CALBAYOG, Philippines — A mayor waited five years in vain for Filipino politicians to make good on a promise to build a badly needed health clinic in this far-flung city. U.S. Navy Seabees helped local troops construct it — in 30 days.

The Seabees, the Navy's construction units, arrived weeks ahead of the hospital ship USNS Mercy, which visited impoverished Calbayog for the second time Saturday after treating thousands of people for free in 1987.

When the huge, white-hulled Mercy — a converted oil tanker — steamed back to Calbayog, on central Samar island, a boy who underwent surgery aboard the ship 21 years ago to correct a foot deformity waited on shore. Now a nurse, he wanted to give a little payback to the Americans.

"I offered to become a medical volunteer as a way of thanking them. I can walk now because of the Mercy; I can even play basketball," an excited Carl Nino Rosalado said.

The Mercy's gentle diplomacy has won hearts in the Philippines, where the U.S. military has been providing combat training and weapons to the underfunded military since 2002 to stop the poor Southeast Asian country from continuing to be a breeding ground for terrorists.

Wrapping up a monthlong medical and civic mission in the Philippines — the first stop in a five-nation Asia-Pacific humanitarian tour that embarked from Pearl Harbor — the Mercy's staff, Seabees, U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney and other U.S. officials were given a rousing tribute Saturday by Calbayog, a laid-back coconut-growing and fishing city.

Hundreds of elementary and high school students — in their school uniforms on a day without classes — lined roads, yelling and waving small U.S. and Philippine flags as Kenney's convoy passed by. A local army brass band welcomed her at the airport and cultural dancers, including a group of villagers dressed as roosters, regaled the Americans in two farewell receptions.

Kenney got out of her van a number of times, shaking the hands of well-wishers and giving them high-fives. She later inaugurated a nine-room health center partly built by 20 Seabees, which Mayor Mel Sarmiento said will boost a local government campaign against tropical diseases, dengue and tuberculosis.

Calbayog has one public and three private hospitals, but its six government doctors are overwhelmed by the poor, who make up nearly half of the 164,000 residents, he said.

After stopping in Manila for another medical mission, the Mercy will travel to Vietnam, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Micronesia, according to U.S. Navy Capt. James Rice.