Originally published on ProPinoy.net, Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Photo from ProPinoy.net
Tell me this story isn’t familiar.
Lisa* is 47 years old. She had been raising 7 children on her own since her third live-in partner George abandoned them 7 years ago. She has 2 older children from a previous relationship. She did odd jobs, selling sampaguita and medallions near the local church. Their second child Boboy has been living on the streets and addicted to rugby since he saw his father with another woman when he was 9. This year, Lisa left Metro Manila to go live with her new boyfriend in the province. She left the kids, most of them out-of-school youth, in the care of her 17-year-old daughter… who is 8 months pregnant by her boyfriend who is a carpenter.
This convoluted tale of Filipino women and children caught in a tragic cycle of poverty, overpopulation, lack of education, and neglect is sadly not at all uncommon here in the Philippines.