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METROPOLITAN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
4408, Capricorn St., Brgy. 177, Maria Luisa Subd. Camarin, Caloocan City
THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS

LIVING UNDER THE BRIDGE
A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of

Senior High School Department of
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Grade Twelve

Senior High School Curriculum in
Science, technology, Engineering and Mathematics
by:
Jhomar M. Beltran
Jerome B. Benitez
Daniel B. Cepillo
Jacob Justin B. Coquia
June, 2021
APPROVAL SHEET
This thesis entitled, THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS

LIVING UNDER THE BRIDGEis hereby prepared and submitted by Jhomar
M. Beltran, Jerome B. Benitez, Daniel B. Cepillo and Jacob Justine B. Coquia in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for Grade Twelve Senior High School
Curriculum inScience, technology, Engineering and Mathematicshas been
examined and recommended for:
MR. JHOMAR M. BELTRAN, LPT

Adviser
___________________________________________________________
PANEL OF EXAMINERS
Approved by the Committee on Oral Defense with a grade of 1.25
MR. JHOMAR M. BELTRAN, LPT

Chairman
MR. DANIEL SALUMBIDES, LPT MS. MARIVEL QUILBIO, LPT

Member Member
Accepted as partial fulfillment of the requirement for the academic track

Science, technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
PETER G. YOUNG, JR, Ph.D

Principal
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The completion of this study could not have been possible without the
help, participation and assistance of so many people whose names may not be
enumerated, but their contributions are sincerely appreciated. However, the group
would like to express their warm appreciation and gratitude to the following:
Foremost, to Almighty God for His blessings throughout the research, and
granting the researchers strength, knowledge and good health to complete the
work successfully;
Architect Maribel M. Collado, President of Metropolitan Institute of
Arts and Sciences, for allowing them to use the school facilities;
Dr. Peter G. Young, Jr., Principal of Metropolitan Institute of Arts and
Sciences, for sharing his wisdom and life motivations ensuring the quality of our
work;
Mr. Jhomar M. Beltran, chairman of research committee, for the
untiring effort and unending support to encourage the researchers to pursue this
study and for his assistance and creative comments to improve their work;
Mr.Daniel Salumbides, Memberof the panel, for his guidance, patience,
and for her insightful comments and suggestions;
Ms. Marivel Quilbio, their thesis adviser, for the unending support,
encouragement, patience and intelligence throughout the process of their research;
she guided them all the way from the beginning up to the end of their study;
iii
College Library Staffs, for allowing them to use the facilities and books,
and for assisting them inside the library; and
TheirRespective Families, who supported the researchers all throughout
their journey.
Jhomar M. Beltran
Jerome B. Benitez
Daniel B. Cepillo
Jacob Justin B. Coquia
2021
iv
DEDICATION
I, the researcher lovingly dedicates this work to:
my Family, loved ones, friends, and professors
Who have been my inspirations and the reason
on my desire to pursue my dreams in life; and
Above all, Almighty God, the creator of all things for
All the blessings that He showers tome.
JMB
JBB
DBC
JBC
v
ABSTRACT
Education is one of the tools needed for a person to succeed in life. It will
give you an edge to compete with other people in to these highly competitive
grounds wherein you have to be the best in order to outpace those who are around
you. Unfortunately, in order to attain education, one must have the resources to be
able to pursue it. Most people are having a hard time achieving it due to poverty
especially those students who are living under the bridge. Despite being poor, the
said students are striving really hard, try to make everything work regardless on
the condition they are facing.
Most of these students go to school without enough money, without eating
anything and with the lack of sleep. Instead of just focusing on themselves, they
are also trying to help their parents to be able to attain the needs of their family.
But after all those hindrances, they still manage to be one of the best students who
dream big for their own and their family's future.
The purpose of this study is to deeply understand their condition and hopefully,
inspire other students who were blessed with the needed resources but chooses not
to take their education seriously and to be able to let our government know that
there are people like them who needs help.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Title Page i
Approval Sheet ii
Acknowledgment iii
Dedication v
Abstract vi
Table of Contents vii
Chapter
1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction 1
Background of the Study 2
Statement of the Problem 4
Significance of the Study 4
Scope and Delimitation 5
Definition of Terms 6
2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
What Is Poverty? 8
Types of Poverty 9
Who Are the Poor? 11
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Factors That Cause Poverty 13
Impacts of Poverty 16
Poverty in The Philippines 18
Inability to Afford Housing 21
Foreign Studies 21
Home Sweet Home 21
Bridge 27
Life in The Philippines:
Family Who Lived Under the Bridge
Travel to Manila Philippines and Meet This 30
Students Who Live Under the Bridge To
Graduate as Valedictorian 31
Buddha’s Smile School (BSS) 34
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
Research Design 35
Selection of Co-Researchers 36
ResearchInstrument 36
Treatment ofData 37
4 PRESENTATION, INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
Presentation of Co-Researchers 39
Researchers Experience 108
Insights 11
viii
5 SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS, SYMBOLIC
REPRESENTATION, IMPLICATIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of Findings 137
Symbolic Representation 140
Implications 142
Recommendations 144
Bibliography 146
Appendices 148
Curriculum Vitae 153
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Chapter 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
Poverty is not a new phenomemon that the world encounters. According to
Merriam Webster Dictionary, poverty is the state of one who lacks a usual or
socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. World Bank
Organization 2018 describes that poverty is hunger. Poverty is being sick and not
able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school of not knowing how to
read.
In the Philippines, poverty is one of the biggest reasons why many
students fail to finish elementary and high school education. These students
belongs to extremely poor families. Their privilege to acquire formal education is
being compromised. Despite of their condition, some of them still manage to
attend formal schooling.
The researchers are motivated to conduct a study of lived experiences of
students living under the bridge because they wantto have thorough and
deeperunderstanding about their lives, how these students were able to handle
their situations and still be able to attend formal schooling, and be fully aware
with regards to their real situation and learn from their experiences and be able to
share to other people as future educators. The researchers observed that most
people focus on students living in squatter areas without knowing that students
living under the bridge experience the worst.

