poverty drives a 12 yrs old girl to commit suicide

[shadow]

this is just tragic and sad, she lost hope about her family's chances to rise from the poverty, this is just too much for her to bear....

DAVAO CITY – Extreme poverty apparently drove a 12-year-old girl to commit suicide here last Nov. 2.
Marianeth Amper, second to the youngest of seven children of Isabelo and Magdalena Amper of Yniguez Subdivision in Sitio Bugac, Barangay Ma-a this city, used a rope to hang herself inside their shanty.
Amper, a Grade 5 pupil of the Ma-a Elementary School, expressed her depression through entries in her diary, lamenting how she wanted to continue with her studies but her parents could not afford to send her to school.
Her classmates said Amper had been depressed in the past months and was said to have also told everyone in class that she was looking forward to the coming All Saints’ Day. She even wrote in her diary on Oct. 21: “Thank you, malapit na ang araw ng mga patay.”
Her teachers described the victim as an intelligent pupil who could share her thoughts and input on various subjects, including religion.
She however sometimes did not go to school for days, weeks and even a month, because she did not have money for fare and school allowance.
The victim also wanted to work at the undong and pancit factory in the neighborhood where her mother works but children were not allowed to work there.
The young Amper also noted in her diary her plan to write a letter to the popular program “Wish Ko Lang” of GMA Channel 7. She also wanted to request the program’s host to visit their house and witness the poverty that her family is suffering from.
She also planned to ask Wish Ko Lang to give her a new pair of shoes, toys and a bicycle that she could use to go to school.
Wish Ko Lang producers usually give away cash or kind to lucky letter senders.
Amper’s classmates said that in the past days, the victim was always crying in a corner in school, and she told her classmates not to come near her as she had a very big problem that they would never understand.

http://www.philstar.com/index.php?He...id=20071107113

DAVAO CITY, Philippines -- A 12-year-old girl, who became despondent over her family’s poverty, hanged herself inside their makeshift house a day after her father told her he could not give her the P100 she needed for a school project.
Using a thin nylon rope, 12-year-old Mariannet Amper hanged herself in the afternoon of November 2. She was a sixth grader at the Maa Central Elementary School.
Her father, Isabelo, 49, who was out of job as a construction worker, said Mariannet asked him for P100 which she needed for school projects, on the night of November 1. He told his daughter that he did not have the money yet but he would ask his wife if she could get some money for her. The morning after, however, he was able to get a P1,000 cash advance for a construction work on a downtown chapel.
By the time he got home, Mariannet already lay dead.
"Duda nako nga tungod ni sa kalisod namo (I suspect that she did it because of our situation)," Isabelo said.
Going through Mariannet's things, her parents saw her school "talaarawan" or diary.
In her October 5 entry, Mariannet wrote: "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.]
Isabelo recalled that in that week, Mariannet skipped school as they did not have money for her food and transportation allowance.
"We did not have any money and I didn't want Mariannet and her younger brother (Reynald) to walk to school," he said in Bisaya.
But Isabelo clarified that Mariannet was absent for only three days. "For her, three days was like one month," he said.
On October 14, Mariannet wrote in her diary: "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.]
Along with her diary, the Ampers also discovered a letter Mariannet wrote for the GMA 7 television program "Wish Ko Lang [I just Wish]."
"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," she said in her "Wish Ko Lang" letter. [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.]
That letter, apparently written while Mariannet was still 11 years old, was never sent to "Wish Ko Lang."
"We never knew that our daughter had dreams for us," Isabelo said.
Isabelo's wife, Magdalena, works part-time "repacking" odong and misua in a nearby factory, earning at least P50 a day. She also does laundry jobs on the side, receiving P100 to P150.
Isabelo, on the other hand, is in and out of work.
"I'm already old, no one would want to hire me," he said.
The Ampers live in a hillside community at the back of the Yñiguez Subdivision in Maa District. They do not have electricity and water supply.
Of the seven children, only Mariannet and Reynald are left with their parents as most are grown up and have families of their own.
Even with only two children left to feed, the Ampers still have a hard time surviving.
A neighbor said that even in this "mostly poor" neighborhood, the Ampers were being discriminated against.
"Ayaw makipaglaro ng ibang bata sa kanila dahil madudungis daw sila," the neighbor said. [The other kids do not want to play with them because they’re dirty.]
"Mahirap na nga sila, ni-reject pa ng ibang kapitbahay," she added. [They’re poor and they’re rejected by their neighbors.]

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/topstor...ticle_id=99479

[boydapa]

sabi ni bunye isolated case lng po daw yan ksi karamihan ng mga pinoy ramdam daw ang pag asenso.

