Girl who killed self lamented family’s poverty in diary

By Nico Alconaba
Inquirer
Last updated 10:00pm (Mla time) 11/07/2007

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.]


Copyright 2007 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

link to the newspage

on my way home, i happened to pass by some tabloid stands and read the headline stating gloria is blaming poverty over too much politics. how ironic, who is the head of the philippines' political family tree?

i was unaware of what it was all about until i saw an episode of "wish ko lang" (during saturday woe) where the dead girl's wish was to be granted. so now, even the entertainment industry is cashing in on the hype...let me guess, a true-to-life movie will soon be coming out and the suicide rate will soar due to the Filipino's (well, some) unexplainable attraction for even 5 minutes of fame or an opportunity of their family to alleviate hunger pangs in exchange for their own life.

geez, poverty is everywhere you go, regardless of the region or province. how many poor people die everyday (suicide, accident, simply stopped breathing, etc)? how many middle class filipinos get depressed over house bills after realizing that they spend more than what they earn on just basic utilities alone (housing, food, electricity, water and if fortunate, a car)? it certainly feels like it is better to die sometimes. i mean i work but i have this sad thought that i might never be able to afford getting a house of my own and judging from our current house bills, i can't seem to ever afford it without my parents.

anyway, going back, everybody would have to have their own taste of poverty in one way or another (unless you are fortunate not to experience them) like our popular unlimited texting rates soaring, riding a jeepney home only to realize that the basic fare has gone up by 50 centavos when only last night it was just the usual 7 pesos, the unending price of gas going up and down (makes you want to doubt about getting a car), etc etc etc - u don't have live in the slums to say you are, in a way, poor. for chrissakes, since birth, we are paying for taxes our political ancestors left for us to drown on therefore we are POVERTY itself.

it can't be helped that some end up being existential every once in a while, others depending on God's good grace, the rest, to simply being the easy going Filipino who swears on "bahala na ang bukas" and a small margin - commit SUICIDE. what a timing, the song suicidal is popular.

what would drive a 12 year old to commit suicide? her own parents are striving to keep them alive and here she is, a child barely experiencing the real world give up?

maybe poverty was shoved up to her face so much that it was unnerving.

maybe she was clinically depressed to begin with but hey, visiting a therapist is not popular and expensive.

maybe it was her parent's fault, they didn't believe in family planning. otherwise everyone in the family was too busy to notice any problems among them since they are all trying to keep each other alive.

maybe it was the government's fault because in the first place, health care and education are not really given much importance and instead, join the arms race against rebels and the likes when in fact, they all get their arms from one and the same supplier (lol). same goes to the fact that most politicians change in the face of money and power.

maybe it is a little bit of everything. she is, after all, human. i doubt she will find peace in death, being catholic, i assume she is spending time in limbo. on the buddhist side, well, i hope her rebirth won't be to live a similar life though unfortunately, she does have to pay a little karma of unresolved dharma. oh well, that's life and as the darwinian theory has it, it's a "survival to the fittest" world.

i'd like to leave the topic with a request that you include this little girl in your prayers. we may be over populated and poverty stricken but nobody deserves to go out for tthis idiotic reason. it is hard to point the blame on anyone for the cause of our poverty but since it is already among us, like an ancient alien invasion, we just have to struggle and survive so that we may be able to be productive filipinos and hopefully, find or generate "THE ONE" or "ONES" - whatever lifetime that will be.

welcome to reality.

oh, actually, it's a living hell. hahaha. hell does exist. we are in it.