It is with this thought that this research was undertaken, toexplore and
describe how the lived experiences of students living under the bridge be
understood from the perspective of the co-researchers.
2
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.
There are two major types of poverty: Absolute and Relative Poverty. Absolute
poverty is a condition characterized by a severe deprivation of basic human needs,
including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter and
education. It depends not only in income but also on access to services
(Woodward, 2010) while relative poverty refers to the economic status of a family
whose income is insufficient to meet its society’s average standard of living.
(ASCD, 2018)
According to the Asian Development Bank (2009), poverty and inequality
have been recurrent challenges in the Philippines and have again come to the fore
in the wake of the current global financial crisis and rising food, fuel, and
commodity prices experienced in 2008.
“Poverty, regardless of level, is robustly linked to reduced academic
achievement.” Students who live in poverty come to school every day without the
proper tools for success. As a result, they are commonly behind their classmates
physically, socially, emotionally or cognitively. (Lee, 2017)Inaddition,“The
impact of poverty on a child’s academic achievement is significant and starts
early,” says Jonah Edelman, PhD, co-founder and chief executive officer of Stand
for Children, a nonprofit education advocacy organization. “Young children
growing up in poverty face challenges with cognitive and literary ability and
[often] begin school both academically and socioeconomically behind their peers
from higher-income backgrounds.”
3
Safe and adequate housing is a basic human right. Like all human rights,
however, housing security for the majority of our people has been difficult to
achieve. While weeping history of urban development in the Philippines has yet
to be written, other observers have pointed to the aftermath of worldwar II as a
key period in the precipitous worsening of the housing problem in urban areas.
Informal settlers – known for many years simply as “squatters”–mushroomed in
Manila and many other major cities in search of jobs. (Shahani 2016) Due to
poverty, many Filipinos do not afford to provide shelter that pushes them to
become informal settlers and later on, in many areas around the city especially
under the bridge. A bridge is a structure where people are crossing over the main
road for the people’s ease of acess from one road to another.
In a busy bridge, lies a hidden world down under. It is no ordinary
overpass. It’s also a roof, closet, clothes line, shoe rack and many more for the
community that thrives underneath the massive structure. There are families who
are considered as extremely poor tend to live under the bridges most especially in
Quezon City for it is the biggest city in the Philippines.
4
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore and describe the
lived experiences of students living under the bridge.
Specifically, it sought answers to the following questions:
1. How may the lived experiences of students living under the bridge can
be described?
2. What insights can be drawn from their experiences?
3. What are the implications of the findings?
SIGNIFANCE OF THE STUDY
This study is beneficial to the following:
Students, that they may find solace for themselves and to the other students
living under the bridge and that they may have a deeper understanding of this
phenomenon through the insights gathered from the study.
Teachers, that they may have a glimpse of the lives of their students while
living under the bridge and they may give due importance to the situation they are
experiencing.
School Administrators,that they may find ways and means to offer better
oppurtunities to the students living under the bridge.
5
Department of Education, that they may find ways to help the students
living under the bridge by making more programs.
Community,that they may be aware of the situations of others especially
those students living under the bridge and understand them.
Lawmakers, that they may see the need for better laws with consideration to
protect the welfare of students living under the bridge.
Future Reasearchers,that they may find this study useful in their future
undertakings of the said phenomenon.
SCOPE AND DELIMITATION
This studyfocused on the lived experiences of 5 students regardless of
their grade levels and living under the bridge for atleast 5 years.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
The following terms were defined operationally and contextually for better
understanding of this study.
Bridgeisa structure where people are crossing over the main road for
people’s ease of access from one road to another and sometimes serve as a shelter
for homeless families.
6
DepEd(Department of Education) is a government agency responsible to
manage and govern the Philippine system of education.
Extreme Povertyis a condition characterized by severe deprivation of
basic human needs including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities,
health, shelter, education and information.
Informal Settlersare group of people or families who do not have a
permanent location as their shelter so they tend tomigrate from time to time.
Lawmakers are government officials that creates laws to be
implemented by the executive.
Phenomenonisan interesting fact or event that can be observed or studied
and that typically is unusual or difficult to understand or explain fully.
Povertythe state of being poor or lacking of basic human needs or
resources such as food, money, clothing, especially shelter.
Relative Poverty is the condition in which people lack the minimum
amount of income needed in order to maintain the average standard of living in
the society in which they live.
Shelteris a comfortable place or structure where an individual or family is
living.
7
Squatters Areaisan area where people lives on a land without the
permission of the owner and without paying.
UDHR is referring to the acronym Universal Declarations of Human
Rights.
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Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
This chapter presents a review of related literature and studies. The
literature includes excerpts from books, articles, videos, documentaries, writings
and previous studies. These are presented to strengthen the framework of the
study.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Poverty hits
The lesson on poverty is a complex one because there is no easy way, or
standard definition of who is poor and who is not, although we look at the living
conditions of people to get an idea of their situation. Typically, it is when
someone experiences a fundamental deprivation of well-being.
World malnutrition and children. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children
die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages
on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being
meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.
Sometimes, a researcher can look at an individual, family or community in
comparison to the living standards of the broader

community, and classify them as poor, if the researcher finds that their needs are
way below that of everyone else in the community. In this case, the researcher
does the classification, and it is very relative in nature. Experts call this ‘Relative
Poverty’
People and families are allowed to make their own judgments into their
living conditions, in relation to the general living standards of the communities in
which they live. You can see a family who owns a bicycle considering themselves
as being among the well-to-do in the community. In another scenario, they can
consider themselves as being among the poorest in the community, if they
compare themselves to other members of the community. This is subjective
poverty.
‘Individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in
poverty when they lack resources to obtain the type of diet, participate in the
activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at
least widely encouraged and approved, in the societies in which they belong.’
(Townsend, 2017)
Types of Poverty
Absolute Povertyis the extreme kind of poverty involving the chronic
lack of basic food, clean water, health and housing. People in absolute poverty
tend to struggle to live and experience a lot of child deaths from preventable
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diseases like malaria, cholera and water-contamination related diseases. This type
is usually long-term in nature, and often handed to them by generations before
them. This kind of poverty is usually not common in the developed world.
Relative Povertyis usually in relation to other members and families in
the society. For example, a family can be considered poor if it cannot afford
vacations, or cannot buy presents for children at Christmas, or cannot send its
young to the university. Even though they have access to government support for
food, water, medicine and free housing, they are considered poor because the rest
of the community have access to superior services and amenities.
Situational Povertyis referring to people or families that are poor
because of some adversities like earthquakes, floods or a serious illness.
Sometimes, people can help themselves out of this situation quickly if they are
given a bit of assistance, as the cause of their situations was just one unfortunate
event.
Generational or Chronic Povertyis a more complicated type and we will
see a detailed example here. This is when poverty is handed over to individuals
and families from generations before them. In this type, there is usually no escape
from it, as people are trapped in its causes and have no access to tools that will
help them get out of it.
The above definition will help us look a bit more into details at the various
ways in which poverty can be understood. (eSchoolToday, 2017)
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Who are the poor?
Who are the worlds poorest, in terms of their gender, where they live,
what they do for a living, how old they are and so on?
The worlds absolute poor often live in rural areas, and often earn an
income in agriculture. Rural households are more likely to be poorer than urban
households.
Poor children in school:
Based on enrollment data, about 72 million children of primary school age
in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 per cent of them were
girls. And these are regarded as optimistic numbers —Source: Millennium
Development Goals Report 2007
Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or
sign their names. —Source: The State of the World’s Children, 1999, UNICEF
A. Poor or destitute
People in this group tend to be the elderly, especially widows with no assets. They
also include the disabled, who are usually not empowered to come into public.
They fall into the category of the absolute and
chronically Poor. They are also dependents because of some adverse
health conditions that does not allow them to help themselves.
B. Dependents
Poor households have more members, living together in single rooms or
small houses, a greater share of dependents (non-working age), less education,
less land, and less access to running water and electricity. Poor households have
significantly fewer years of education whether one looks at the household-level
average or at the years of schooling of household heads.
C. Economically poor
People in this group move in and out of poverty, usually vulnerable to
spells of personal shocks such as illness, family deaths, or job losses. General
shocks such as floods, fires, droughts, conflicts or earthquakes can also cause this
kind of poverty. People in this group tend to be in their working life, but largely
live in rural areas, working on small subsistence farms. About 60% of Africans
who are poor tend to be in this group. They usually lack assets and access to
services that can enhance their economic development. Households with many
children or dependents also tend to be poor. (eSchoolToday, 2017)
Factors that Cause Poverty
1. Income inequality
Research shows that when a country grows economically, overall poverty
reduces. If the national income is not equally distributed among all communities
in the country, there is a risk that poorer communities will end up poorer, and
individuals will feel it most.
2. Conflicts and Unrests

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About 33% of communities in absolute poverty live in places of conflict.
In the past, countries like Rwanda and Sri-Lanka have suffered poverty as a result
of years of tribal and civil wars. In recent years, Afghanistan, Iraq and the like are
all going through difficult times and poverty is rife in these areas. Unrests result
in massive loss of human lives, diseases, hunger and violence, destruction of
property and infrastructure, economic investments and quality labour. It is also a
put-off for foreign investments. Wealth can never be created in such an
environment.
3. Location, adverse ecology and location
Location of countries, as well as communities within the country can make
people poor. Geographic and ecological factors such as mountains, swamps,
deserts and the like have also made living conditions unbearable in many places.
This is why some rural areas are poorer than others, even in the same country. For
example, poverty in the Andes, Peru is six times higher than communities in the
Amazonian region.
In other instances, some communities are cut off from the main economic
centers of the country. They find themselves located so far from roads, markets,
health services, schools and economic facilities. This makes it just impossible for
the locals to access support and assistance, and also makes it discouraging for
economic investors to consider investing there. In Bangladesh for example,
poverty is severe in areas of physical remoteness, as indicated by the fact that
seven rural districts are home to half of the country’s severely stunted children.
4. Natural disasters
Droughts, floods, hurricanes and other unexpected natural events cause
deaths, illness and loss of income. In Ethiopia alone, there were 15 droughts (and
famines) between 1978 and 1998 that led to the displacement, injury, or death of
more than 1 million people. In better connected communities, families are able to
come out of poverty and get on with their lives, but other remote and less
accessible communities suffer for longer periods.
5. Ill Health and Disability
Poverty can also get worse if communities are affected by diseases such as
Malaria and HIV Aids. Diseases cause many deaths and children are left with no
parents or caregivers. Household wealth can also drain quickly from family
members with disabilities. In many communities, disabled members are looked
down upon and not allowed to inherit assets. They are considered a stigma and
excluded from public events and exposure. This mentality can adversely affect the
well-being of families. For example, the incidence of poverty is 15-44% higher in
households with a disabled head or adult.
6. Inheritance of Poverty
Families that have had a lifetime of poverty tend to pass on the situation to
their children. They cannot afford education for their children and children grow
with no skills. Children work on the same family farms, and marry into families
with similar conditions as they turn adults. They, in turn, pass on the tradition to
their children.
7. Education, Training and skills
People who are educated or had some training or skills are in a better
position to apply ideas and knowledge into fixing basic problems and enhancing
their livelihoods. They are able to plan, follow instructions and get reach out to
access information, tools and support that can improve their livelihoods. In the
absence of training, skills or education, people cannot help themselves. They
cannot prevent diseases, and cannot apply new ways of doing things. The result is
that their poverty situation is worse of and are even more vulnerable than before.
8. Gender discrimination
In many African communities, girls were not allowed to be in school.
Families preferred to invest in boys’ education than in girls. Women were also not
allowed to do major economic activity and had less ownership of lands and assets.
This idea negatively impacts on the well-being of women, and the development of
their children is also impacted negatively. (eSchoolToday, 2017)
Impacts of poverty
Poverty brings about a myriad of complications. The effects usually
depend on the kind of poverty in question. Let us see more below:
Effects of poverty on healthHunger, Health and Deaths.