[mazdamazda]

7 kids... no wonder.

RIP to the girl.

[boydapa]

7 pala sila. dapat magkaron ng kopya o mabasa man lng ng simbahan etong sulat o nangyari sa kanya sila kasi ang promotor ng magpakarami eh

[claRkEnt]

7 pala sila. dapat magkaron ng kopya o mabasa man lng ng simbahan etong sulat o nangyari sa kanya sila kasi ang promotor ng magpakarami eh

here's a follow-up story on that one. sadly, that point on family planning was not even touched. :sad:

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakin...ticle_id=99480

‘We are all to blame for poor girl’s suicide’--bishop
By Beverly T. Natividad
Inquirer
Last updated 08:34pm (Mla time) 11/07/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Not only the government, but somehow, all of us, are to blame for the fate of a 12-year-old girl in Davao City who took her own life because of her family’s poverty.

This was the moral lesson conveyed by some of the country’s religious leaders in the wake of Marianette Amper’s suicide last Friday.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz said it was the “summit of desperation” for a young child to end her own life out of hunger and poverty. He said the incident showed the desperation of many Filipinos.

While suicide does not particularly go well with Roman Catholic Church teaching, Cruz said he would be the last person to blame the child for taking her own life.

He said the community, which directly influenced the young girl, should be looked into. Her death, said Cruz, was brought about by her social surroundings.

He said everyone is also to blame for her death. If one girl goes hungry due to poverty, then the entire society is responsible for it, Cruz said.

“This means we have not done well. We have not done our civic duty to correct the abuses, and to censure graft and corruption. We have kept our eyes closed. We did not act,” he said.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), which represents the mainline Protestants in the country, echoed the same view, saying the death the girl represents the failure of society as a whole.

“We have called them poor and eyesores, but what do you call a society which made them like this?” said Bishop Eliezer Pascua of the NCCP executive committee.

On the moral aspect, Jesus has always asked the people to identify with the poor, according to Pascua.

The essence of Jesus’ teachings is to fight poverty because Jesus has always talked about the poor as an act of critiquing the present order which has contributed to the poverty, he said.

“Every individual has a responsibility, yes, but we also have a calling for a collective responsibility,” said Pascua.

That calling asks all the faithful not only to take part actively to build a just and fair society, but also to fight an unjust and an oppressive society, according to the NCCP official.

The Philippines for Jesus Movement (PJM), for its part, said the government, too, should take responsibility for the sad event. Poverty and hunger, which was the reason for the young girl’s suicide, could be traced directly to corruption, it said.

The Bible says that governments should be “terrors against evil” and “promoters of goodwill,” said Bishop Dan Balais, PJM national director.
Governments therefore exist to take care of the poor and the weak. But politicians have corrupted the meaning of government, Balais said.

“The death of the girl is the result of our problems of corruption, injustice and oppression. There have been many wake-up calls that have remained unheeded,” he said.

[terran_ghost]

grabe nkakalungkot ung thread na ito... ung mga corrupt na gov't officials dapat nirarapido ng pukpok sa ulo puro politika...puro sarili nalang nila iniisip...

[pup2]

7 pala sila. dapat magkaron ng kopya o mabasa man lng ng simbahan etong sulat o nangyari sa kanya sila kasi ang promotor ng magpakarami eh

They also teach people NOT to commit suicide but they didn't follow that either, di ba? Seriously, wala ka namang kasamang pari kapag gumagawa ng bata ah.

[VtEC]

kakalungkot naman yan.may the girl rest in peace.

talagang survival of the fittest nalang ngayon.ano maeexpect mo sa isang construction worker and isang parttime labandera?kahit pa magtatlong trabaho yan dipa din kakayanin ang gastos.sa pinas, pag ganyan ang work mo swerte kana kung kikita ka ng 300/day na ang puhunan katawan lang.and pag ala ng makuhang kontrata yong amo, tapos nadin sila.so kahit ano pa sipag ang gawin mo kung pataas ng patas ang bilihin dipa din kakayanin ng kakapuranggit na sahod ng mga laborer at labandera.ayon ako sa sinabi ni cruz though in the first place dapat nong umpisa palang dina nagpadami ng anak knowing na di naman stable ang trabaho nila.

[Galactus]

Normally, I'm stoic, but when I read the PDI article, I felt like crying, and I've never cried in years.

But now she's in a happier place where nobody lives below the proverty line.

[pup2]

sabi ni bunye isolated case lng po daw yan ksi karamihan ng mga pinoy ramdam daw ang pag asenso.

Wow. Ano kaya kung lahat ng government official i-require na mag 1 week immersion in various depressed areas every 2 years? Whaddaya think?