I read this article a fews days ago and i find it hard to disbelieve. With the current situation of the majority of our population it is not therefore surprising. I had to admit i was moved by the fact that this little girl had actually the guts to end her misery.

yeah call it living hell or whatever honey, it certainly feels like it. Life is indeed not fair, we may all have been given the same opportunity but not all of us are given a head start. It's easy to blame our parents for what we have become, they should have thought twice before they decided to have children. Though her parents tried to be responsible by raising her with what little income they have, still the thought alone is not enough. Perhaps society itself is to be blamed. And no you don't have to blame the government, they are already guilty of every negligence and all crimes(i'm sorry but i lost faith in all our politicians, they are all the same bunch of assholes in one way or another). They are as fliped up as we are, except that they live a luxurious one.

based only on what the article provided, i assume the elder 5 siblings are in such an impoverished state as well - i mean, gawd, they don't seem to give a damn about their parents but then again, that is nothing new.

the most common headline about suicide is usually associated with failed relationships so in a way, the circumstances made it news worthy. it's just silly how it all coincides with arroyo's trashed impeachment complaint and followed by the congressional bombing. i read one blog article citing that poverty is not the culprit of her death. i would have to agree with him in a way because as stated, the neighborhood children refused to play with her. either she was bullied so hard and she hated being poor because of the social stigma it gave her.

and i quote mr. jhun ledesma from sun star davao:

"POVERTY has nothing to do with suicides. I am not saying that. World statistics shows that the rates of suicide are highest in rich countries than in the third world. Suicide is high in Finland and Austria. In the United States, for example, teenage suicide rates are spiraling despite rising incomes. Teenage stress and depression and not poverty are what prompt youngsters to commit suicide."

it just so happened that the poor kid is well, poor. and i agree with you, man of war, that she was brave to take her life - it takes guts to take one's own life than live year after year being miserable or even mental (wow, so it may explain the taong grasa concept). i mean imagine caring for a sick and old father, living on 150 pesos everyday (or every other day and well, imagine the rich kids buying load for their freya account), unable to finish grade 6 - where will she end up?

1. a prostitute
2. a maid
3. a labandera
4. a young wife with many children (no tv + room = nothing else to do)
5. a nut case

there is almost no employment available for high school grads nowadays, they have to at least reach 2nd year college. the fact she thinks that deep, it would seem that she would have had potential if only she was given the chance to go to school. she did seem to like school, maybe the only friends she has are those in school (perhaps a teacher who appreciated her), unlike the meanies in her neighborhood - blame their parents as well, i assume that some of them are the ones who had instructed their children to not to play with them because they are "madudungis" - hahaha, i have seen this happen in my neighborhood in the province (we live near the market).

but there is nothing we can do now, as they say, you only learn the value of someone once they are gone.

- - -

and what did the government do after declaring this as suicide due to poverty? here:

(quoted from boloji.com)

- - -

and then a brutal revelation:

from: www.tesstermulo.com


The Twist of the Story
9 Comments Published November 15th, 2007 in News And Social Issues, People.

In the previous post, I wrote about my views on the suicide of Mariannet Amper. Though many people were convinced that it was poverty that pushed Mariannet to kill herself, some were ready to point out that it may not be the sole reason or that there could be a stronger reason for it still.

In a news article last November 13, it was reported that Mayor Duterte ordered for the body of Mariannet Amper, buried last Saturday, to be exhumed so that an autopsy may be done and the real cause of her death determined.

What if there’s a deeper reason why Mariannet chose to kill herself than live?

After the autopsy was done, the medico-legal of the Scene of the Crime Operation (S.O.C.O) in Southern Mindanao said that Mariannet Amper might have been raped. There were tears found in the hymen area and in the laceration area, though most are healed.

I think it is a better fit as the immediate reason why Mariannet became so depressed that she killed herself. A child wouldn’t be as much troubled with poverty if he’s happy in his family, even with very little in life, as much as if he’s abused at home by his own people or by the people he trust so much. It could also be a reason why she would rather stay in school than home or in their neighborhood, where the abuse probably occurred. I am not saying that it was Mariannet’s father who did it, if she was sexually abused. It could be someone she knows or someone in their immediate vicinity.

I understand why the family has been hesitant to exhume the body. For all the hurt that they’ve gone through, it is just that they be given peace for a while, away from the prying eyes of other people and the media.

However, if it could shed a light in the rather hazy details of Mariannet’s death and bring the criminal to justice (if there’s someone who violated her), then, why not?

So there’s the new twist. This new bit of information seemed to have lessened the romanticism that has been built around the story of Mariannet. But never less pitiful.

