Under the sweltering sun, thousands of children wearing party hats and waving colorful flags rush excitedly toward a towering arch festooned with a smiling sun and the words “Sonshine Land.”

Each year, since 2005, this scene has been repeated in Davao City and in different places in celebration of what international television evangelist pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy, founding president of Children’s Joy Foundation, Inc., has initiated as the birthday of every destitute child in lieu of his own. He calls this event National Children’s Day, which happens every April 25.

Inside the Disney-like theme park is the Sonshine Fairgrounds, where around 60 booths serve and accommodate children from morning until night and give away unlimited toys, bread, beverages, sweets, cotton candy, popcorn and ice cream.

COLORFUL street parade featuring well-loved cartoon characters

Quiboloy also treats children to a colorful street parade like in any other theme park, featuring beautiful floats complete with well-loved characters. Following the parade is a dance performance by over 700 youth dancers in exquisite costumes.

One of the features of Sonshine Land is the feeding area, where batches of children from urban poor communities and hinterlands of Mindanao are fed. This is a showcase of what Children’s Joy Foundation Inc. has been tirelessly doing since its inception in 1998.

PASTOR Apollo Quiboloy and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte

The idea behind National Children’s Day is that children trapped in poverty could at least celebrate one special day as their adopted birthday. Quiboloy believes planting good seeds in the hearts and minds of these children can contribute to achieving a better world.

Well-wishers and friends also graced the pastor’s birthday, including presidential prospect and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who assured the Filipino people that if it is God’s will that he becomes president of the Philippines, he will “humbly obey.”

Simultaneous birthday parties were also celebrated abroad, including in California, Virginia, New York and Hawaii in the US; Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto in Canada; Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Spain, Belgium, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.