Absolute poverty results in extreme hunger, starvation and malnutrition.
People (and children) become vulnerable to preventable diseases such as cholera,
dysentery and tuberculosis, with no access to health services and medications.
Death rates rise. Relative poverty on the other hand, forces people to engage in
behaviors that expose them to diseases such as HIV Aids. Whiles they may not
starve to death, they may be living on unhealthy foods, which ultimately weaken
their immunity and expose them to diseases.
Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the
world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million
deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1
million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African
children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide. —Source:
2007 Human Development Report (HDR), United Nations Development Program,
November 27, 2007, p.25. Effects of poverty on social and political sectorSocial
and Political
Relative poverty may cause people to indulge in social vices such as
drugs, prostitution and petty crimes as a means to meet their immediate needs. In
many developing countries, political leaders and rebel leaders take advantage and
recruit young people, (especially those in relative poverty) to fight for their
interests, in return for food and basic needs. These young folks feel vulnerable if
they do not comply, as they have no other way out of their situation.
Effects of poverty on economyEconomic

People in absolute poverty simply cannot afford food, water and shelter.
They are not healthy enough to undertake any economic activity. They cannot
send their young to school and the youth cannot get any skills. This results in
economic breakdown of the community, which directly affects the larger region
where they are. Further to that, those in relative poverty, who have a bit of
training or education, are forced to move out (migrate) in search of better lives in
the cities. This deprives the rural areas of the man-power and makes their
situation worse. As they migrate into the cities, the end up in slums, increase
populations and put pressure on amenities in the cities.
Shelter, safe water & health
For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:
A. 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
B. 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
C. 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7) (eSchoolToday,
2017)
Poverty in the Philippines
More than a quarter of the Philippines’ 105.7 million people live in dire
poverty. The reasons are many: rapid population growth, inadequate social
infrastructure, slow growth of rural productivity and lack of access to credit.
While the country has made great strides in development, much of the population
is still employed in the informal economy, running small businesses not
recognized by the government and eking out a living day to day. These are the
people in need of microfinance.
Opportunity International launched its operations in Manila in 1981.
Today, Opportunity Philippines serves loan and savings clients from a number of
service locations throughout the country. The bank focuses on providing a secure
way to save through targeted deposit products and protecting families with
insurance.
Rural Expansion: The bank is striving to expand further into rural
communities by leveraging technological innovations, including a pilot program
that will provide 10,000 families with access to electricity in remote areas of
Luzon, Visayas and in Mindanao.
Innovative Products: In a country prone to typhoons, Opportunity
Philippines protects families through innovative insurance products. In 2012,
Opportunity supported 3,000 families to rebuild following Typhoon Helen and the
monsoons in her aftermath.
Green Charcoal: There is a high demand for charcoal in the market. After
the Philippines banned the use of wood-based charcoals, Opportunity Philippines
introduced green charcoal to clients. The bank distributes briquetting machines to
provide sugarcane farmers with a way to earn an income during the off season.
Dried leaves fuel the environmentally sustainable machines. Clients earn money
by selling the green charcoal they produce.
Transformation: Training ranges from financial literacy to social and
personal development modules. Our LIFE Series program provides staff and
clients with insights into happy family life based on biblical principles. LIFE
Series is just one component of a robust transformation program. (Oppurtunity
International, 2018)
The Philippines is a country located in Southeast Asia comprised of more
than 7,000 islands. Poverty has proven to be one of the most significant
challenges facing this country and its citizens. Filipinos are having a hard time
surviving in such difficult conditions, and more and more are falling into extreme
poverty.
According to the Asian Development Bank, the major causes of poverty
include: low economic growth, a weak agricultural sector, increased population
rates and a high volume of inequality. Because of these factors, there are a lot of
effects of poverty in the Philippines that make it difficult for people to live in such
circumstances.
Inability to Afford Housing
With poverty plaguing the country and employment opportunities being
scarce, many Filipinos are unable to afford housing, which puts them in danger of
turning to the streets for accommodation. In 2012, extreme poverty within the
Philippines affected 19.2 percent of the population or around 18.4 million people.
This poverty line survived on $1.25 a day, making it extremely difficult to
rise out of poverty and find affordable housing for Filipinos and their families.
Home Sweet Home.
But what if one’s home lacks a family's basic needs? Among the poorest
provinces in the Philippines, the poor live in barong-barong (shanty) types –
poorly constructed and temporary one-room shelters.
In a August 16 to September 5, 2015 survey sponsored by the World Food
Programme (WFP), it was revealed that most poor households, if not shanties, are
made of light and cheap materials.
The WFP found that 44% of households among the poorest provinces in
the country were barong-barong types, while 47% were poorly constructed semi-
permanent or temporary houses. The rest were made of mixed light and heavy
materials.
Of the 16 poorest provinces, only the surveyed poor families in Masbate,
Camiguin, and Sultan Kudarat reported permanent houses made of good quality
materials. Meanwhile, Sarangani had the highest percentage of barong-barong
types of housing (Fritzie Rodriguez, 2015)

Estimated at over 3.1 million, the Philippines has the highest number of
homeless people in the world where roughly 1.2 million are children and more
than 70,000 rambles in the nation’s capital, Metro Manila.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has barely
scratched the surface in combating the issue. To date, there are 4,071 beneficiaries
of the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer Program for the Homeless Street
Families (MCCT-HSF) compared to the number at large.
Homelessness can be a result of various reasons, predominantly due to
poverty caused by unemployment. It could also be a result of domestic violence,
disability, or both. There are many other reasons for people to lose their homes
and it wouldn’t hurt for us to help.
If you’re reading this, it’s very likely that you have a roof over your head
and your compassion lead you to still be chewing on this article. The good news
is, most of us would like to help. Most of us would like to know how. Some of us
may have already extended help before. However, even with pure intentions, we
may have given items to the homeless that aren’t exactly what they need. (Stacey
Tee, 2015)
The government center area in Quezon City has been badly encroached.
The main aggravation came after the late 1980s although there were pockets of
informal settlements even before that time.