I think we should continue to dig into this case. If Mariannet was indeed sexually abused, the criminal should be caught and justice served.

let's just wait for the true to life movie to come out~

^WOW those comments made me feel furious. It's like saying don't blame it to poverty as the sole reason for the child's death. Yeah that's a nice way of saying it. Whether or not the girl committed suicide because of poverty or maybe some other reasons doesn't change the fact that she lived a very poor miserable life just like the majority of Filipinos.


"A senior education official also said the suicide could have been avoided if Mariannet's parents had been able to instil stronger values on their children, while Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said families should practice family planning to help them get out of poverty." -i just copy pasted this one because i don't know how to quote, all i can say is that don't talk as if you understand the situation. Even the most disciplined and good natured person will eventually find out that values is non existing when you are hungry and oppressed. And talking about family planning, will it is i believe very important but with our current economic sitaution i don't think many can even support a single child.

speaking of education, in the first place, i doubt her parents were even able to afford to go to school (obviously, unless they were wreckless youngsters and played birds and the bees early)...you can't teach what you don't know. as parents (like some of us have), the best that they can do is to achieve getting educated. it's the reason why i simply abhor kids who don't value going to school at all. there are lots of other people who deserve to use their tuition fee instead.

imagine the high cost of tuition fees. if mariannet was able to finish high school but unable to get a scholarship (assuming she is worthy of it) - heck, a part time job won't cover the cost. i had a classmate/friend who was from a upper-middle class family but her father refused to fund her college education because he didn't like her course (ab masscom, he wanted her to take up bs management). after struggling through manic depression, suicide episodes, un-volunteered poverty, alcohol dependence, nicotine and prozac, she managed to finish within 4 years and now runs an independent, small ad agency. well she was "lucky" she was "maabilidad" that she survived (she had so many part time jobs that i can't remember any of 'em). but i would have to say, her suicidal tendencies were brought about by environmental factors. i mean economics wise, they are levels apart and yet, have suicidal children.

maybe we could blame the person who invented money, as they say that money is the root of all evil hahaha. the rich man's daughter wants to die because her father won't pay for her education and the poor man's daughter died because she can't go to school.

because of money, there is corruption. because there is corruption, there is poverty
:aversion:

i guess choosing suicide under whatever reasons she has indicated she did not intend to even be saved. who knows, maybe the reason for the torn hymen was she was being sold to pedophiles. maybe she was murdered by a drug-crazed close family friend or neighbor or stranger.

the fact that the child had a diary displays her intelligence and the need to be heard. the "wish ko lang letter" on the other hand shows that she does value her family and it would seem that she is actually hopeful and not pessimistic. her desire to go to school as written in the diary entry meant she desired to learn and perhaps had dreams of getting her family out of poverty. hahaha. conspiracy theories...yes, she may have just been murdered but nobody cared to check because she is poor, a fine specimen to arroyo's speech and yes, a news worthy item.

oh heck, i am probably going overboard...i didn't really expect the rape angle until just this morning when my co-agent stated that she might have been.

so much for arroyo's poverty program and so-called economic growth.

Go ahead, i think you have a very valid point and nice read too. Well it is just so sad knowing that a few weeks from now this whole incident would prolly be forgotten along with the awful truth about our country's situation.

I DID SAY THAT THIS IS NEWS WORTHY

if there is a government side, there is a leftist side
:lolz:

HE Labor Center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) today said that the unfortunate death of an 12-year old girl who hanged herself in Davao City should be a wakeup call for the Arroyo government to make a second look at poverty in the Philippines.

KMU Chairperson Elmer 'Ka Bong' Labog said Mariannet Amper, a grade-6 pupil in Davao City became a young martyr due to government's sheer stubbornness and insensitivity to the plight of the majority number of Filipinos.

" The despicable condition of Mariannet's family which drove her to commit suicide is the typical situation of a Filipino family. Her father has no job, her mother was forced to do laundry to make a living and she cannot regularly go to school because of lack of money and even food to eat in their home. But the Arroyo government is too hard-headed to realize the anguish of millions of Filipinos. The economic growth it is boasting in high heavens is not felt by ordinary Filipinos. It has no trickle-down effects to us workers," Labog said.

