President Duterte donates Margarita village house to House of Hope

DAVAO CITY – The house of President Duterte at Margarita Village here has finally been given to the House of Hope, a foundation that runs a halfway home for children afflicted with cancer.

Fatima-Inderah Disomimba, vice president of the House of Hope Foundation, said they were surprised by the President’s gesture to turn over his house to the foundation which had been operating halfway houses for children afflicted with cancer from all over Mindanao.

She confirmed on Wednesday that the house, located near the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), where poor cancer patients normally seek treatment, had finally been given to the foundation through a deed of donation signed by the President in January this year.

Disomimba said Duterte had allowed the use of his three-bedroom house for the House of Hope in the past but the title to the property remained under his name.

The foundation runs the Davao Children’s Cancer Fund, Inc., or the House of Hope, also known as Kids of Hope, mainly from donations.

Its first transient house for cancer patients was the old SPMC building renovated by the Rotary Club of Waling-Waling and another one at the SPMC Annex Building funded through the Priority Development Assistance Fund of Senator Pia Cayetano.

Disomimba said an average of 315 cancer patients from all over Mindanao go to the SPMC each year and the halfway houses had provided patients with a decent home to stay while they were undergoing treatment.

At present, the President’s house at the Margarita village houses three poor children afflicted with cancer. The house also accommodates doctors and nurses from outside Davao City who undergo training at the SMPC.

President Duterte had been one of the active supporters of the House of Hope even when he was still a mayor in this city.

He regularly visits the center during Christmas and other special occasions, according to Disomimba. Orlando B. Dinoy/lzb