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Looking closely at Baguio

Fragments of a shattered façade

BAGUIO CITY (Apr. 7) — Baguio is a metro jungle where everybody has to fight to survive. Each day is lived with strife, each moment demands endurance. Men and women, the young and the old, take part of this daily strife.

Eight-year old Allan de Leon roams Burnham Park not to ride bicycles nor ride boats but to earn P27 a day. While some kids enjoy running around the park, Allan strolls around carrying mats made by his grandfather. A mat costs P10 each, he has P3 for very mat he sells. His family lives with his grandparents. His father drives a jeepney and his mother stays at home to take care of her younger child and keeps house. Allan goes to the park with his grandfather who is a balloon vendor.

Looking at Allan from a distance, one cannot help but admire him. He smiles and approaches everybody without inhibition, marketing his goods.

Delmar Peralta, 11 years old, who sells coffee P8 a cup from 4 p.m.to 9 p.m. However, his day does not end there. From 9 p.m. onwards, he works as a dispatcher for Mines View Park routed jeepneys to earn an additional P100 from his coffee vending of P200 daily. He submits his income to his parents so they can have something to buy food with. He only asks for P10 for his daily allowance. His father used to sell peanuts.

Mangoes and peanuts on the other hand, are the bet of close friends Genevive Garcia and Lyn R. Lopez, both 10 years old. Their mothers also sell mangoes at Rose Garden. Their fathers stay at home to do the laundry although sometimes, Genevive’s father earns through carpentry. Genevive earns P300 a day which she saves for her tuition while Lyn usually earns P600 a day before the meningococcemia scare.

Along the sidewalk, Gerard Bautista, 13 years old, pushes his binatog cart. He, together with his father, earns P500 a day. His elder brother also sells boiled corn. His family, composed of seven children, came all the way from Pangasinan so they have to rent a place to stay.

Although there is something good about earning money at a young age, these children lose their chances to enjoy the opportunities of being kids because of economic difficulties. They cannot experience the fun they deserve.

They are also prone to health hazards and become easy prey for crime encounters. They also have to be extra cautious so the guards will not catch them loitering around the park or else their goods will be confiscated and they will need to pay P200 in order to retrieve them.

The City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), NGOs and partner agencies like Save Our Street Children (SOSC), Saleng and Compassion International offer preventive and rehabilitative services such as education, capability building and self enhancement, talent development, health and nutrition and environmental activities. Based from the latest record of CSWDO, there are 960 street and urban working children. Some 236 are under the care of the CSWDO; 105 under the SOSC; 468 are with Saleng; and 151 for the Compassion International.

Allan said he wants to be a policeman someday while Genevive and Lyn shared their dream of becoming nurses. Anybody would be delighted to hear that these children want to become somebody, someday.

Meanwhile, these children will continue roaming around Burnham Park. It is the only thing they can do for now until they uncover the uncertainties of life and the complexities that comes with them.

For tourists, Baguio will always be the place with innumerable scenic views with the perfect climate. And child vendors are mere fragments of a shattered facade of a once fragile city. # Irene Jane A. Lorenzo/MMSU intern

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