The labor leader also registered that widespread poverty really exists in the country as validated by a study of International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). According to the IFPRI, some 11 million Filipinos are among the 1 billion people across the globe living on less than $1 a day, a threshold defined as extreme poverty by the United Nations.

Labog, on the other hand, said that while an 12-year old girl had killed herself due to lack of money, the country is given a joy ride through a string of admissions that millions of pesos exchanged hands in the controversial Malacanang payoffs last October 11.

" What is unbearable to know is that while many Filipinos die everyday because of lack of food to eat and money to buy basic medicines, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her minions are playing with money like a deck of cards. It is unconscionable that they live like kings and queens when majority of Filipinos wallow in destitution," Labog said.

...which in fairness has a much sounder reaction other than girl kills self because of poverty. the original article actually had her age as 11 and look, there are so many 11s hahaha. 11 million filipinos, 11 year old, oct 11. taya na sa lotto at baka maging milyonaryo hahaha.

- - -

LATEST UPDATES

i agree, this will be forgotten in just a short while like the congress and glorietta bombing. psychological warfare is nothing new in government: there is what you repression and conditioning. repress the bad image or event then have the people conditioned by the government to believe that we are economically booming in our present situation.

imagine how far the amount of the bribe money would have stretched to - it could send a lot of children to school and even upgrade public schools in remote areas. but nooo, they seem to have this fascination to spend on something that could wait like the "let's destroy some manila area main road and place it under construction using low-grade materials so we can do another road project next year in the rainy season" - had they spent money with sturdy, weather-proof materials in the first place, it will give these roads a life of at least 2 years before having to actually rehabilitate it. i mean heck, if the fu*king road they are fixing is obviously a heavy traffic area and they are spending so much for that stretch...don't compromise quality, it saves money for the next how many months or years.

now, the thing with most poor people is, and i am not saying that a lot of them are like this nor can we blame them for being so, they are more inclined to wait for someone to throw the fish at them rather than fishing for it. it certainly is sad that sometimes, they can't seem to understand that their habits will only end up as a chain of street begging, stealing from middle class earners their hard earned cellphones and pay checks, snorting rugby, squatting at titled lands from one generation to another. i mean think of election time, politicians love them because most of them can be bought simply because it is an easy way to get money. voting day arrives and we end up having almost half of the loser-politicians as winners, thanks to the "masa" hahaha.

well, that's poverty. i guess mariannet was in her right mind to have chosen death than live under the slavery of poverty. but after the rape-murder evidence was brought up (makes me say that duterte is really one good guy), i don't believe she intended to die. some poverty-stricken assH*le must've done this to her.

therefore, she still died due to poverty.

anyway, here is the news from davao:
Davao girl's father welcomes 'rape' probe
11/16/2007 | 12:46 PM
Email this | Email the Editor | Print | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
The father of the 12-year-old impoverished girl who was earlier reported to have hanged herself in Davao City welcomed an investigation into the possibility that his daughter was raped.

Isabelo Amper said he is hoping the investigation ordered by city Mayor Rodrigo Duterte would help bring justice for his daughter Mariannet.

"If that is really the autopsy result, I am willing to cooperate with the investigation, just so my daughter can get justice," Isabelo said in Filipino on dzRH radio.

Duterte ordered a "criminal investigation" after medico-legal experts found lacerations on Mariannet's genitals, indicating she may have been raped.

The autopsy also raised the possibility that Mariannet may have either hanged herself partly because of the rape, or that she may even have been dragged and hanged while she was asleep.

Isabelo said that as of Friday morning, policemen carted away Mariannet's belongings for inspection and analysis.

He said the items included a diary where investigators claimed Mariannet lamented her family's poverty.

"The police took custody of my daughter's belongings for analysis. They hope to find some important leads," he said.

Isabelo said he was surprised over the report that a page in Mariannet's diary had been ripped off.

The page supposedly contained her fears that her parents would separate.

For his part, he said he did not know who could have raped his daughter because no "outsider" stayed in their house.