The freedom and license gained following the euphoria of EDSA People
Power led to a high rate of squatting in the government area. In the short period of
time when the government was either completely taken up by other problems, the
squatting in the Quezon City center was quickly unleashed.
A large swath of prime public land along the EDSA route occupied by the
government center and park areas (both the national and the city governments)
became the primary victim of this intrusion. Along with it, private properties and
private lots were also settled in by squatters.
The area near the Batasang Pambansa is heavily squatted upon. Much of it
was originally slated to be a part and a site for government offices. The park has
disappeared from view. It is mainly full of squatter colonies.
“A most depressing sight.” Both the national and city governments have
been trying to slowly reclaim these lands. The Quezon City government has been
able to lease part of its reclaimed lands to private developers. This has led to the
forcible removal of communities of squatters, making it possible to plan the land
use.
Most of the squatters were compensated upon being moved out to other
locations. But some easily moved back into other dense squatter communities,
thus, simply adding to the generalization of the squatter problem in the city.
The most depressing squatter settlement site lies on the stretch of road
beginning from across the offices of the National Power Corp. on the corner of
Quezon Avenue and the BIR Road. This goes in two directions – along Quezon
Avenue, checked only by the boundary of the Lung Center Hospital.
Along the BIR Road, the the tightly-squeezed squatter shacks continue
uninterrupted to the longer NIA Road that runs partly parallel to EDSA within the
interior of this area. NIA Road continues to the General Postal Office and the rear
of the NIA offices and leads almost to East Avenue. The settlement is checked
only where the entrance gate to the regional office area of the Land Registration
Commission breaks it.
East Avenue which radiates from the Quezon Memorial Circle (together
with EDSA and Quezon Avenue) encircles this piece of residential squalor that is
hidden from view of daily commuters. (East Avenue is well-known because that
is where the buildings of the Social Security System, the Heart Center and the
Kidney Center are located.)
The large community of squatters across the Philippine Science High
School has now been mostly cleared in favor of urban redevelopment. The
Quezon City government had entered into a long-term lease with a private
developer to develop a new commercial center for the city. This is a high rise
mixed-use office/ residential complex that surrounds the Trinoma Mall
development.
It took a prolonged struggle between government and the squatter groups
before the clearing of the squatters was achieved.

Other squatter areas abound in different forms. For instance, the
Department of Agriculture corner along the North Drive is full of squatters in the
most intrusive way. This is along the turn of the road where the Veterans
Memorial Hospital is located. The side and frontage of the Sugar Regulatory
Commission Building is blocked by what should have been an open view of these
offices on the corner along the Quezon Circle.
The squatters squeeze everywhere it is possible. Crowded along the creek
between the Children’s Hospital and the Parks and Wild Life Office is a vibrant
community begins a creek along Quezon Avenue into the interiors.
“UP squatting.” The University of the Philippines has a large campus in
Diliman, Quezon City. UP has struggled with a continuous intrusion of informal
settlers along its boundaries since the campus moved there in the late 1940s. Such
communities have proven a challenge to the university in the course of many
decades.
The squatter settlements have increased in intensity, especially in the
vicinity since the bypass road to Katipunan St. along the C.P. Garcia road was
constructed decades ago.
Today, it is most serious. Within the last few years, the area near the
official residence of the UP president has been encroached upon by steady
construction of illegal dwellings.

Most alarming is the sudden growth of a squatter settlement where the site
of the College of Veterinary Medicine used to be. This settlement is now a large
community of new squatters. This seems to be the start of something definitely
more problematic in the future. (Sicat, 2017)
Bridge
Bridge is a structure carrying a pathway or roadway over a depression or
obstacle (such as a river) a bridge connecting the island to the mainland
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
MANILA, Philippines – Manila has long been the glimmer of hope for
many coming from the rural areas. They abandon their life in their hometown to
seek a brighter future here.
Because of the absence of housing security, many resort to living in
informal settlements – idle lands and government infastructure. Most of these
places are already occupied by the same hopeful people.
For several years, they have been facing the same financial, health, and
housing problems. (READ: Informal settlers: Integration, not just relocation) And
because of congestion and limited space in the big city, not a few squeeze into the
unlikeliest of places.
The Quirino bridge is one such place. It is home to approximately 100
families from different parts of the country. No one would think that a functioning
community exists under the short and narrow concrete stretch.
Shelters made of scrap wood hang from the ceiling of the bridge and just a
few inches above the surface of the water. More than one family reside in each
house, providing hot and tight living space.
They make do with what they have. Living rooms where they spend
daytime double as their dining area during meals. At night, when the noise of the
trucks above drown the sound of the rushing water underneath, they think about
how to survive tomorrow. (Jodesz Gavilan, 2014)
Life in the Philippines: Family Who Lived Under the Bridge.
Gina is a 47 year old mother and grandmother. She has 10 children and
some grandchildren. They are illegal settlers, living under the bridge. They have
electricity through illegal connection, but they have to pay more or less $50.00 a
month for it.
Note: $50.00 per month for a single light bulb is simply ridiculous! $50.00
a month for a poor Filipino to earn is very hard, sweat and blood!
Gina has no regular job. Her husband works as a construction worker, but
the job is not permanent. Sometimes he has a job, most of the time, none.
Gina and her family’s common foods are rice and a can of sardines every
day. They only eat ones a day.
The risk for them to have a dengue virus is really high because of the
monster sized mosquitoes that bite them every night.
They have to share a can of sardines everyday.
In the Philippines, the reality that the majority of the population are living
at the line and below the line of poverty is considered normal and accepted in the
eyes of the society.
That is wrong and we should not simply justy accept that fact.
If we want to get out of poverty, we should open our eyes to the reality
and fix the problems within our rotten society.
Just like what I always say; poverty was designed by the rich and
powerful. The rich and powerful won’t be able to stay on the top without the
people from below that they oppress.
Economic poverty is a modern day system of slavery. (Mark
Nowhereman, 2017)
Travel to Manila Philippines and Meet This Family Who Sleep Under The
Bridge
Jocelyn is three months pregnant. The upcoming baby will be her 10 th
child. Her eighteen year old daughter who already has a child is also expecting
another baby. We have visited Jocelyn and her kids twice, today is the third visit.
Jocelyn has a son who dreams of becoming a professional singer.
“Ako po si Jocelyn, may siyam na anak po, 40 years old.” Jocelyn said
“ I am Jocelyn and I have nine children, I am 40 years old.” Jocelyn said
We visited ate Jocelyn 10 months ago and we found out that they are
living under this bridge for 20 years now. It’s hard to live here. You can inhale a
polluted air coming from this river. Her husband weaves an old school folding
bed and got 2 dollars in a week.
“Ito po yung mg nakolekta namin para po makabili ng bigas eh.” Jocelyn
said
“Here are the junks that we collected to buy rice.” Jocelyn said
“Para maka kain narin po yung mga anak ko eh, kahit papano.” Jocelyn
said
“To feed our children.”
They do not have water supply, they need to fetch water to another street
and pay $.10 per pail. They gave illegal electricity connections and pay $ 0.40 in a
week. Sometimes they sleep here while others slep on the floor.
“Sometimes I slept upstairs near the road, because of lack of bedspace.
Life is hard. We are like sardines here. We have no choice but to live here. You
can here all the vehicles passing by the bridge. Most of the time, out ceiling
shakes whenever a big truck passes by.” Jocelyn’s husbad said
This is how ate Jocelyn and her family live under the bridge. They do not
have restroom so their poop goes straight to the river. (Nowhereman, 2016)
Students Who Lives Under The Bridge to Graduate as Valedictorian.
Have you ever wondered what’s life like for people living under the
bridge?
In the Philippines, this situation is very common particularly in the Metro.
Because of poverty, many people resort to building their shelters under the bridge.
Undaunted by its harsh conditions, they manage to build their lives and
dreams under the bridge.
Take for instance Cienna Igano, a girl who is living with her family under
a bridge in Paco, Manila.
This year, Cienna will be graduating as her elementary school’s class
valedictorian proving that poverty is not a hindrance to one’s success.
Despite not having an allowance and not being able to submit projects due
to lack of resources, the pupil managed to consistently place as top 1 from Grade
2 to Grade 6.
“‘Pag pumapasok po ako, wala po akong baon. Tapos po kapag may mga
project po, ‘di ko po lahat nasa-submit. Kaya po minsan sa project ako
bumababa,” she told a 24 Oras reporter.
I don’t have an allowance when I go to school. I can’t submit all projects.
This is why sometimes my grades get low.
For Cienna, education can improve her family’s economic status.
“Gusto ko po kasi maiangat po sa buhay ang magulang ko. Kasi simula
nung bata pa po sila, mahirap na po sila.”
I want to improve the lives of my parents. They have been poor since I
was a child.
In the same report by 24 Oras, it was revealed that poverty is one of the
main obstructions to finishing elementary and high school education in the
Philippines. About 4.6% of marginalised children fail to finish their studies, while
0.7% of kids coming from rich families stop their studies.
Currently, there are about 1.5 million out-of-school youths in the country.
The Philippines ranked fifth among the countries with the most number of
out-of-school youths, according to a 2013 study conducted by The United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (GMA, 2013)

