Rowena Soliano: Hardworking Single Mom from the Far Sarangani Province
Posted on Thursday, 4 February 2016
Rowena
Soliano: Hardworking Single Mom
From
the Far Sarangani Province
By Apolinario Villalobos
Regular visitors of Isetan Mall along Recto
refer to Rowena Soliano as the “girl in black”, although friends call her
“Weng”. She hails from Sarangani Province in southern Mindanao. She’s got an
exotic face and always chick in her tight-fitting black outfit, that make her
stand out in a crowd of shoppers in the mall while delivering ordered snacks to
patronizing employees. She also loves to braid her hair in various ways every
day that adds to her being a stunning looker. She has been working with a
coffee shop located on the fourth floor of the mall where the videoke area is
located.
In 2013, she fell in love with a persistent
suitor whom she thought was serious in his intention. Unfortunately, their
relationship got sour and realizing that something was seriously wrong with
their relationship, she broke up with him despite her being pregnant during the
time. She went on with her job at the mall, but went home when she was about to
deliver her baby. After a year in Sarangani, she went back to Manila and
implored her employer to take her back. She left her baby girl, now almost two
years old in the care of her mother, to whom she regularly sends money.
Her job at the coffee shop starts at 10AM
when the mall opens until its closure at 9PM. She seldom finds time to sit
down, as just when she arrives at their stall after a delivery, another set or
more of ordered snacks are waiting to be delivered again. Despite her hectic schedule, her smile never
leaves her face. The only break she gets is when she had to take a late lunch –
standing. Another short respite is for a stolen moment for light and late
dinner, still taken standing.
She is fortunate to have found a kind
employer, a reason enough for her to love her job. It was her first job when
she arrived in Manila from Sarangani Province. When I had a lengthy talk with
her, I told her about the international resort that Manny Pacquiao is putting
up in Sarangani. She told me that she was also told about it by her mother.
However, she has apprehensions if she could be given the chance to land a job
in such big resort due to her insufficient educational attainment. She told me
that she barely finished her high school. She is also aware that there are
plenty of four-year course graduates in their province and in the field of
tourism, yet.
Weng is the opitome of the struggling youth
from the province who try their luck in the bustling city of Manila, some of
whom are unfortunate to have ended as prostitutes that ply their trade along
Avenida. Some became exotic dancers in discreet beerhouses in Recto, Caloocan,
and Cubao. Like their elder contemporaries who brought with them their families
and ended living on sidewalks while surviving on recyclable junks collected
from garbage dumps, the youth from the provinces of Mindanao are left with no
choice but take the risk of uncertainties in Manila, rather than be recruited
by the New People’s Army (NPA) and Abu Sayyaf.
Sarangani, the province of Weng, is already infiltrated with NPA and drug
dealers. The tentacles of Abu Sayyaf which is notoriously known for its
kidnap-for-ransom activities have also been wriggling around the area for a long
time, too. Worst, job opportunities in Sarangani is like the proverbial needle
in a haystack. These are available at General Santos City, the nearest urban
area, but for hopefuls like Weng, no opportunity is left, considering the
thousands of graduates from several colleges and universities around the
southern Mindanao area every year.
How can we then blame provincials like Weng
for coming to Manila and add up to the already teeming population of the city?
Yet, those who have not experienced distressing life in the province just
cannot restrain themselves from uttering hurting invectives. And, practically adding salt to the wound,
are the incessant and oft-repeated arrogant declarations of the president about
jobs and progress that the country and the Filipinos are enjoying!...and, under
his administration, yet!...but the big question is, where are they?
Discussion