He added that he did not immediately report the death to the police because he was not aware of the standard operating procedures.

The Ampers reported Mariannet's death November 6, four days after the girl supposedly hanged herself on November 2.

Isabelo argued that he brought Mariannet to a local hospital for treatment, and learned he had to report the matter to the police only when he was getting her death certificate.

"I did not know I had to report it to the police. I thought the hospital would have taken care of everything. When I tried to get a death certificate that was when I was told I had to report the death to the police," Isabelo said.

Asked how he reacted to the investigation ordered by Duterte, he said, "I want the investigation so my daughter can get justice."

On Thursday, Duterte ordered a probe on Mariannet's death, saying the findings have turned it from a supposed suicide to a criminal case.

"The death of Mariannet is now the subject of a criminal investigation, not a suicide," Duterte said. - GMANews.TV

poverty is as old as prostitution.

poverty is the name we gave for our ancestor's negligence of our future economic possibilities.

poverty is our excuse for every negative outcome of the masa.

poverty is a favorite platform of our politicians.

poverty is the favorite situation of most teleseryes.

poverty is u and me unable to afford a stick of cigarette despite the effort of finding loose change at home to come up with 2 pesos.

- - -

:xd: other people's blogs regarding the issue, so beautifully written.

here's one:
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. Whatever statistic that sycophants Ignacio “There are 2 discs” Bunye, Ricardo Saludo, and Eduardo Ermita tell us, the death of that girl will always come to my mind. Whenever people like Donald Dee, Miguel Varela, and Sergio Ortiz-Luis start parroting the party line, the death of that girl will always come to my mind. I will never be convinced by their 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.

Strong peso? The fact is that we are surviving due to remittances by overseas Filipino workers, and a strong peso is not what we need. The fact is that the sunshine industry in the country today is the business process outsourcing/call center industry, which depends on the local industry currency being weak against the US Dollar. So with a strong peso, an OFW sees his remittance shrinking as compared to a year ago. With a strong peso, BPOs/call centers see their revenues fall.

Remember the name - Mariannet Amper. Remember the circumstances that lead to her death. Remember the lies being peddled by government officials.

Remember the story of the previous episode of that TV show that you love watching. Remember the food that you ate at that fancy store. Remember the ridiculously priced gadget that you bought last month. Remember the trip to another country you took months ago. Remember all that beer that you downed. Remember those. Because when your apathy reigns unbridled, all of those will be gone. All that remains are memories.

And then you will remember that 11-year old girl who committed suicide, all because his father couldn’t give her Php 100 pesos for a school project. A girl who died because she cannot afford to go to school regularly.

remember this when you top up especially for ROK points. your in-game headgear that costs you 500 pesos to buy is equivalent to or less than her family's budget for a week.

i am guilty of hypocrisy. :( I blame others for not doing their jobs. while i on the other hand do nothing, instead here i am bashing other people's incompetence.

there really isn't much that we could do. the reason we are ranting at other people's incompetence is simply stemmed from the fact that we are all under the impression that no matter what we do, we, the common people, can only go on living, struggling to survive. after all, we all are at the mercy of our politicians and so-called globalization.

btw, i didn't say that it is bad to use your hard-earned money (or your parent's for that matter) on something you enjoy just because as you go spending for that expensive dress, in-game items, top ups, etc - someone dies of hunger because they can't afford to eat. this is just a wake up call to everyone who has chosen to remain ignorant to the fact that everything is a chain reaction. one stupid policy made by the government can cause 100 years of damage (well, where are we now?).

the fact that the government does not recognize how we are not really going anywhere is already a denial of our basic right to demand for better governance. imagine the rich getting away with paying less taxes, the middle class` bringing home only 75% of their hard earned wages, and the poor barely tasting a pinch those millions of pesos from government deals, projects, and the likes. headlines of bribery, lies, and corruption only promotes the thought that in order to live the so-called good life, we have to do the same. hence, in the effort to live the morally good life, the common people could only rant.

