Triplets’ mother gets job offer at City Hall

THE four-day-old Bate triplets of Barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City now seem like celebrities, as neighbors keep going to their house to catch a glimpse of them.

Maricel Bate, 32, their mother, said she naps whenever she gets the chance because she has to keep her strength up to entertain visitors who take up most of her time.

She needs to recover as soon as possible, so she can accept a job offer from Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes.

His wife Sarah, as chairperson of the city’s council for the protection of children, will check how they can help Maricel and her husband Wilmer Bate, a City Hall spokesman said.

The Bates, who now have seven children, also had twins just three years ago.

Still looking pale, Bate said her midwife told her to visit the barangay health center to get herself checked but she didn’t feel like doing so because she has to attend to her newborn boys.

At her midwife’s suggestion, Maricel named the triplets Jaron, Jayden and Jacob. She earlier thought of naming them after the three wise men—Melchor, Gaspar and Baltazar.

Jaron, the smallest, weighs four pounds. The biggest, Jacob, weighs 6 lbs.

Bate said a neighbor has given them P500 cash and baby products like diapers and disinfectants. A television network has also donated a sleeping mat made of foam and some groceries.

Wilmer, 28, said he never dreamed of fathering triplets.

“Kinsa’y magtuo,” was all he said when asked if he expected his wife would deliver triplets last Wednesday.

A native of Lanao del Norte, William came to Mandaue City after graduating from high school to find a job. He works as a machine operator in a water-distilling company on some days and earns P285 per day.

When he gets no call or text from the company, he sells barbecue at night at the Mandaue Public Market and earns P100. Going home at dawn, he brings barbecue for their meal.

Aside from the problem of providing the needs of their bigger family, the Bate couple also worries they might soon lose their home to a demolition.

Upon learning of the couple’s predicament, Roger Paller, head of the Mandaue City Public Information Office, said the mayor promised to give Maricel a job.

The mayor and his wife were also planning to visit the family this weekend, Paller said.

Despite their difficulties, Maricel has said she and Wilmer have no intention of putting any of the children up for adoption.