“Hindi niya ako kinahihiya (he isn’t ashamed of me),” Grace Rosillo said of her son.
Grace and her son, John-John, have been scavenging in a village in Tandang Sora, Quezon City for more than eight years now. Rain or shine, they pedal around the village in their sidecar everyday to rummage through other people’s garbage for things they can sell in a nearby junk shop.
“Even when his friends see us going through garbage, he isn’t ashamed. Instead, he helps out even more,” Grace said in the vernacular. John helps his mother in the mornings before he goes to school.
Traces of beauty from her younger days are still apparent on Grace’s face. And though her smiles come easily, there is a touch of sadness in her eyes.
The forty-four-year-old Cebuana beauty doesn’t have an easy life. Grace is the common-law wife of Joel Lague, a construction worker, who often finds himself out of work.
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“Minsan matagal siyang nakatambay sa bahay kasi walang mahanap na trabaho sa construction (There are long periods of time when he stays home because there is no work to be found),” Grace says of her husband.
Scavenging, therefore, is what sustains this family of three.
Grace and John collect paper, carton boxes, plastic bottles, tin cans, and scraps of metal. According to Grace, paper sells at Php 1 per kilo; plastic bottles at Php 9 per kilo; and cans at Php 12 per kilo.
More on the next page.
Unemployment in the Philippines
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the unemployment rate reached a record low of 6.4 percent in April from 7% in the same month in 2014. The underemployment rate, which pertains to the number of people working below 40 hours a week, decreased from 18.2% to 17.8% in April 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Despite these recent economic strides, unemployment remains a chief concern in the country. To date, some 2.7 million Filipinos are unemployed. In the first quarter of 2015, 11.4 million Filipino families lived below the poverty line.
A recent survey by the Social Weather Stations revealed that, in the last quarter of 2015, a total of 11.7% of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger. Of this, 8.9 % or an estimated 2 million families were moderately hungry, while 2.8% or some 621,000 families were severely hungry.
Families who experienced hunger once or a few times in the last three months prior to the survey were considered “moderately” hungry. On the other hand, “severe” hunger refers to those who were hungry often or always in the last three months.
The survey further revealed that, from September to December 2015, moderate hunger fell from 14.1% to 8.9%, while severe hunger rose from 1.6% to 2.8%.
See the heartfelt message John-John has for his mom on the next page.
Surviving hunger
Grace and John manage to scrape together between Php 70 to Php 300 a week—a small reward for such hard work. Their meager earnings are then carefully divided to last them a week.
Grace needs to set aside Php 25 a month or Php 350 a year to pay for her “registration” at the homeowner’s association; otherwise, they will not be allowed to collect recyclables and village security guards will confiscate their merchandise.
She also needs to set aside Php 20 a day for John’s baon so that he can go to school in the afternoons. Five pesos is used to pay for the school security guard to keep an eye on John’s bicycle while he is in class. John then spends Php 5 for a small bowl of soup, and Php 15 to buy piaya or some biscuits.
In the eight years that this mother and son duo has scavenged in the area, residents have grown to trust them, and friendships have been formed.
John gets by with some help from good Samaritans in the village, who, every once in a while, hand him Php 20 for his baon, or offer him odd jobs here and there.
John, who is 13 years old, is a Grade 5 student at the Pasong Tamo Elementary School. He dreams of becoming a policeman someday.
He describes his mother as a kind-hearted and industrious woman.
“Mahal ko siya kasi pinapaaral niya ako at pinakakain. Kaya tinutulungan ko siya mangalakal para ipakita sa kanya na mahal ko siya (I love my mother because she sends me to school and feeds me. I help her scavenge to show her that I love her),” John said.
There are days, Grace added, when they have hardly enough to eat, especially during the rainy season or when there is a typhoon. On such days, Grace’s greatest regret is asking her son to miss school because she has no money to give him.
Asked if she considers herself the family’s main provider, she said, “Oo, nanay eh. Kailangang kumilos (Yes, because I am the mother and I have to find a way).”
“Sa kanilang dalawa ako humuhugot ng lakas. Kailangan naming mabuhay. Di baleng ganito ako, huwag lang kaming magnakaw (I draw strength from my husband and son. We need to survive. It doesn’t matter that I am a scavenger as long as we don’t steal),” Grace also said.
Full of that tenacious spirit that characterizes Filipinos, Grace still hopes for a better future for her son.
“Lagi kong sinasabi sa kanya na mag-aral siya nang mabuti para makamit niya ang mga pangarap niya (I always tell him to study hard so that his dreams will be fulfilled),” she said.
Grace and John may be poor and hungry, but their bond is worth more than gold. Together, this mother and her child have braved so many of life's storms. Rain or shine.
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