The poor in our midst

EVERYMAN

By Sylvia Europa Pinca

As I approached our car parked in front of the condo where we live, I saw a baby sleeping underneath.  Its mother came near me to say, “Unang birthday po ng anak ko, pahinging pang-celebrate.” I was aghast at what she said and she too, was shocked at my reaction. Everything I wanted to say showed in my face. This woman has approached me several times in the past and I have never said no. Her reasons to ask for money, as far as I was concerned, were valid.   I would always hand out a hundred-peso bill to help her out. “Pahingi pong pang tuition…graduation po ng anak ko…wala po kaming makain.”

Today she saw my anger through my dagger-stone looks. My eyes said, “how dare you ask for money to celebrate the birthday of this child? Does she even know it is her birthday? Does she even know how hard her life is compared to those of others? With the kind of parents that she has, she is dirty, unkempt and hungry and lying under a car and in danger of being accidentally run over. Does she know that she should lie down in a soft bed and not in a hard and cold pavement? Does she know that other babies like her are well-fed, kept warm and well taken care of? If she had her way, would she have wanted to be born under such circumstances? How dare her mother ask for money to celebrate a life like the baby has? How dare she deprive her of a better life? This mother has done her and her other siblings injustice by giving birth to them knowing she could not afford to give them a decent life.

We have our own little boy who I think we saved from such a life. He was two months old when my husband’s secretary offered him to us as she said his mother did not have anything to feed him except tap water. We took him in and on the same day my brother who is childless offered to adopt him. This little boy’s adoptive parents are in Canada and while his documents are being delayed by the inefficiency of our Courts, he stays with us. He has stayed with us for the past four years and we have learned to love him as our own. He goes to a good Catholic school, he eats complete meals and sleeps in a warm bed. Because we try our own best to make him feel loved, he is a happy tot. Sometimes we ponder on the question— what would have happened to him if he was not with us? He used to belong to a family of eight—most of his siblings sell candies and cigarettes in the streets of Manila. After he was given to us, his mother gave birth to another child. This last child died of sickness and malnutrition.

I hark back to the need for the passage of the RH bill. I do not understand why the Catholic Church which is staunchly anti-RH does not see the realities of the poor.  I have a Catholic church in my neighbourhood. It is spic and span. The poor who earn from parking fees of churchgoers, and who lie around every corner near it are prevented from getting near church environs by security guards. I think the priests see them but they turn a blind eye. The priests do not even talk to the destitute around the Church. They are insulated from the real world. And to think that they often talk about the sacredness of life of the poor.

I remember the late Sr. Christine Tan who lived with the poor in Tondo who understood their plight and advocated family planning and birth control. The poor do not look at their calendars to know their fertility cycle. Sex is the only pleasure they can indulge in for free and they will do it without caution. If the Church insists that they do not sin, it should just urge them to confess after they practice contraception. Surely God has a broader mind than the CBCP and shall forgive “erring” couples. Or has the Church become our version of the Taliban?

I laud Manny Pangilinan for his stand in RH because he understands perfectly well the plight of the poor. I laud Cris Villonco who says she is pro-RH even if her out-of-touch grand uncle is a rabid oppositionist of the RH bill. I asked someone close to Sen. Vicente Sotto why he insists on being anti-RH and his reply was “kasi taga Letran.” Isn’t that the flimsiest reason to go against the need of majority of Filipinos? I laud all the Catholics who have come forward to say the Philippines needs to pass the RH-bill into law. Don’t believe any priest or bishop who says they can influence the Catholic vote.

I think of that mother now and I think of how my face contorted when she asked for money to celebrate her child’s first birthday. I feel sad more for that child than for her. I think of the little boy now under our care and I pray that God blesses him with a good life so that someday he may be able to help his family out of the rut they are in.

 

Sylvia-Europa Pinca is President/CEO of Europa Public Relations.