Saturday, November 10, 2007 Manette's wishes were her rights By Grace L. Plata
THE items in the wish list of 11-year-old suicide victim Marianeth "Manette" Amper in her unsent letter to GMA 7's TV program "Wish Ko Lang" were not just simple wishes. Rather, these were fundamental rights that had been denied her, said the Kabiba Alliance for Children's Concerns in Mindanao.
"New shoes, schoolbag, bicycle, jobs for her parents, alleviation from poverty are not just simple wishes of an 11-year old girl-child. Her wishes are actually the child's desire to actualize her fundamental rights to education, recreation, and economic survival that are supposedly due to all Filipino children," Honey May Suazo, executive secretary of Kabiba, said in a statement e-mailed to Sun.Star.
Amper hanged herself because she could no longer bear life's difficulties due to extreme poverty.
Suazo said the incident represents the true state of the nation because children's situations are indicators of the condition of the country's economy and governance.
Suazo also decried Health Secretary Francisco Duque's dismissing of the incident as an isolated case.
Suazo said: "It is a callous statement that tries to portray that the Arroyo government is really serious in addressing poverty and hunger. The government is in state of denial that its so-called anti-poverty and anti-hunger program is a big sham. How would the government explain the report of International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) that 17.55% is the Philippine's Global Hunger Index and 11 million people are living in extreme poverty?"
"Even though the government has ordered the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release P1 billion to accelerate the government's so-called hunger-mitigation and anti-poverty program, child-focused groups view this as a palliative measure that is not sustainable," she added.
According to Suazo, the problem of poverty and hunger are not just a problem of budget allocation but a structural problem brought about by the government's anti-people and anti-children economic policies such as liberalization, privatization, and deregulation.
She added that government had launched so many anti-poverty programs with corresponding budget these end up as public relations tactics for political mileage and a source of corruption.
"The sad story of Marianeth depicts the sad situation of the Filipino children. Children's wishes are simple and must be given primary concern of the Arroyo government," Suazo said. (With press release)
