The Birth of an Advocacy

Setting. I grew up in Paco, Manila where riots, diaper-less babies, barefoot toddlers, palaboys (street kids), bungageras (high-strung nags), teenage moms, jobless drunken fathers, and peddlers abound. They have their sidecars for a house, beer for breakfast, bingo as their means to earn, and laundered clothes as permanent street trimmings.   They don’t just lack education...some would say they don’t have breeding.

Our street is a convergence of two worlds. Yes, one street yet worlds apart.

The other world is that of a sheltered-gated world where people are educated and speak good English. They communicate well but they barely knew their neighbors. It’s a world where there are more rooms in the house than people. My gated neighbors are either in their offices, businesses or out of the country. They have the time and money to travel and watch shows. They are cultured. 

Our street is just like any other street in Manila. What you see here can be seen elsewhere in the Philippines. 

Era. I was born in the ‘80s. Signs of the Marcos regime grandeur and Imelda’s culture and arts revolution were evident. Back then children physically play and interact with each other.

From this humble background and ripened by time, it dawned on me…something can be done better than outreach and deeper than what is physiological.