By Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz  A pioneering Filipino pediatric surgeon passed away on Tuesday morning due to the coronavirus disease. The Philippine Children's Medical Center mourned the passing of 57-year-old Dr. Leandro Resurreccion III--the institution's "first fallen soldier in the battle versus COVID-19." They described Resurreccion as a "great surgeon, teacher, academician, and friend to all." "He was well known locally and abroad as forward-looking in his vision for pediatric surgery, especially in liver transplants, which he was working to the end. Always smiling, friendly, and very cool," the PCMC said in a statement. Resurreccion was also a professor at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine and Far Eastern University-Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation. The doctor's son and namesake Leandro Resurreccion IV, in a Facebook post, said his father was given the opportunity to work as pediatric transplant surgeon in Sydney, Australia. However, the elder Resurreccion chose to come home to the Philippines at the time when there were still no pediatric transplant surgeons in the country. "He did not do it for money nor for prestige, but because he was needed. He always embodied a kind of fiery passion for his profession but he always spoke of what the country needed together with such passion," Leandro said. "And I choose to remember him like this. Not only as a statistic in the current war we are fighting. Not only as a surgeon who pioneered for the nation. Not only as a father for his family. But as a citizen of the World who cared for it and fought for it. He will always be our hero."