A Twelve-year-old-girl Commits Suicide

A Twelve-Year-Old Girl Commits Suicide

 

It will be so much the worse for us
If we don’t believe that life can be changed. *

Reading the depressing tale of 12-year-old Mariannet Amper’s suicide and lamentation for her family’s poverty in a diary earlier this week made me sad, knowing how it has come to illustrate the degree of desperation of our people and the general sense of hopelessness now pervading the archipelago.

Many of our Church leaders have expressed concern over the story with one Bishop Eliezer Pascua of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines asking, “We have called them ‘poor’ and ‘eyesores’ but what do you call a society which made them like this?”

The militant Left immediately saw this as another issue against the government. At the same time, opinion columns and news commentaries were busy linking the child’s family’s poverty to the continuing brouhaha over the source of the Palace cash bribes.

Not much differs in the blogosphere where an increasing number of bloggers have shared reactions on Mariannet’s death by suicide.

The Patsada Karajaw Nation reposts “some of her heart wrenching entries of her diary”:

“Parang isang buwan na kaming absent. Hindi na kasi nakin (sic) binibilang ang absent ko. Hindi ko namalayan na malapit na pala ang Pasko.” [It feels as if we’ve been absent for a month. They’re not counting my absences anymore. I just realized that Christmas is just around the corner.” (October 5 entry)

“Hindi kami nakapagsimba dahil wala kaming pamasahe at nilalagnat pa ang aking tatay kaya nanglaba na lang kami ng aking nanay.” [We were not able to hear mass because we did not have fare money and my dad was sick with fever. So, my mom and I just washed clothes.” (October 14 entry)

“Gusto ko po sana magkaroon ng bagong sapatos at bag at hanapbuhay para sa nanay at tatay ko. Wala kasing hanapbuhay ang tatay at nagpa-extra extra lamang ang aking nanay sa paglalaba, [I wish for new shoes, a bag and jobs for my mother and father. My dad does not have a job and my mom just gets laundry jobs.

Gusto ko na makatapos ako sa pag-aaral at gustong-gusto ko na makabili ng bagong bike,” she added. [I would like to finish my schooling and I would like very much to buy a new bike. (An Unsent Wish ko lang letter.)

* * *

Saying the suicide shows the grim face of poverty, the Daily PCIJ blog shares some facts on the country’s poverty problem.

The Philippine Experience says that Mariannet placed a human face on the issue of poverty. So does Mundong Pinoy, who wonders where all the economic gains under the present administration are being channeled to:

After all this time and seven years into Pres. Arroyo’s leadership, I wonder where all these economic gains are being channeled to. Evidently, not to those who are in need of them the most. A nation that could not even send its young citizens to school is hardly a strong republic. A nation that causes its children to choose death than to endure a lifetime of despair is certainly not a nation at all.

Nomadic Thoughts rants along the same lines:

Gloria’s henchmen say its an isolated case. In a separate article on the same newspaper, Gloria was boasting of a decrease in the number of families that say they are poor and ordered the additional allocation of P1B for poverty reduction programs. Where were you Ate Glo when Mariannet needed P100 that could have possibly given her a glimmer of hope? Where were your billions of pesos when she needed only P100?

The same sentiments are expressed by AWBHoldings.com:

You know, the story of that 11-year old girl who committed suicide because she can’t stand poverty anymore is the most potent reason NOT to believe this regime’s economic lies… As long as I see some green-shirted people collecting people’s trash and earning below government-mandated minimum wage, and contrast that with government officials getting hundreds of thousands of pesos, and the story of that girl’s suicide, I will never be convinced.

Uniffors rants about the most callous reaction to the tragic suicide:

Who else but Gloria Macapagal Arroyo would use such a tragic incident to promote and accelerate the implementation of her kickback-ridden cyber-ed project?

And the village idot savant looks at an irony that is not hard to miss:

“Girl, 11, loses hope, hangs self” was splashed on the front page of the broadsheet which broke the story yesterday. It was a contradictory juxtaposition to the main headline which screamed boldly: “Senate probes cash gifts.” Supporting that: “Inquiry to focus on source of money” and “Palace admits cash doles from Kampi.”