Buddha’s Smile School (BSS)
Since October 2015 around 35 students who had been living in huts along
the railroad (called Chaukaghat Community), live under a freeway bridge in open
air and without any shelter to protect them. Our students and their parents and
siblings were thrown out of their little homemade tents by the railway police.
Now these families have no protection or privacy. They are living out in the open.
The Buddha’s Smile School (BSS) Founder Rajan Kaur Saini said: “Our
Chaukaghat children are now living in very harsh conditions; their lives are in
danger almost every day. This makes their attendance at BSS even more crucial
for their very lives and safety. At BSS they receive more than a good education, a
nutritious meal and love. They are also safe when the come to school. This is a
big concern. We truly hope that the living conditions of these children and
families will improve.”
We hope these extremely impoverished families will be able to build small
huts again in another neighborhood which will allow them safety and dignity.
(BSS, 2018)
Chapter 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
This chapter presents the research design of the study, the instruments used,
selection of the co- researchers and how the data were treated.
RESEARCH DESIGN
This study used qualitative method specifically phenomenology. (Giorgi,
2012) states ”a phenomenological research describes how human beings
experience a certain phenomenon and direct investigation and description of
phenomena as consciously experienced by people living those experiences.”
Phenomenological research is typically conducted through the use of in-depth
interviews of small samples of participants. By studying the perspectives of
multiple participants, a researcher can begin to make generalizations regarding
what it is like to experience a certain phenomenon from the perspective of those
that have lived the experience.
Phenomenology has its roots in a 20th century philosophical movement based
on the work of the philosopher Edmund Husserl. As research tool,
phenomenology is based on the academic disciplines of philosophy and
psychology and has become a widely accepted method for describing human
experiences.
SELECTION OF CO-RESEARCHERS
The selection of co-researchers was done through Purposive Sampling which
is a sampling technique in which researcher relies on his or her own judgment
when choosing members of population to participate in the study. Black (2012)
states “purposive sampling is a non-probability sampling method and it occurs
when “elements selected for the sample are chosen by the judgment of the
researcher. Researchers often believe that they can obtain a representative sample
by using a sound judgment, which will result in saving time and money”.
The co- researchers were selected based on our judgement and the purpose of
the research. First, they should have experienced the phenomenon of living under
the bridge and second, the co- researchers should have atleast lived under the
bridge in two to five years. In order to trace the other co-researchers, we used the
snowball sampling. Zulueta and Perez (2010) define snow ball sampling that
starts with the known sources of information, who or which will in turn give other
sources information.
RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
An interview protocol defined by Creswell (2008) as a formed designed by the
researcher that contains instruction for the process of the interview, the questions
to be asked, and space to take notes of the responses from the interview was used
as the primary instrument in this study.The questions in the in-depth interview
was directed to the co-researchers’s experiences, feelings, beliefs and conviction
about the theme (Groenewald, 2004).

The researchers used smartphones, digital camera and recorders to record the
actual interview of co-researchers with a consent from their parents in order to
analyze and interpret the gathered information in the interview.
TREATMENT OF DATA
The data gathered through the interview was transcribed. Aside from listening
to the interview for as many times as needed for the common themes to emerge,
the transcription of the interview was also read to ensure the faithfulness to the
data gathered. The co-researchers remained confidential to protect their identity
and privacy.
They were coded as Wonderwoman, Hulk, Starfire, Supergirl, and Thor.
Creswell (2008) stated that phenomenological data analysis proceeds through the
methodology of reduction, the analysis of specific statements and themes, and a
search for all possible meanings. The researcher needs to set aside all
prejudgements, bracketing his or her experiences.
The researchers attempted to understand the phenomenon from the co-
researchers’ points of view. Groenewald (2004) in his paper, A Phenomenological
Research Design Illustrated, made mention of steps to explicate the data, which
were adapted in this study.
They are: (a) bracketing and phenomenological reduction which means
bracketing of the researcher’s personal views and preconceptions; (b) delineating
units of meaning wherein statements that are seen to illuminate the researched
phenomenon are extracted and isolated; (c) clustering of units to form themes
which is rigorously examining the list of units of meaning the researcher will try
to elicit the essence of meaning of units within the holistic context; (d) summarize
each interview, validate and modify wherein the researcher validate the data by
returning to the co-researchers to determine if the essence of the interview has
been captured and; (e) general and unique themes for all the interviews and
composite summary in which the researcher conclude the explicitation by writing
a composite summary, which must reflect the context from which the these
emerged.
Chapter 4
PRESENTATION, INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
This chapter presents our co-researchers and their experiences. Then, these
lived experiences were reflected upon for insights and meanings that bring us to
the world of students living under the bridge. This chapter also presents our
experiences, interwoven with our reflections while gathering the data for the
completion of this study.
PRESENTATION OF CO-RESEARCHERS
Wonderwoman is a sixteen (16) year old grade 9 section two student who is
living under the bridge for two years. She and her family originally came from
Marawi City so they moved here because of the Marawi Siege and try their luck
since her parents thought that maybe they can have a better life here in Quezon
City. She is the top one in her class and dream of becoming an accountant to help
her parents and support her siblings.
Hello po… ako po si ….sixteen years old ahmm… then from second section
po. Ahmm … Since po nung nag-evacuate po kami dito sa Metro Manila… galing
po kaming Marawi. Ahmm .. opo.. pero yung mga pinsan ko po naiwan doon po
sa Marawi. Tapos yun po… since po nung nangyari po yung Marawi Siege..
lumipat na po kami dito… napagdesisyunan na po namin na dito na lang po
makipagsapalaran since po naisip po ng parents

ko na baka po mas may magandang opportunity na makuha po kami dito… tapos
yun po. Two years na rin po kami dito.Ang pinakaworst po para sa akin ay yung
nag…nakakuha po kami ng mga sakit. Ako po personally, nagkaroon po ako ng
asthma po, since po nakatira po kami sa ilalim ng tulay.. lahat po ng mga usok
galing po sa mga sasakyan, ganyan…hindi na po safe para sa amin… tapos dahil
na rin po sa asthma doon na rin po ako nagstart na sa tuwing umiiyak po ako
namamanhid po buong katawan ko .. ganoon po.. tapos hindi ko po mapigilan na
parang hindi po ako makahinga talaga lagi… konting iyak ko lang po nangyayari
na po yun… naghahyper ventilate po ako ganoon. Madalas po basang basa po
yung ano namin… yung mga gamit po namin. Opo.. Minsan po binabaha..
syempre nandun lang po kami sa baba.. tapos butas butas pa po tapos hindi pa po
ganoon kasafe. Wala na po kaming magawa pag-umuulan na po kasi wala naman
po kaming ibang mapupuntahan.Ahmmm .. syempre po.. (laugh) sa Marawi po
kasi nag-aaral po kami sa private school at may sarili po kaming bahay tapos po
dito sobrang hirap po..napakalayo.. ng.. bu…buhay po namin doon kumpara po
dito.Yung… papa ko po, construction worker tapos yung nanay ko po wala pa
pong work sya dito. Papa ko lang po ang… nagsusuporta po sa amin. Opo, mga
…. Five hundred lang po a day ang kinikita nya. Tatlo po kaming magkakapatid.
Opo, nag-aaral po kami lahat. Hindi po ako panganay… May senior high po
tapos ako po yung….pangalawa tapos may elementary po nasa grade
six.Ahmmm.. nung una po syempre po noong lumipat po kami doon nanibago po
talaga ako …noong…pagkalipat po namin doon.. nahiya po ako, ayaw ko po na
ipagsabi ganoon tapos parang… syempre na sad po ako kasi akala po naming
lahat sa paglipat po namin dito sa Metro Manila magkakaroon po ng magandang
opportunity, magkakaroon po kami ng magandang buhay ganyan
po..matutulungan po kami pero hindi po iyon nangyari lahat bale mas humirap po
yung pamumuhay po namin dito.Sa… Raya Madaya po kami nakatira … po…
Ground Zero po talaga sya nakalocate po.Opo may sariling pong bahay po
kami… before po kasi government employee po yung parents ko … opo .. sa
Marawi po tapos iyon po.. Maganda po yung pamumuhay po namin doon, hindi
po kami masyadong naghihirap… though meron po nga times na nagkukulang po
kami ng pera pero nasususportahan naman po yung needs namin minsan po yung
wants namin.. ganoon po. Sobrang nadodown po talaga ako, minsan naiisipan ko
po na what if kaya na magwork na lang po ako agad kahit na high school pa lang
po ako … try ko na lang po na tulungan ko po yung parents ko po syempre po
kailangan po din nila na mapag-aral po yung kapatid ko , ate ko, parang ako na
lang and magsakripisyo.. parang naiisipan ko po na ako na lang po ang tutulong
sa kanila ganoon po.Opo, importante pa rin naman po sa akin. Sobrang
importante po, syempre po education po… yun po yung nagbibigay sayo ng
knowledge.. at yung knowledge mo na yun.. kahit sino man po yan, walang
makakakuha nun sayo at forever na po yan na sayo pero syempre po… dahil nga
po sa kahirapan … parang yun po yung nagiging… parang naiisipan ko po na
sige mag-ano na lang po ako.. tulungan ko na lang parents ko na magtrabaho
para masuportahan ko rin po sila and yung pangangailangan po namin tapos
kung magkaroon na po kami ng enough money .. doon na lang po ako mag… mag
papatuloy ng pag-aaral kasi po… kailangan ko po talaga mag-aaral.Ever since

