A Glance at how the Impoverished Filipinos are Neglected by the Government
Posted on Wednesday, 7 October 2015
A Glance at how the Impoverished Filipinos
Are Neglected
by the Government
By Apolinario Villalobos
When impoverished Filipinos are born, their
normal and healthy growth stops at a point where their mothers ceased to
produce breast milk. Due to poverty, parents cannot afford infant milk, so they
resort to feeding their babies from bottles that contain rice soup. As they are
living in depressed areas crammed with makeshift homes of cardboard, scrap
plywood, and leaky tin roof, children are practically exposed to the elements. Most
likely, they get infected with skin diseases, their guts becoming home to
parasites, and they slowly grow with weak respiratory system. Picture the
impoverished children with bloated stomach, bulging eyes, and runny nose.
In a big urban area like Manila, the
parents try to eke out a living from dump sites where thrown refuse sometimes
yield recyclables that they collect and sell to junk shops. Some though, end up
in their home to be used further. Some wake up at past midnight with their
children and standby at dumping areas for reject vegetables in Divisoria to
salvage what can be trimmed of unwanted parts, cleaned and sold. At six, after
earning a few coins, the children go home to change their clothes for school,
walking to which, they do without even a sip of warm coffee. Fathers peddle
their service as stevedores, or pedal tricycles for a measly fare. And, still
some brave the searing heat of the sun and sudden downpour, as they roam around
the city pushing carts to collect junks from garbage bins.
In agricultural provinces, families suffer
every time drought or flood occurs. Rice fields become useless so they resort
to borrowing money from loan sharks. If there are pockets of forest still
standing nearby, they resort to cutting of trees, even the premature ones, to
be made into charcoal. As a result, they eradicate what could have been a
watershed and protection of the topsoil that erodes with the onset of rain.
Those living along the seashores depend on
fair weather for their fishing ventures out in the open sea, but the erratic
weather system prevailing today, prevents them from doing this dangerous kind of
livelihood most of the time. The worst scenarios are during the typhoon or
monsoon seasons during which they have no choice but stay home. For their
subsistence, they borrow from loan sharks.
It is true that the situations mentioned
are similar to other impoverished countries. But what is glaring in the Philippines
is the government’s neglect of the country as being agricultural. Lands are
converted into quick money-making ventures such as real and industrial
estates. Also, instead of having its
God-given natural endowments made use to the fullest by Filipinos themselves,
these are practically offered to foreigners. The Filipinos are deprived of
God-given opportunities by the very government that is supposed to protect
them.
The government claims that its concerned
agency, the Department of Social Welfare has programs for the impoverished
families, one of which is the 4P’s, but this is shrouded with suspected
corruption. Reports even prove that the program is not effective, as it just
exacerbate the idleness of parents. Also, where are the social workers while
children are sniffing rugby in street corners to stave off hunger? Where are
the social workers while families living in carts are drenched by heavy rains?
As with the educational system, for so many
years now, loopholes that have been shown by parents and concerned sectors are
not plugged by the Department of Education. Today with the K-12 program, the
parents are further pushed further down the mire of financial difficulty. Such
ambitious program will eventually produce a new a generation of dropouts as
impoverished parents can no longer afford to spend for their children’s
education beyond Grade Six. The situation for inadequately- schooled Filipino
children has just gotten worse than before, in which dropping out happens after
graduating from high school.
The government refuses to acknowledge its
inadequacies, and instead, it proudly shows a perfect image of the country that
keeps its pace towards progress, which is a blatant lie!
Discussion