The Street Children in the Philippines

copied from stolenchildhood.net

       When street children come across my way then ask me for a coin or something, I can’t help myself but feel irritated. Irritated in the sense that: Why are there children like them? Where are there parents? Why did the government let them be like that? Children like them are supposed to be going to school. But where are they now? What are they doing?

       They are on the street waiting for somebody who would come across them and give them a centavo. Sometimes you can see them looking for something to put inside their roaring stomach in the garbage cans. Others are already into vises… and worse, others go snatching and are already a member of gangs and other group of criminals.

       It was 6:00pm on January 30 and I was in the tricycle (going home), while the driver was waiting for passengers, when I saw two children (6 and 4 years old, I guess) on the street. They were walking holding hands. Suddenly, the older one stopped in front of the garbage, beside it was a big package cartoon. He took the cartoon and showed it to the younger one. The younger one then nodded and pointed his fingers to my direction. It was then that I noticed that behind the tricycle where I am sitting was a vacant area wherein only few people were passing by. They walked through the area then the older one laid down the cartoon. While the tricycle was still waiting for other passengers, I also waited for parents to come and get the children…it was evening already and children of their age must be in the house as of that time. It was almost an hour of waiting but no one really bothered to get the children. There parents had already forgotten them. I felt pity for the two boys (it was so clear that they were going to sleep on the area) and felt angry to those parents who abandoned them (and to the government as well who are not doing anything in order to give those children a shelter

         Then last Tuesday, we went film viewing in our R.E. class. the films were all about the 'Peace and Order in Mindanao', 'The Paint brush' (a story of old men and women who were abandonned by their own children)... and 'The Canvass of the Society'. The last two film were based on the paintings of one of the most popular painter in the Philippines, Joselito Alvir Velasco

from http://katoliko.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/hapag_ng_pag-asa.jpg
Joey Velasco - Sa Kambas ng Lipunan <===Click here to view the film...

       Honestly speaking, I was a bit, actually, not paying attention to the Television until the last film, "The Canvass of the Society” was shown. I was really touched by the film, specially sa painting. Aside from it looks real it has its own story to tell. Every children on the painting has his/her own story to tell. All of them came from the urban poor..

       I’ve, actually, seen the painting “The Last Supper” (Jesus and the children) when it was aired on T.V. for winning an award. There are actually two version of it. The first one is the children eating with Jesus Christ, and the other one is happy children together with Jesus. I didn’t know then that the children on the painting have their own story to tell. When it was shown on the film I felt sorry for the children. Their situation of living is pitiful. While I am eating three times a day with merriendas, they are only eating once a day and sometimes could not eat at all. I am going to school everyday and nothing sinks into my head while those children keep on wishing they could go to school too. I have a house that shelters me and a family to take care of me, but those children don’t have any.

        If only the society, especially, the government would try to pay attention on what is happening around them. If only the money of the gov’t. are spent to help and educate the poor and are not put into the pockets of those corrupt officials. If only the rich people would extend their hands and shower some of their blessings. Then maybe, somehow, poverty may be eradicated in the Philippines. The problem is that once we are in power, we tend to forget the people who had put us on the position. Once we get rich, we tend not to look back to where we came from

       "Public office should be a Public Trust” but what is happening is that ‘the Public Office becomes a source of living’ of these TRAPOs. Instead of helping our fellowmen who are suffering from poverty, we tend to disgust them as if they have incurable and transferable diseases. *sigh* when will be the time for the Filipinos to wake up, to help each other, to strive hard for a better Philippines?