po… talaga.. ano talaga po ako consistent po ako na nasa honor roll and then..
ahmmm… kasali rin po ako sa iba’t ibang clubs, katulad po ahmmm.. ng English
club. Yun po. Opo, Top 1 po ako sa section namin. Ever since po talaga… gusto
ko po maging accountant. Gusto ko pong … syempre kapag po accountant ka
parang …. unang thought po nila .. maiisip nila is mayaman ka kasi ikaw po yung
naghahandle ng pera… yun din po yung nasa mindset ko once na naging
accountant po ako maiiakyat ko po.. matutulungan ko po yung parents ko na
mawala po kami sa paghihirap. Matutulungan ko po sila na kunin po yung mga
gusto po nila makuha ganyan, magiging maayos po yung buhay namin.Opo, alam
po ng mga classmates at teacher ko po. Syempre po hindi naman natin maiiwasn
na parang masasabi nila na “ay! Taga- ano lang pala yan.. sa ilalim ng tulay”
ganyan po… tapos parang nabubully po ako katulad po nang pag may bago po
akong friend..sasabihan po nila yung bago ko pong friend na huwag daw po
akong kaibiganin kasi nakatira daw po ako sa ilalim ng tulay , naaasar po ako
pero ang ina… ina-ano ko na lang po is parang nakikisabay na lang po ako
parang hindi na po ako masyadong nagpapa… nagpapaaffect eventhough parang
sobrang sakit na po ganoon.Ahhmm … sa akin po… it’s a yes … and a no.
Syempre po dahil po sa ganoong shelter naaapektuhan po ako mismo, yung… self
ko at yung… health ko rin po mismo tapos naaapektuhan din po yung tingin sa
akin nung ibang tao, so bumababa po talaga yung self-esteem ko. Opo… tapos no
din po kasi dahil din po sa pang-aasar nila sa akin, mas namotivate po ako at
mas nagkaroon po ako ng eagerness na ipagpatuloy ko po yung pag-aaral ko
atsaka mas galingan ko pa po sa pag-aaral ko para matulungan ko po at maging