* * *

In Child-friendly governments, Mongster’s Nest looks at how the government promotes and protects the Filipino children’s rights:

Similar to its other international commitments, the Philippines can boast of fulfilling the paperwork and legal requirements in the promotion of children’s welfare. But the government has failed to implement its own policies and programs because of lack of political will. The primary default is the consistent failure to enact a child-friendly budget that would sufficiently address education and health needs of children.

Politicians give little priority to children because they are not voters. An international backlash is sometimes needed to jolt politicians into action. When foreign media began to report the presence of children in adult prison cells, that was the only time politicians began to mount a serious campaign to protect juvenile delinquents.

Children’s rights are the most important human rights. Children are among the most ignored and discriminated against sectors of Philippine society.

Heart in the Sand rails against our country’s traditional politicians:

This is the irony of life. While our *ahem* good politicians are contemplating about various things (e.g. Erap, GMA’s impeachment, our fake stronger peso, Glorietta 2 bombing), they are neglecting the most poor in hard to reach areas even here at the urban areas. Politicians promised infrastructures, better tourism, *ahem* PINK OVERPASS, PINK WAITING SHEDS, etc. But what the heck!? Those are not what we need. They are necessary and beneficial but those MUST run only in the background. OUR PRIMARY CONCERN IS THE POOR WORKING and NON-WORKING WORLD. TO THE POLITICIANS: Can you just set aside greediness and GIVE FREE EDUCATION, ALL LEVELS. Give teachers a wage over Php 20,000. ARE THOSE HARD, HUH? OR IS IT JUST HARDER TO LET GO OF YOUR HARD-EARNED *ahem* HARD-CORRUPTED MONEY? DAAAAMMMNIIT.

While the Jester-in-exile rants against “Apathetic Middle Class Morons”:

She took her life, because she didn’t have one hundred pesos.

(That’s the price of a Starbucks venti drip, in case you fucking pampered idiots don’t remember.)

How many more should take their lives over, before each of you fucking apathetic people get all goddamned good and angry that the people you elected — or allowed to be elected by not showing up at your precinct last elections, or allowed to steal the elections; same difference, same shit — that these fucking elected officials are no better than vultures squabbling over flesh?

* * *

The story reminded Manuel Quezon III of a “famous passage” from Thomas Hardy’s book Jude the Obscure: “Done because we are too menny.” British journalist and author Helena Frith Powell is reminded of the same passage. So is Demosthenes’ Game, who blames the Catholic Church:

Had we been able to stabilize our population early on, then our past modest growth might have been enough to give most people jobs and a modicum of dignity. But no, they had to have their souls. And for too long they made it political suicide to promote effective birth control. Now they reap what they’ve sown.

Meanwhile, Touched by an Angel wants a stop to all the finger pointing. Instead, she invites us to “do our small share by educating ourselves on death by suicide” which she then does by repost a discussion on suicide by Dr. Philip Chua.

On the other hand, Tonyo Cruz calls on everyone to help in ending the “national deficit of hope”:

Our people, us, should also seriously consider acting and moving decisively to seize the opportunity to redeem the nation. We cannot afford to just let things go on. We cannot wait for others to fix our national problems for us. Let us remember the huge doses of hope People Power uprisings brought us, and learn from the painful mistakes thereafter — about stopping to act once one foe is defeated, about giving endless chances to unreformed leaders, about our role as the real sovereign and the source of hope to the country.

The worst thing that may happen after Mariannet’s death is not that it will be used for political purposes by the President or her foes. The worst thing is when we decide not to do anything, and then see more Mariannet’s hang themselves due to an unchecked deficit of hope.

* * *

On a related note, Rebel Mind looks at the equally sad fate of rebels’ children:

…that is the risk that rebels will have to go through if they want to maintain a family and raise children. Either they leave their child to the care of their next of kin outside the war zone or they place them under the custody of the masa in guerilla fronts. In the first case, parents have to endure being separated from their children for a long time. In the second case, they will be able to visit their children often but the kids are also vulnerable to military operations.

http://postcardheadlines.wordpress.com/2007/11/10/km212/