{"id":240317,"date":"2019-12-17T22:01:04","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T03:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=240317"},"modified":"2019-12-17T22:01:04","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T03:01:04","slug":"duterte-to-have-simple-christmas-celebration-in-davao","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/12\/17\/duterte-to-have-simple-christmas-celebration-in-davao\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte to have \u2018simple\u2019 Christmas celebration in Davao"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the Malaca\u00f1an Palace on October 11, 2019. ALFRED FRIAS\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 For the fourth time since he assumed the highest office in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte will be spending Christmas with his family in his residence in Davao City, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Duterte opted anew to celebrate Christmas without fanfare, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President, as usual, will be spending his Christmas, with his family, with his grandchildren, children in his house in Davao City,\u201d Panelo told Palace reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cOo, palagi namang ganoon \u2018yun<\/em>\u00a0(Yes, that\u2019s what he regularly does),\u201d he added, when asked if the President merely wants a simple Christmas celebration.<\/p>\n

Duterte spends Christmas in his home in Davao City each year, even after getting elected as president.<\/p>\n

It has also been the President\u2019s Christmas tradition to visit young cancer patients at the Southern Philippine Medical Center in Davao City every year.<\/p>\n

Nearly two weeks before Christmas, Duterte played Santa to cancer-stricken Jacob Wong, 5, who visited the President\u2019s hometown Dec. 13. The child received early Christmas presents and even a fatherly hug and kisses on the forehead from the President.<\/p>\n

When he was mayor of Davao City, Duterte always hosted a Christmas party for residents at his ancestral home in Bangkal village.<\/p>\n

He, however, was no longer able to attend the event when he became president for security reasons, although the annual gift-giving continues.<\/p>\n

Duterte wants \u2018comfortable life for Filipinos\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHis wish for the Filipinos is to have a comfortable life,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 19, the Chief Executive expressed optimism that his fellow Filipinos would remain cheerful despite the challenges they face and would find joy when they share a simple Noche Buena, a celebration observed by the nation on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n

Just like the President, Panelo also hoped for \u201cpeace on earth, not only in the Philippines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have enough wars and so many negative things engulfing this world. We need a respite from all this,\u201d the Palace official said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess, what we really need is love. If we can only love one another, then it will be a better world to live in,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Panelo also wished for the 74-year-old President\u2019s \u201cgood health,\u201d considering that the latter is \u201cworkaholic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2014 For the fourth time since he assumed the highest office in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte will be spending Christmas …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":235058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240318,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240317\/revisions\/240318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}