successful po kami na pamilya ko po atsaka ako mismo.Yung family ko po
talaga… sila po talaga… kasi from the first place po gusto ko po talagang
bumalik po yung dati po naming pamumuhay, gusto ko po talaga na maging
mayaman kami… maging.. ay makuha lahat ng gusto namin.. mapagtapos po
yung kapatid ko po na elementary, ganoon po.Ahhh… siguro po yun po yung
hindi po parang hindi na po ako dapat masayadong magpapaapekto ,
makikisabay na lang po ako sa mga sinasabi nila sa pangungutya nila kasi po at
the end of the day po naman, you… yourself yun lang po ang makakatulong po
sayo… sarili mo lang din po , hindi naman po magmamatter yung mga sinasabi
ng iba.Yung ano ko po…yung tatag po ng sarili ko, naging mas matatag po ako.
Di ba po, sinabi ko nga po na parang lagi… lagi po akong naaasar, na nakatira
lang daw… ganyan, inaasar din po nila minsan na mabaho ganyan,… kasi
ganoon nga na pangit po yung place na tinitirahan ko… ganoon tapos since then
po.. hindi na po ako masyadong nagpapaapekto kasi nga po nasanay na ako
tapos yun parang naiisip ko na lang na kahit na po ang dami dami na po nilang
sinasabi sa akin na pangungutya parang nakakayanan ko na rin po, hindi rin po
ako nag-gigive up.Ahmmm kung sa Marawi po talaga kami ngayon, doon po kasi
daw binibigay yung mga relief goods, ganyan po, mga tulong… kung dito po
wala po kaming nareceive tapos gusto ko po sa kanila tanungin kung saan po
napunta lahat lahat ng dinonate ng ibang bansa, bakit po hindi lahat ng evacuees
ng Marawi at yung mga apektado sa Marawi siege, ayun parang hindi po enough
yung nakukuha nila , konti lang po yung nakukuha nila. Bakit yung iba po
kailanagn magsuffer pa rin , ehh sobrang laki nga po nung nakuha sa donation
ng Marawi Siege?Opo, alam po nila. Nakipag-uganayan na po kami sa local
government.. Wala po. Kasi po… noong una po akala po namin… hindi kami
pwede mag-aral agad kasi po galing nga po kaming Marawi at wala po kaming
dala na mga credentials then noong nagtanong tanong po yung papa ko ..sinabi
po nila na okay lang daw po as long as totoo po na galing ka pong Marawi at
naapektuhan ka po ng Marawi Siege.Opo, okay naman na daw po sila at ang
Marawi pero po dun sa ground zero di pa rin po mapasukan hanggang ngayon pa
rin po. Para sa akin po…. Iyon po yung programa na bibigyan po nila kami ng
tulong kasi po unang una po dahil po sa Marawi siege … so yun po dapat po
makakuha po kaming tulong galing po sa kanila , yung sapat po at ‘di ba nga po
sinabi ko na sirang sira na po yung tirahan namin at di na po namin mababalikan
dapat po lahat ng damages po doon maibigay man lang po sana sa amin yung
kalahati noon, syempre po kailangan po namin ng fund para makapgsimula po
muli.Ahmmm… siguro po… plastic (laugh).. yung cellophane po… kasi po..
syempre po nung una mo pong narining parang negative (laugh)… pero hindi po
ganoon yun, kasi para po sa akin yung plastic, ahmmm… pwede ko po siya
icompare sa sarili ko kahit na po anong mangyari , mananatili pa rin po akong
transparent, ganito po, katulad po ng sinasabihan po ako ng masama like Muslim
daw po ako at galing po akong Marawi baka daw po masama ako. Yun po yung
mindset ng ibang tao pag Muslim ka terosrista ka, tapos nakatira pa po ako sa
ilalim ng tulay kaya po naiisip nila na madumi, ganyan, tapos parang dinodown
po nila ako dahil lang po sa status ng… pamu.. pamumuhay ko and then yun po
parang kahit na ganoon po iyong mga sinasabi nila I will still remain as myself
po hindi po ako magpapaapekto , ganoon po.Ahmmm… para po sa akin gusto ko
po na isipin lang po nila na kahit anong mangyari huwag na huwag po nila
pakikinggan ang masasamang opinion sa kanila ng mga tao… dapat po mas
magkaroon lang po sila ng trust, yun nga po, mas paniwalaan po nila yung
capabilities nila , yung sarili nila dahil iyon nga po at the end of the day, yung
sarili mo lang ang makakatulong sayo.Nakikita ko po ahmm… yung sarili ko po
nakikita ko pong magiging successful po ako as accountant… naiisipan ko rin po
na makakatulong po ako sa mga… sa mga nangangailangan…gusto ko po talaga
iyon eversince na sa lahat po ng mga ahmm.. poor, matutulungan ko po sila at
kung may mangyayari pong ulit na ganito.. na war in the future… ako po mismo
gusto ko pong tumulong sa kanila, gusto ko po makapagstart sila ng new life para
hindi po maapektuhan ang pag-aaral nila at buhay nila.Opo , maganda po talaga
ang Marawi tapos malamig po doon , tapos masaya syempre doon ang kasama
mo Muslim din, hindi ka po nila ijujudge na “ahh kasi muslim yan ganyan,
ganoon, ganoon po” kaya gusto ko talaga doon. Doon na rin po kasi ako lumaki.
Thank you rin po. You’re welcome po.
[Hello… I am … sixteen years old ahmmm then from second section (class).
Ahmm…we live here since when we evacuated here in Metro Manila… we were
from Marawi. Ahmm… yes… but my cousins were left there in Marawi. And
then… since the Marawi siege happened… we moved here… we decided to test
our luck here since my parents thought that maybe we can have good opportunity
here.. We’ve been living here for two years. The worst for me was when … I got
sick. I personally, had an asthma since we lived here under the bridge… all of the
smoke from the vehicles… those are not safe for us…and then because of my
asthma, it started every time I cry I always can’t feel my whole body… and then I
always can’t breathe properly… even if I cried a little it still happens on me… I
experience hyper ventilation. Our things… often got wet. Yes… Sometimes we
experience floods… of course we were just staying down there… and then our
house has lots of holes and not that safe to live in. When it’s raining, we can’t do
anything because there is no place to move and serve as our evacuation.
Ahmmm…of course … (laugh) in Marawi we experienced studying in a private
school and we have our own house and then here it’s very hard …very far.. from
what life we had there compared here. My… father is a construction worker and
then my mother don’t have work here . Only my father.. supports us . His salary is
only five hundred a day. We are three sisters. Yes, we are all studying. I’m not the
oldest…We have in senior high and then I am the… second in order and then we
have also in elementary in grade six. Ahmmm…at first, of course when we
moved there everything for me is strange…when…we moved there… I was shy, I
don’t want to share to others and then… of course I was sad because we thought if
we move here in Metro Manila, we will have a good opportunity, we will have a
good life… we will be helped but all of it didn’t happen, our lives got even worst
here. We lived in Raya Madaya , which is located in ground zero area. Yes, we
have our own house … even before my parents are government employees…
yes…in Marawi. We have a good life there, we were not experiencing poverty…
though we have times that we don’t have enough money but our needs were still
supported and even our wants. I feel so down, sometimes I think of what if
instead of going to high school I will just go to work… I’ll just try to help my
parents and of course they all need to support my siblings to go to school, my
older sister, and I’ll just sacrifice myself… I thought of I’ll be the one to help
them just to ease poverty that we are experiencing. Yes, it is still important for
me. It is super important, of course it is education.. it gives you knowledge… and
that knowledge … will never be stole from you and it will stay forever… but..
because of poverty… I just think of going to work... to help my parents to support
them also and their needs and then if I get enough money.. that’s the time I will
continue my studies because… I really need to go to school. Ever since.. I am
consistent honor student and then…ahmm… I joined also different clubs, like
...ahmm. English club. Yes, I am the top one in our section. Ever since…I want to
be an accountant…of course some people think that if you are an accountant you
are rich because you handle lots of money… and it is also in my mind once I
became an accountant, I will be able to climb… help my parents to not stay in
poverty. I will be able to help them get what they want and also give them a good
life. Yes, my classmates and teacher know. Of course, it will not be avoided that
they will say something like… “ayy, she is just living under the bridge”… and
then they bully me like if I have a new friend, they will tell her to befriend me
because I am living under the bridge...and say something bad about me.. but.. I
just go with the flow and I don’t let myself be affected even though it hurts me so
much. Ahmmm.. for me.. It is a yes …and also a no. Of course because of that
kind of shelter I was affected, my…self and my… health also got affected even
how the people see and think about me…so I got low self-esteem. Yes.. and then
no also because of those bad words thrown on me , made me more motivated and
I got more eagerness to continue my studies and to do my best on it to help my
family and be successful. My family.. them.. because in the first place I want to
go back on what life we had before going here, I want to be rich.. to get what we
want…and to support my younger sibling to finish studies. Ahhh… I think I
realize not to be affected and just go with the flow on those words thrown to me
because I know at the end of the day, you… yourself only can help you. And what
they say doesn’t matter for me. I noticed…my emotional strength, I became
stronger. I told you that .. they always .. say bad words towards me , they say that
I just live there.. they bullied me saying that I smell bad.. And yeah because of
how ugly place we have to live in… since then… I thought myself not to be
affected, be stronger, just face those words and don’t give up. Ahhmm if we are in
Marawi, there we can have our relief goods, but here we didn’t get any help from
them and then I want to ask them where are the donations from the other
countries. Why some of the evacuees didn’t get help from them? It seems that it’s
not enough for them what they received. Why do we need to suffer like this
knowing that there are lots of donations to provide and support us? Yes, they
know. We have coordinated with the local government. No, we don’t have. At
first… we thought that we were not allowed to go to school because we are from
Marawi and we don’t have credentials but.. when our father asked the authority…
and they said that it is okay to go to school as long as it is true that we are from
Marawi and we were affected by the Marawi siege. Yes, they are all okay and
also the Marawi but the ground zero area is still closed for the residents up until
now. For me… that program is to give help to those who were affected by the
Marawi Siege…. So they should receive enough help and yeah I told you that our
houses were destroyed so all damages should be funded for us start a new life
again. Ahmmm… I think…plastic (laugh)… a cellophane one.. because… of
course at first when you heard it , it’s like negative (laugh)… but it is not, because
for me plastic, ahmm… I can compare it to myself that no matter what happen I
will still be transparent, for example, some people say that I am a bad person
because I am Muslim and I am from Marawi. It is in their mind that if you are a
Muslim, you are terrorist, and then they think that I am a dirty person also
because I am living under the bridge… they always drag me down and that is just
because of my status in life…and then even though lots of them hate me I will
still remain as myself and I will never be affected. Ahmmm… for me , I want
them to think that no matter what happen just don’t listen to the bad opinions…
and they should have trust on their selves , and believe only on their capabilities,
their selves because at the end of the day, only yourself can help you.I can see …
myself that I will be successful as an accountant… I think that I will be able to
help those people who are in need… eversince I want to help poor families and
even those who will be affected by the war … in the near future… I, myself, want
to help them to start a new life.Yes, actually Marawi is a beautiful place and it’s
cold there and then I’m happy there because I’m with my fellow Muslim people,
no one will judge me like “ Ahh she’s a Muslim, like this and that.” So that’s why
I want to go back there. I grew up also there. Thank you also. You’re welcome.]
Hulk is a fifteen (15) year old grade nine section three student who is living
under the bridge for fifteen years. His parents are gone already but still able to
attend formal schooling by the help of his aunt who is living under the bridge.
Due to his condition he cannot deny the fact that he is experiencing bullying
inside and outside the school. In exchange for his aunt’s kindness, he is willing to
help to uplift her aunt’s condition in life someday as much as how he is eager to
uplift himself.
Ako po si…. Fifteen years old po… at ako po ay grade nine student section
three po. Ahm… bale po fifteen years na po kaming nakatira sa ilalim ng tulay.
simula po nung pinanganak ako. Ahm... yung real mother ko po at saka yung
tatay ko po wala na po sila… tapos pinaalaga po ako sa tiyahin ko po kapatid ng
papa ko po. Ahm… madalas po kaming magkasakit lalo na po ako pati po yung
lola ko po. Nung grade seven po ako… yung… yung lola ko po nag ka dengue po
siya… so ba... bale po pabalik-balik po kami sa ano... sa ospital po. Yun nga po
ah… sobrang hirap nagkautang-utang po kami. Wala pong trabaho yung tiyahin
ko po, bale po yung... yung tito ko po… ano po siya... construction worker lang po
siya sa ano… sa isang company. Nagtatrabaho po para sa’min. Five hundred po
sa isang buwan po. Ay!... Ah, bale po isang araw pala po. Ay, Ah… Bale po wala
po ‘kong kapatid yung mga anak lang po ng tiyahin ko ‘tsaka ng tiyuhin ko po.
Opo yun po, sa ganun pong paraan parang bi… nabubully na… nabubully po ‘ko
sa classroom at kahit po yung mga kaibigan ko minsan binibiro po nila ako. Kahit
parang pabiro, parang nafefeel ko po na parang totoo po yung sinasabi nila.