we all want to live well off, provide for our family, have a roof over our heads, a car in our garage and a cute breeded dog resting at our feet (no offense who actually are living well off) but it is simply not possible for most of us. how much can one earn with a job that requires a college education? from a salary of 6k - 15k, how much goes to taxes? how much is the actual take home pay? i used to work for a government agency that earned me 6k monthly. based on the actual pay check, i bring home around 3.5k every two weeks. if i had children, how can we survive with that for two weeks? electricity, water, net, cable, rent, loans - hell, it's almost as if we are required not to eat at all. well, if real life is like ragnarok, bot a couple of pawns and viola, the ragnarok good life. i don't like to make an example of how LUG manipulates us to use valuable pesos to get their in-game stuff, after all, in business, profit is more important than morality. still, the spending on the game is upon the economic status of the player. if they can afford it, why not? if not, don't push too hard as there are other important things to spend your money on.

people power can't solve the poverty issue. overthrowing a stupid president doesn't change anything either. we know and the government knows what we need and that is to begin planting the seeds of good governance. change is permanent and progress is slow...starting is the hardest part.

we used to live in a country where a peso can buy you a day's worth of food. now a peso is good for just 2 pieces of candy. funny eh? well i don't want to live through world war II either, i could only imagine the horror having to run away from bombs, the japanese, crossfire, guerrillas, etc for almost 3 years before liberation. plus, we don't deserve any military hell just for us to realize that we could at least take one step away from poverty without bloodshed.

get the children to school, make them stay in school, finish school and give good and competitive paying jobs that provides a decent salary fit for a a decent life. i know it is not possible now, the business sector can't seem to afford to compete with cost and wages. hopefully, when i am gray and old, i won't be living in a slum and i could afford electricity, cable and water. it is just sad to think i would be working my ass off just to realize in the end, i will end up a pauper.

/swt haba ng post
wahaha adek

@ ^

bakit lee, just because it was long it wasn't something of human interest? hahaha, you promised you will give a reaction except i wasn't expecting a one-liner comment on the length.

- - -

...forgotten by most but not by me...

on the rape of mariannet

Police confirms Mariannet was raped; committed suicide

By janice on Nov 19, 2007 in News

DAVAO CITY - Police here confirmed that 12-year old Mariannet Amper, who hanged herself at home on November 2, was a victim of rape.

Supt. Matthew Baccay, chief of the Talomo Police Station, told reporters here Friday that the final autopsy report points to a case of rape, and the perpetrator could face the mandatory charge of statutory rape.old Mariannet Amper, who hanged herself at home on November 2, was a victim of rape.

“The penetration injury is very telling,” he said.

Under the Revised Penal Code, statutory rape is committed by having carnal knowledge of a woman under twelve years of age. The law also provides that “penetration, no matter how slight, or mere introduction of the male organ into the labia of the pudendum constitutes carnal knowledge.”

Dr. Tomas Dimaandal, city medico-legal officer, who performed the autopsy on the exhumed remains of Mariannet Thursday, said two lacerations were found in the girl’s private part, one located at the left side, described as “shallow healed” and the other at the right side, described as “deep healed.” Walter I. Balane/MindaNews

- - -

aka - not once, not twice, but many times

- - -

a short insight on why children commit suicide

could've been anyone of us. we just discovered ragnarok...heck, we had the money to play.

- - -

- - -

an insight on the rape angle

she likes to ride a bicycle eh? does she even own one? it will take a lot of effort to break the hymen via bike rides. geez. good luck to the case.

i wish it was malu fernandez who committed suicide instead, there will be cheering.

why do you give a damn about this by the way?

i am just strangely drawn to it. somehow, it made me think and write so in a way, i owe her.

anyway, i might never find out what really happened to her but i can say that while a majority will not give a damn as to the ending or that we are poverty stricken, or that one should mind their own business instead - she represents a wee part of everyone. of course, i won't blame well-to-do or even middle-class, everyday people if they choose to ignore things like this because getting involved is useless and heck, she's not even a relative.

so why i care is my choice; just passing a slice of remote reality to everybody passing by.

other reasons:

