor injuries, received cash assistance personally from the President.
Three other victims who were seriously wounded, including a female Overseas Worker whose leg was amputated, were in major hospitals in Davao City.
The President's visit to a bombing scene was not expected but it did not come as a surprise.
This was vintage Duterte.
The day before, Dec. 24, he spent long hours with children suffering from Cancer in the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) in Davao City.
Children suffering from cancer have been recipients of Duterte's support when he was Mayor of Davao City.
In fact, in 2014, the City Government of Davao turned over to the House of Hope, a halfway house for children from all over Mindanao stricken with cancer, over P3-M representing fines collected from violators of the city's strict Anti-Smoking Ordinance.
The information that he would visit Midsayap actually reached me before lunch time yesterday while I was in my farm in Kidapawan City for my much-needed Christmas Day break.
I served as Governor of North Cotabato for nine years, from 1998 to 2007, and I felt that I had to be in Midsayap, one of the 18 local government units of the province, as part of protocol and also to show my support for my own people.
Arriving a lot earlier than the President who came at about 4 p.m., I was able to gather some information which I shared with him.
I was told that many more churchgoers who attended the Christmas Eve mass would have been injured or maimed were it not for the very long homily of the assistant parish priest of the Sto. Niño Church.
Churchgoers I talked with said that the priest's homily focused mainly on the issue of the alleged "Extra-Judicial Killings" which the Catholic hierarchy is blaming on President Duterte.
"Gusto na naming lumabas kasi mahaba ang sermon nya na ina-atake si President Duterte. Pero nahiya lang kami,' said one churchgoer I talked with.
The long sermon prevented churchgoers from leaving the church earlier where they would be passing through the very place where the grenade was lobbed and exploded.
"Kung napa-aga ang uwian ng mga tao, marami siguro ang nadisgrasya," said provincial board member Rollyboy Sacdalan.
President Duterte laughed when I told him the story and said: "So, this is a drug-related bombing."
President Duterte did not stay long but on the way in and out of the hospital, he met with a huge group of local people who waited for him for four hours.
The crowd went wild as the President posed for selfies and groupies.
In spite of the scare of the terror attack, the crowd dispersed happily after the President left.
Ater all, it is not always that the President visits a town which has just been bombed and most of all, not on Christmas Day.
