Pia, family, spend Christmas at famed Baguio 'orphanage run by orphans'

Senator Pia S. Cayetano celebrated Christmas at one of Baguio City's most storied orphanages.

The lady senator and members of her family, including her two daughters Maxine, 13, and Nadine, 10, spent the entire afternoon of December 24 with over 100 children and volunteers at the famed Bethesda Children's Home and School in Baguio City.

Established in 1948 by Mrs. Elva Vanderbout-Soriano, an American lady missionary who married a Filipino, Bethesda has cared for thousands of abandoned, illegitimate, orphaned and differently abled kids from all over the country, including Igorots and children belonging to indigenous groups in the Mountain Province.

"The institution distinguishes itself as an orphanage managed by orphans," Cayetano said. "It is run entirely by volunteers including the teachers, most of whom were orphans who grew up there too."

The children's home is currently headed by Rev. Donald Soriano, one of the first babies taken in by the institution.

"I am blessed beyond words. They have very little but live each day in faith. I thank God I have more than enough to share with them," added the lady lawmaker, who shared gifts and food with the Bethesda children.

The institution takes pride in having raised many children who are now professionals, including teachers, doctors, nurses and engineers, midwives, as well as pastors, ministers and spiritual leaders.

Cayetano herself has been helping disadvantaged kids through the Gabriel Symphony Foundation, named after her son who died at the age of nine in 2001 due to a rare chromosomal disorder. Among its beneficiaries are poor children in need of operation for cleft lip and palate operation and those with congenital malformations of the brain and spinal cord.