With children being made to pose naked and perform sexual acts with their elders in cyberporn home dens in Cordova town, it’s not much of a stretch to receive reports about a 14-year-old girl being used to deliver shabu worth P5.9 million in Cebu City.
Poverty can do so much to lower one’s self-respect and dignity that any man, woman or child would be willing to denigrate themselves in exchange for food, clothing and shelter to keep body and soul together.
Who wants to go hungry, dirty and uncared for?
That’s a cynical view of the news about this 14-year-old girl who delivered packs of shabu to a customer in barangay Labangon, Cebu City.
According to the police, the girl’s parents could be held liable for neglect and for perhaps consenting to the anomaly.
It’s easy to judge absent elders that way.
But yesterday, as the teenager sobbed before the prosecutor, wailing that she didn’t want to be charged in court, her 49-year-old mother, a laundrywoman was there by her side.
Apparently her daughter, who was a delinquent student, had left home to live with a friend in Labangon.
The mother, who suffered tuberculosis and diabetes, had her own trials to face but with a different outlook.
“Gi-ingnan ta mo nga dili ko gusto ana. Bahala na kon mokaon ta og bisan unsa. Kapoy na kaayo ko oi. (I’ve told you before not to engage in illegal activities. I don’t care what we have to eat. I’m so tired of this.),” said the 49-year-old woman.
“Wa gyud ko nag-problema ninyo sa akong sakit. Imo gyud kong gisuway. Awa unya, gamay na lang gyud og kuwang. (I never asked for your help for my ailments. But you really disobeyed me. Let’s see what will happen next. I’m on the verge of losing my patience.)
Poverty is no excuse for resorting to the drug trade for a living.
A mother struggling with a hard life tells her daughter so.
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, commenting on the case, said that while he favors amending the law that exempts minors who run afoul of the law, there’s more work to be done in the area of basic values.
It boils down to good parenting and the responsibility of parents to set a good example to their children, he said.
“When you raise children and they lack discipline and proper instruction while growing up, there’s a big tendency that they’ll be involved in crimes, not just drugs but theft and robbery,” he explained.
While much debate of policy makers will focus on the much-criticized Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 which lets juvenile offenders aged 15 years old and below off the hook, the harder work is left in the hands of parents, educators, and other adults responsible for shaping the quality of home life and values of the young in their care.