NO FILTER | Miracle on Rizal Pala-Pala II (part 2)

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BY RHICK LARS VLADIMERALBAY
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Saturday, May 20, 2017
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(Continued from Tuesday, May 16)

 

IN 2004 Nanay Melba stopped selling drugs to make good on her promise, taking on numerous odd jobs as the lone breadwinner of her family, “Nagbaligya ko isda, naglabada, halos tanan ginsudlan ko para mabuhi ko akon pamilya.”

She made it a habit to go to church with Paulo every Sunday at the San Vicente Ferrer Parish Church in Leganes to petition for her son’s health and well-being. For the first few months, Paulo had to undergo chemotherapy at least twice a week.

During a procession when Paulo was five years old, Nanay Melba shares he tugged at her blouse pointing to the image of a sheep adorning one of the karo.

Pagwa namon sa ospital, nag-upod kami sa isa ka prosesyon. Kakita sya tupa, hambal ya sakun, ‘Mama, muna bala akun damgo. May mga muna, dasun nagsaka ako sa mataas nga hagdanan. Pero may naghambal sakun nga tigulang nga ‘Naog toh, hindi ka pa di. Puli toh, hindi ka pa di pwede,’” retells Nanay Melba, who shares she burst into tears after hearing Paulo narrate the dream.

The financial strain of the continuous medical procedures proved too much for a mother raising kids on her own. Thankfully, in 2006, Paulo and Nanay Melba were taken in by the Kaibigan ng mga Kabataang may Kanser as a recipient of their program.

Sa tuod lang wala ko kabalo kung paano ko nasarangan magbaka-baka nga isa lang ko sa una nga duwa ka tuig nga nagkabalatian bata ko kag nag-untat ko baligya druga,” Nanay Melba shares, expressing thanks to the foundation that has stepped in to help her and her son, as well as the people in their small community that have aided and supported her.

In 2010, her husband’s case was thrown out and he was released from prison. At first she was delighted that their family was reunited, but grew fearfully when she got wind that he was back to selling and using illegal drugs.

Ging kompronta ko gid siya. ‘Hindi bala nangako ta nga hindi na ta magbaligya, nahutikan ako nga may gapangita naman sa imo, diskompiyado ko, basi gabaligya ka naman’” fumes Nanay Melba. “Kung mabaligya ka, halin ka na di sa balay, layas ka lang di. Kay ngaa nangako ta nga kung mabaligya ta mapatay bata ta, kung mabaligya ka daw ikaw mismo nagpatay sa bata ta. Mas mayo pa nga mahalin ka nalang di sa balay, hindi pagpatya bata ta.”

From then on, her husband swore to stop using and selling shabu for the sake of their children. They both took jobs as street sweepers earning an honest wage of P400 a day to provide for their family.

However, in November 2016 – five months after Duterte assumed power – they were dragged back into the trade they had shunned years before, appearing in the drug watch list of the local PNP.

Under the premise of Oplan Tokhang, their house in Rizal Pala-Pala II was raided unannounced by the police.

Neither Nanay Melba nor her husband was present during the operation because they were at their jobs. The only people home were three of their children and their grandson.

Ano gane gingsugo sa inyo sing pulis?” Nanay Melba asks her two-year-old grandson sitting on her lap.

Hapa! Hapa!” he meekly chimes back, his fingers folded to imitate a gun.

A few days after, while buying cigarettes at a sari-sari store, Nanay Melba’s husband would be cornered by policemen, and arrested allegedly with drugs in his possession. She maintains that the shabu was planted as the two promised to each other never to engage in the illegal trade again.

She herself would be subjected to a mandatory drug test as a city employee. Nanay Melba proudly displays the negative lab results of her drug exam at home as a badge of honor. However, her husband hasn’t been as lucky, as he’s been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The sad irony is that Nanay Melba would rather have her husband safe while locked up in jail than dead at the hand police as another casualty of the drug war.

“Okay lang, importante buhi siya. Kita ko subong grabe ang patyanay, biskan wala ka sala, biskan nagbag-o ka na nga tawo,” she shares. “Ngaa ang tawo, biskan nagdruga sang una, wala pagbag-o haw? May pagbag-o, depended na sa tawo. Damu ko di sa amun nakita nga nagbag-o. Galing hindi na ya makita sing mga pulis, ang ila ya makadakop lang sila kag mabutang sa ila record.”

This is where Nanay Melba finds fault in Duterte and his supporters constantly spouting that “change is coming”, yet generalizing even reformed drug addicts and former drug pushers as a plague needed to be eradicated.

There are plenty of people like Nanay Melba, driven by poverty and circumstance to find other means of providing for their family, but realizing the ills of their actions and then seeking to change for the better.

Paulo is 16 years old now Nanay Melba is thankful every day that she decided to stop plying drugs while she still had a chance, “Gingkaloy-an man kami sing Diyos kay naka-survive siya, asta subong buhi pa bata ko. Maintenance na lang kami.”

She shares that the doctors have told her Paulo may “graduate” from chemotherapy by 2018. He’s become very active and healthy, even playing sports in his spare time. By next year, Nanay Melba hopes Paulo can enrol in the ALS (Alternative Learning System) program, so he can proceed to college.

Nanay Melba still believes that “change is coming” but wants more to see that the dictum can apply to people like her as well. The old cliché is “be the change you want to see in the world”. I believe Nanay Melba is doing her part in inspiring such change, true and genuine change. (maverhick.blogspot.com/PN)

 

 

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