This morning, while I was walking down the streets of Carbon, I witnessed the most disturbing & heart-wrenching scene.
I was walking on the sidewalk, and up ahead I could see a dirty man lying on the ground. Upon getting closer, I saw that the the man was asleep, drunk probably.. Walking towards me was a skinny woman, with poorly-cropped hair, wearing spaghetti top and dirty Daisy dukes. She was apparently limping, dragging her other foot towards my direction and was still barely awake. One glance and I knew who they were..homeless people. As i was edging nearer, I started to look down as I know these people don't want to be looked at. I was preparing to ignore them, when suddenly the woman stopped beside me, turned to the other side and bent down on a pile of cardboard boxes propped up beside the lamp post. The she started to shout and throw words of insult and was slapping something or apparently, someone inside the boxes. When I looked down, I saw a young boy, probably above 1 year, standing up and leaning on the lamp post for support. He was naked from head to foot, and was apparently hiding, hoping the boxes would shield him from the angry woman (who was probably the mother). She started to shout, "Di ka kasabot? Ha? Nganong di man ka kasabot buanga ka?!" while slapping his face, his arm, his head and the boy started to cry so hard.
I wanted to grab the little boy and bring him far away from his deranged sexed-up mother, and threaten her I'd report her to Bantay Bata. But I was scared because I knew it was just an empty threat and that she would fearlessly claim maternal rights for him and would threaten me who was in her territory. So, I just did what I'd never forgive myself for doing; I walked away with the sounds of the little boy's cry still ringing in my ears.
I know this scene is not uncommon here in Cebu. That is why I'm really hoping we could actually do something for these little ones. I hope this could reach to the proper authorities and a strong and firm law on Child Abuse will be strictly and diligently imposed in our country. I could just imagine, that little boy was probably relying on the passers-by (me included) to notice his situation and probably take him away from his hell. And probably, many people before and after me did also just what we all would've done: ignore and walk away.
