A Statement by Welga ng Kababaihan Laban sa Kahirapan at Globalisasyon

If the death of a child is tragic, what do you call the death of a child who has lost all hope?
by Aya Fabros / IPD
Link: http://ipd.org.ph/main/

A Statement by Welga ng Kababaihan Laban sa Kahirapan at Globalisasyon
November 8, 2007

We mourn the fate of Marrianette Amper. Her death is an unspeakable tragedy, brought about by the life that she had to endure. It shocks us that a child, the personification of promise and hope, can be driven by despair to hang herself to death. Indeed, one life lost is far too many. And yet it is just a whimper amidst a crisis of inconceivable proportions.

Calling Marrianette's case an isolated incident desecrates her death and trivializes the lot of millions of others who share the same fate. Marrianette's death is more than just an isolated incident or a random report; For there is nothing random about the reality of millions of impoverished Filipinos who live on less than 41 pesos a day, for whom subsistence-- three meals a day, a roof over their heads, a job-- is a far-fetched dream.

Extreme hunger, insecurity and destitution of this scale is a slow, silent massacre, quietly killing and claiming countless lives. We are talking about at least 11 million children, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, who are sentenced to death the day they were born. Death is their way of life, as they die in countless ways. They die little by little because of malnutrition, hunger, disease and illness due to poor health, unsafe drinking water and unsanitary environments. They die because they are denied access to basic things that should be the right of every human being: food, a home, education, health, a clean, safe community, decent work, an opportunity to turn things around. They die day in and day out for the multiple indignities they have to suffer and the overwhelming loss that defines their existence. No one should live a single day under such unacceptable, inhuman conditions. Poverty is an atrocious violation, a death sentence, that has been inflicted upon far too many people for far too long. How many lives more will the poverty crisis claim? The death toll must stop, the death sentence lifted.

- Welga ng Kababaihan Laban sa Kahirapan at Globalisasyon

Link: Editorial / Poverty's saint: http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/editorial/view_article.php?article_id=99952