David Beckham flashes a wide grin with joyous kids of Tacloban City as he shows a large Valentine’s card to city folk. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – David Beckham spread cheers to Tacloban City Thursday after he visited the survivors of the country’s deadliest ever typhoon—although not everyone was sure of his identity.
He flew by private plane to Tacloban City Thursday morning, one of the areas worst-hit by Super Typhoon ‘‘Yolanda’’ (international name: Haiyan) which left about 8,000 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in November last year.
He then proceeded to the Tacloban Convention Center.
Upon disembarking from a Unicef service vehicle, Beckham was mobbed by the media, evacuees and kibitzers but he immediately proceeded to one of the two tents at the grounds of the Center, where there were 300 children waiting. However, the media was barred from entering the two tents.
Inside the huge, white tent, Beckham sat in one corner while the children entertained him with songs such as “Ako ay Pilipino.” They also presented Beckham with flowers made of colored paper.
The football star, on the other hand, made a heart from the colored paper which he then gave to the children.
Those who were left outside heard singing, clapping and shouts of joy from the children and some personnel of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Beckham stayed inside the first tent for almost 30 minutes and then visited another tent, where there were also 300 children. He stayed at the second tent for almost the same length of time.
Hundreds of survivors rushed out of their tent shelters to welcome the global celebrity, who is nevertheless unfamiliar to many citizens of the Philippines, where basketball rather than soccer is king.
“He’s so handsome. I heard he plays for the Azkals,” gushed mother-of-four Darilyn Bascug, referring to the Philippines’ national football team.
Bascug, a carpenter’s wife who is among those waiting for a new home, admitted she did not really know Beckham that well. Neither had she heard of his wife Victoria, formerly of the Spice Girls.
Shortly after Beckham’s arrival, another woman from the area approached an AFP reporter and asked timidly: “Is that man a celebrity?”
Keith Sacramento, a 27-year-old soccer player who also teaches the sports at the Bethel International School based in Palo town, Leyte, said that he was happy to see his “idol.”
“I only see him in television. But now, I was able to see him up close and personal,” said Sacramento, who lives in Tacloban City.
Gydel Merin, 10, said that she was among those who gave Beckham a flower that they made. “He accepted it with a smile,” she said.
Merin also showed to the INQUIRER Beckham’s own version of the heart which was made of green colored paper. She added that Beckham also draw Mickey Mouse on a bond paper.
The 38-year-old ex-England international, who ended his illustrious career last year, is on his second visit to the Philippines in his role as a “goodwill ambassador” for the UN Children’s Fund.
The tattooed Beckham, casually dressed in a black UNICEF T-shirt, last visited the Philippines in December 2011, where he played a seven-a-side football match with young Filipinos at a government-run center for abused or abandoned children.
Beckham last visited the Philippines in December 2011, where he played a seven-a-side football match with young Filipinos at a government-run centre for abused or abandoned children.
Beckham was the latest among the high profile international personalities to have visited Tacloban, considered to be the ground zero of Yolanda.
Among those who visited Tacloban were UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, US Secretary of State John Kerry and international pop singer Justin Bieber.
Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who was in the city for an inspection of bunkhouses, said in a press conference that he personally thanked Beckham for lifting the spirits of the people of Tacloban City.
“I introduced myself and thanked him for coming all the way here just to bring joy to the children,” Marcos said.
“I told him, ‘look at all these children, you have made them very happy at a time when they have very little to smile about’,” he said.
Beckham is an Ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund. –With a report by AFP
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