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Sunday, October 02, 2005
To be aged and unwanted
By Gingging Valle
WOULD you still need me, would you still feed me, when I'm 64... so goes an old song that reminds us of the uncertainty that comes with advancing years that exempts no one. I have always prayed that if ever there's a chance that I would reach that so called "golden years" of a human being's life, I would just enjoy it instead of worrying about who among my children would care to take me in.
But alas, nowadays, with the economic instability that the whole human kind seems to be undergoing and unlike wine, being an elderly have its drawbacks and disadvantages more than being a blessing or something to be thankful about.
Nanay Iska and her son have no other choice but seek shelter in a center for the elderly in Davao City, where facilities are wanting and so poor, and the ward's population are growing with each passing day. But theirs are realities that we could not close out eyes from because every one of us are headed in that direction in our life cycle.
I miss the sight of Nanay Iska in her usual turf at Claro M. Recto Street.
Frail and barely 4'5", and all of 87 summers behind her, Nanay Iska as Francisca Tulin is called by her housemates, is a wonder by herself. I could not quite imagine her small feet taking her to a corner every morning of each day to take a ride towards where she would position herself outside the banks along Claro M. Recto street, selling her sweepstakes ticket for P10 each. What is perplexing is how this daily fare makes Nanay Iska a happy Lola despite the dangers that she seems oblivious to.
She begins her daily task very early in the morning walking some distance from her foster home at the Co Su Gian Center for the elderly in Barangay Buhangin this city (where she and her son Bernardo Esteban, 55, resides) towards the main highway where she would take a jeepney ride towards the heart of the city, a few kilometers from her place. Towards noontime, she would go back to her abode after buying some things for herself.
Upon seeing me a day after I promised to buy some of her tickets during my visit to her home place, she beamed with a wide smile that lifted the corners of her eyes. It amazes me more when she recognized and remembered me from the countless people she met the previous day, when Batch '88 of Ateneo High School Alumni donated some canes and mattresses for their use, I could not help but be touched by her simplicity and seemingly agile memory.
Talking about her daily fare makes her bubbly, even if she has difficulty with her sense of hearing. She said if she sells five tickets, she gets P10, and it makes her happy to be able to buy some things for herself. The eldest among the 13 wards of the only center for the elderly in Davao City, Nanay Iska is also an exceptional case, as she is the only ward who is still very active. Almost similar with the sad stories of her house mates some of whom have been abandoned by their own families, Nanay Iska prefers to live with strangers at the Center whom she describes as "kind and good" to her and her son. Even without family members to make her feel comfortable, nor a corner she could call her own at the Center, Nanay Iska calls it her home.
Have we Filipinos become so jaded to allow these things to happen to our elderlies? Are we so desensitized to the point that we no longer see ourselves in the future, or is this just another one of those "signs of the times" that we must heed?
The City Social Services Division Office (CSSDO) staff who are assigned to assist in the center have said that they have been trying to reunite the elderlies with their families through different means and ways because the government simply do not have budget allocations for the center. But most of their wards would rather stay where they are at the Center rather than be in
the "unfriendly environment" of their homes.
There are a host of reasons why we seem to be having a hazy sight of our future as a dignified people. The rash of Globalization that has dictated so much on our youth through the electronic media and much of the mass media of communication could also be faulted. To some extent, the family institution has become immobile, losing grasp over affairs in the home. Are we destined to a doomed future?
For as long as families continue to believe in the sanctity of the home, we could still avert the certainty of losing our identity as a people. It has been known that we, Filipinos are family-oriented and thus, are "closely-knit" to our roots. Does this still hold true among us?
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (October 2, 2005 issue)
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