Many times on my way to church I would come across Luisito. I had not known his name before.
Originally he was what you might call “taong grasa”. He would make signs as he begged for some money for food. At night I passed by him sleeping on the sidewalk of the building of a religious congregation of sisters. For a while he was not around. When he came back he was less filthy and he had had a haircut. But he still begged. Later, one of the nuns told me he had been arrested.
Once I caught him with an alcoholic drink. I thought he would not beg from me again because of that. But he still did. Those times when I was carrying many packages and had difficulty getting my wallet out, I don’t give him anything, attempting to tell him to be thoughtful enough to notice my situation. The nuns assured me that he was harmless.
Then there’s Gingging. She is often murmuring about something. She talks of having experienced sexual abuse. Sometimes she is demanding and specific about what she wants to be given: A towel, bra, umbrella, sandals.
Obviously, her mind has been affected not only by the times of hunger but also by various forms of abuse. Many are afraid of her because of this.
Only recently, did I know that she is named Annie. The first time I provided assistance, she was asking for money for asthma medicine for her child. Naturally I could not refuse. Then, I tended to give her money on Wednesdays and Sunday mornings for she was always begging for breakfast money. When we met in Fooda she asked me to pay for the powdered milk she had bought.
Then, one day the church guard approached me to stop me from handing out money to her because she was using it for drugs. For a time she was not around. When she came back she was already pregnant. So I asked, “I thought you told me your husband was in prison. How did you get pregnant?”
She explained that she had been with him for conjugal visits. When the child was born, she begged while carrying the infant around. Later, I was able to follow the suggestion of giving in kind not in cash, giving packs of breakfast food.
I am disturbed by the increasing number of mendicants in Cebu City. On the way to church or on the way home, people ask for money to pay hospital bills, money for passage home, money to pay for a birth certificate. When children beg, I tell them it is not good to be begging while one is young. We all need to work and I point out the sampaguita vendor or the candle seller.
On the way to Our Lady of Joy Learning Center, at the intersections, as we wait for the traffic lights to change, mothers with children flock to the car. Twice, the biscuits I offered were refused. They preferred cash! Now I no longer open the car windows.
At home, many pass by and knock at our gate. They ask for rice, or cooked rice, or water or clothes. Once my brother asked one of them to do some weeding. The beggar never came back. There have also been those who knock with pure honey from barangay Gaas to sell.
Last Saturday, a woman knocked with vegetables and fruits. I bought her squash and kalamansi, very good yet very cheap. She was breathless with exhaustion having come all the way from Argao town so we gave her water to drink.
Fr. Emmy Maningo in his homily said that there are many options with regard to acting about poverty. First, there is the usual dole-out, providing their needs directly.
Then he said there are the livelihood projects “teaching people how to fish rather than providing the fish”. Then there is advocacy, working with those organized to change the social structures to ultimately end poverty. Maybe we have in various degrees, done all these. But, maybe we need to decide where most of the effort should go.
In UP Diliman, they did not mechanically uproot informal settlers from the property. Instead they looked for a way for mutual help. They made an inventory of the skills available in the area they occupied. They made the official settlers realize that there were skills that were very helpful for them and available here. With income, the informal settlers could pay rent with dignity.
In a small scale we have this in our area. A couple with their extended family built a small dwelling leaning on the concrete fence, along the road. Our next door neighbors who have no household help hire the father to do odd jobs, usually gardening. The nuns nearby also ask him to clear their sidewalk. He also washes cars parked nearby. The mother observing that I give out money and/or food to some mendicants, started asking me, making the child as an excuse. She said: “Ma’m she needs help for her school project.”
I replied: “Her father will provide, he has been working diligently to provide her for that.” Just this morning I saw him washing a car with the child nearby and I complimented both.
The priests have allowed fathers to be watch-your-car persons in their parking area. They also wash cars, using the water in the property, for those who request the service.
When students in school say that there are poor because they are lazy, I call their attention to the many people who are sweating it out selling newspapers, bottled water, sunglasses, toys, fruits, just about everything.
Ma. Teresa Macatangay, when we met many years after she had graduated from UP high school, said she still remembers how I kept telling them: “You have no reason to be lazy or slow moving or unenthusiastic. Take note that the farmer and the driver have been awake and working since five o’clock in the morning.”
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