1. i don't tolerate child abuse.
2. there is truth about school bullies. i was once a victim, hence my anti-social side.
3. rape is a woman issue.
4. i have my share of being affected by the socio-political climate like all of you whether you are aware of it or not.

it's been a while since i read such english-text-heavy post and what can i say? it isn't good for my all-flipino blog :p

i remember angelsnite saying something like don't blame poverty on the government, environment, parents, ancestors, nature, or who/what/whichever. well i can't remember the exact words but it's something to that effect.

in other words, poverty is always there and no, it's not an excuse for suicide and sourgraping but rather a challenge to rise up and conquer. you either overcome it, or get beaten by it. doing something is always better than doing nothing. and yeah, life isn't fair but it doesn't mean it's no fun =p

teka OT na ako, ung topic nga pala dito is ung suicide thingy, not poverty :xd:

@ ^

okay lang, hahaha.

as i have said, we are all part of it and therefore, there is no use to pinpoint the root of poverty because it is almost like religion, it could go on and on and on.

on the topic of suicide, while it is not a likely reason (poverty) to kill oneself because of nothingness, the "taong grasa" are living proof that with nothing, existence is possible (and even the more so "multipliable").

hence a possible murder gone wild, hanged by the rope of poverty and helplessness. it would seem that the justice in our system has committed suicide with red tape.

well i hope marianett will create an impact on our society...

newsworthy nga..sigh

@^

chances are: she won't. It may be newsworthy to hear about a 12- year old girl committing suicide but it won't make much of an impact. I think that basing on her diary, the girl was already drawn to premature depression and i think that she is someone who never has or has very few friends to confide to. perhaps even her own family may be to blame for her untimely demise becauce i don't think that there is much social support from them as well, not even considering their dismal financial situation.
i also think that it is down right unfair for these civic groups to blame the government solely for the poverty situation here in the country. Damn the Philippines has the most number of holidays every year! And PGMA likes to give "sandwich" holidays to. Naman! Naman! Papano ba tayo aasenso kung palagi nlng wlang pasok kac holiday? In progressive countries kokonti lng ang holidays nila. :)
finally, accdg to statistics filipinos belong to the top 10 happiest people in the world. the courage that marianet projected when she committed suicide to end her misery may be commendable, but it is also downright stupid.

binalita sa abs-cbn na hindi suicide ang nangyari.. kundi nilooban daw sila ng magnanakaw..

well autopsy reports said that her genitals had lacerations..its possible that

she was raped...resulting in suicide...and maybe the cause of her death is

her father whom the police interrogated...

anyway..if this was the case..then i think its not because of poverty.

whether you agree or not the fact is that most of the violence and social dilemma this country is experiencing is because of poverty. it may not be a direct effect but it's obvious.

how poor can one get to still be eligible for getting robbed? how sad, sila-sila na lang eh ganyan pa. oh well, what else is new, besides, suvival of the fittest always rule.

on the police report, funny how the mother suddenly did a turnaround saying they were a close-knit family and that her sons and husband are not involved in the so-called rape and instead, diverted our attention to "mariannet loves riding a bicycle." hell, i rode a bicycle for how many years as a child and teenager but i am sure i was :censored: (go figure) many years after my last ride. in the first place, they owned one? that is interesting.

whether it was suicide or murder, it is still an end result of poverty. poverty makes one feel either helpless or motivated, depending on environmental factors. if ever it was suicide, i must say that it was the most difficult choice because. though primarily stupid for those of us who are still thinking logically, those who choose this way out are far too depressed to think beyond themselves.

chain of events:

> born to a family (of now only 4) too poor to live on meager wage
> rejected by community
> humiliated as a female aka raped (still pending)
> deprived of the one thing she needed to get away from it all (school)
> family too busy working out a way to survive to attend to her emotional needs
> either suicide due to depression over social status
> or murdered by another poverty stricken individual who probably will plead that he was drunk or drugged crazed (see, the poor can even have the nerve to spend money on vice instead of nutritious food)

- - -

well, i did say that we should wait for carlo caparas to take on the story and turn it into a movie...

title
1. mariannet amper: nakakamatay maging mahirap
2. mariannet amper: ang mga papel na bangka sa ilog ng pasig II
3. mariannet amper: nahuli na si darna at si lastikman
4. mariannet amper: wish ko lang, hustisya

kung hikaw nga pinipigtas pa sa tenga eh, pano pa kaya sila marianette?

well..all i can say is...

it still isnt about poverty...

inquirer hyped her story...

a little bird whispered to me that its not entirely accurate that she committed

suicide....regarding the so called diary...the little bird told me that it wasnt

a diary after all...it was for a filipino subject...a writing essay...which

everyone in her class had...

@dharma

what made you think of those movie titles you've mentioned?

for fun?


*sigh*

@ d grohl

i don't believe in Filipino true to life movies...it's probably going to be amazingly hyped if it was turned into one. anyway, it was supposed to be sarcastic and not funny.

if what you heard from the tweety bird was true, well, the journalist who first reported this would be responsible for all this gaganess. otherwise, it should've been just another statistic to our mortality rate.

while not directly pointing out to poverty, well, the best subject to use to elicit propaganda would be the lower class, as always. and since it has made its way to the headlines already, whether we like it or not, it will be talked about.

the journalist who first reported it was the editor of the local inquirer office

here..who was the first to report it..whos local office was near the house of

marianette..thats why he had the opportunity to write about it...hyped..

anyway i have no more comments about this issue...the little bird told me

enough about the incident..

dialectics is fun.

nobody has to agree with anything being posted after all, discussion is healthy. i am sure u could read that the subtitle is referring to our poverty situation as well so it isn't really entirely about pre-adolescent suicide. it just so happened that the little girl involved was found dead, there is a "diary" (and now a school project), a wish ko lang dream, a rope, a dramatic social setting.

the journalist was simply at the right place at the right time for a newsworthy story. news certainly has very great influential value...which reminded me of flor contemplacion and the "actual facts" surrounding it (i do have inside information).

- - -

well it is just plain sad, there is no peace even in death...plus, she had more attention than she could ever get but only after dying. it did not change anything about our anti-poverty campaigns either. here we are witnessing a barrel of oil costing $99.00 each and the world bank's denial to loan us money (not a bad idea though).

go philippines, onwards 2008.

this is another result of poverty - how entertaining. why would anyone believe that they will be given 100k and membership for a religious group? it would have been easier to ask for tithes

- - -

Disappointed followers file complaint vs religious leader

By Allison Lopez
Inquirer
Last updated 02:13am (Mla time) 12/10/2007

MANILA, Philippines--LURED by their leader's promise of money, more than 600 members of a religious group went to the Quirino Grandstand at Rizal Park in Manila early morning Sunday.

The members of the Kingdom of Almighty God, some of whom had come all the way from Quezon province, began gathering in front of the grandstand at 3 a.m.

By noon, however, no money had been distributed and the hungry crowd started to disperse. Five of them later went to the police to file a complaint for estafa (fraud) and attempted estafa against their leader, Salvador de Corazon, who was reportedly holed up inside the Manila Hotel.

PO2 Ronald Carlos of Manila Police District's General Assignments Section, said the five told him that they represented some 670 members of the religious group who by then had already gone back to their homes in Atimonan, Quezon; Payatas, Quezon City; Makati and Taguig cities.

According to the complainants, De Corazon had promised to distribute P100,000 worth of cash gifts to his members at the Quirino Grandstand.

The five also asked the police to go after their coordinators who had asked them to pay membership fees ranging from P100 to P500.

me nag suicide nanaman?

nah, bottom line - mga kapit sa patalim eh uto-uto. i am sure u read the sub-heading as poverty in the philippines

hehehe..

i think i wouldnt say ung mga kapit sa patalim eh..uto uto..if you have the

chance ask them personally...

in my research study in sociology..they are not uto uto i tell you...

the reason why they do crime is:

top of the list...

for the family so that they can provide for them..

second is environment..

the rest follows..

well that was my experience...

sorry natawa ako sa article. /heh

well some but not all - i take it back that i generalized. parang sa mtb riot db, promise of money is a motivation.