Medyo na hurt po ako ta’s every time po na nalalaman po ng mga bagong friends
ko or ng mga bagong kakilala ko na nakatira lang po ‘ko sa ano… sa ilalim ng
tulay and yun nga po, parang na… naaano po sila, nagugulat po sila na “huh?
Nakatira ka sa ilalim ng tulay?” Kaya pag ganun po, napapahiya po ako tapos
iniiwasan ko nalang po sila. Then… Dahil po sa mga ganun… parang feeling ko
nga po hindi ako belong sa society. Pakiramdam ko din po na ibang-iba kami sa
kanila kasi sila nakatira sa maayos na lugar. Yun po… ta’s… Hindi ko… hindi ko
din po mapigilan na maawa sa sarili ko. Opo masaya po ako. Kahit po dun kami
nakatira sa ilalim ng tulay, masaya naman po kami kasi po marami pong
magagandang memories na nagagawa po namin kahit mahirap po yung
sitwasyon namin. Tapos yun po, medyo nakakalungkot parin po ayun nga po kasi
nabubully nga po ako sa school. Sobrang importante po para sa’kin ang
edukasyon kasi nga po… yun nga po… sa sitwasyon po ng buhay namin gusto ko
nga pong mapa-angat yung buhay namin. Gusto ko po tumira po yung tiyahin ko
po ‘tsaka yung tiyuhin ko po sa ibang lugar, yun nga po sa mas maayos na lugar
yung hindi po kami magiging sakitin para naman po maranasan po namin kung
ga’no po mag… kasaya mabuhay po ng normal na ano… na… lugar. Opo…
Every time po na pag kumakain po kami may naaamoy po kaming kakaiba. Yun
nga po parang hindi po… hindi po kami… nawalan po rin kami ng gana kumain
kasi nga po parang, amoy basura po ganun po. Yun po… parang pinapalayo po
nila yung anak nila. Kunwari po gusto ko lang po makipag laro… lumalayo,
pinapalayo nila yung mga anak nila kasi nga po ‘sabihin; “wag ka d’yan lumapit
kasi ang baho baho nila nakatira yan sa ilalim ng tulay. Ganun nga po. Ah bale
po ahm… isa po ‘kong SSG po. Volunteer po… SSG volunteer po ako sa isang…
sa school po namin. Tapos po, ahm… yun nga po… top eight po ako sa section
namin. Ta’s po… yun nga… meron din po akong ibang achievement po. Naging
isa rin po akong ano… sa… Science Club po. Ta’s sa Science Month din po yung
Quiz Bee po, third place po ako nun. Ayun po, parang kung tingin po ng iba na
kapag sa ilalim ng tulay ka nag-aaral, ay! Na’nakatira… yun po ah… tingin po
nila palagi is yun nga… wala… hindi ka na nag-aaral. Parang gusto ko pong
patunayan sa kanila na hindi po hadlang yung pag tira mo kahit saan kung… as
long as gusto mo pong maging isang… maging isang achiever, gugustuhin mo po
at gagawin mo pong lahat para po makamit yung pangarap mo. Yun po, gusto ko
nga pong maging isang lawyer kasi nga po ayoko lang pong ipagtanggol yung
mga taong nabubully katulad ko gus… katulad ko po gusto ko po ipagtanggol
lahat ng mga na… mga naaapi po sa panahon natin katulad po ng mga nasa
ilalim ng tulay hindi po sila nabibigyan ng sapat na ano… hindi po kami
nabibigyan ng sapat na… na… na tinutustos po ng gobyerno pa… yun po ang
tingin namin kasi po kung gusto po nila kaming ano… gusto po nilang mapa-
angat yung ano namin yung kabuhayan namin o yung ekonomiya ng Pilipinas
hindi pa… hanggang ngayon po kasi for fifteen years hindi pa po kami binibigyan
ng relocation kaya po ganun po. Na… is… Gusto ko pong ano… bigyan po ng
pansin yung mga mahihirap na tao dito sa Pilipinas. Opo sobrang willing po
kami pero po… hindi ko po alam sa lola ko kasi po eversince po’y… ang sabi niya
po sa’min, eversince po… tumira na daw po sila doon sa may bahay namin
ngayon so hindi ko po alam sakanya pero kami po ng tiyahin ko willing po

kaming… willing po kaming lumipat kasi nga po ah… yun nga po sakitin po yun
lalo na po yung ibang… yung anak niya po nagiging sakitin nga po dahil po
doon. Ano po yung mga sakit nga po na ano, ubo po tapos yung ano… Diarrhea
po yun… Yun nga po so’sobrang ano po… nagkakasakit po ako hindi na po ako
madalas pumasok nun so nakakalimutan ko po yung mga ano, hindi ko po na…
na… na ano, naabutan yung ibang lessons po na… na le-left out po ako sa’min…
so yun po gusto ko pa pong mapa-angat yung achievement ko pero po hindi po
nga ako nakaka ano… nakaka… angat nga po sa achievement ko kasi nga po
dahil po may sakit ako at nakaka absent po ako ng madalas. Opo. Lahat po sila
alam po nila. Yung iba po ahm… okay lang po sakanila. Nagiging friends pa po
kami pero po yung iba na hindi po nila parang… sila nga po yung inaasar nga po
nila ako pero okay lang po sa’kin. Iniintindi ko nalang po sila kasi nga po yun
nga po from birth nararanasan ko na po yung ganun… yung pang aano…
panglalait po kaya parang po nagiging natural po sa’kin… pero yung natural po
na yun may nararamdaman parin po akong konting sakit lang po. Ayun po… yung
mga gamit ko daw po yung notebook ko lang daw po ano daw po… pinagtagpi-
tagpi lang. Nung elementary po ako nun. Pero hindi po totoo yun kasi po yung
tito ko naman po… willing naman po siyang tumulong sa school ko po kasi
nakikita niya nga po yung ano… yung mga gusto ko nga pong marating sa buhay
at gusto ko rin po naman talaga silang tulungan. Sabi… sabi po ng mga ka
classmate ko… yun po… hindi na nga daw po ako naglalaba ng damit tapos yung
tubig nga daw po’ng ginagamit namin is galing nga po sa… sapa, tapos po yung
iba pong ano, yung damit ko po, yung… yung bag ko po, lahat po ng gamit ko
daw po is galing lang daw po ng pulot namin. Hindi po siya hindrance… Meron
pong hindi, at meron po’ng oo. Hindi po… kasi po kung gusto mo po talagang
maging isang achiever o gusto mong maging isang successful na tao… gagawin
mo po ang lahat para lamang po maging isa kang successful at sa… at ano…
educated na tao. Opo, kasi po yun nga po nagiging sakitin po tayo at nagiging
ano… nagiging sakitin po hindi nga po nakakapasok ng maayos. Yun po. Yung
ano po… yung mga tao pong nagsasabi po na, ano nga po, pag… na sa ilalim ng
tulay nakatira is… hindi nga po… nakapag-aral ng maayos hindi nakapagtapos.
Gusto ko lang pong ipakita sakanila na ang pag tira sa ilalim ng tulay ay hindi
hadlang para maging isang successful na tao. Sa programa po nila? Ahm… okay
naman po, pero bakit po hindi… binibigyang pansin yung mga taong nandudon
sa ilalim ng tulay? At ang pinap… ang… pinapansin lang po nila nasa gilid ng
kalsada meron pa po tayong ibang lugar na mga nakatirang tao na mas
kailangan po yung ano… yung… yung… ano po nila… yung… serbisyo po nila at
dun po sa mismong gobyerno po… is bakit nila mas pinapansin yung sarili nilang
isa’t-isa, bakit po nila pinapansin yung mga isa’t-isang mga ka alyado nila or
mga ka… kasama nila sa gobyerno bakit hindi nila pansinin yung mamamayang
Pilipino na nagluluksa sa kahirapan? Sinubukan po naming lumapit dun sa Four
P’s po… yun nga po yung programa nga pong Four P’s… pero po hindi po kami
sinali sa Four P’s. Hindi po namin naranasan na masali po sa Four P’s. Yun
po… pagkatapos po nun… hindi na po kami sumali kasi alam po namin na hindi
na kami isasali doon. Yun nga po parang doon po sa lugar po namin, meron pong
ano… meron pong isang leader sa ano… sa isang… phase po… sa kada Four
P’s… yun nga po pero ang sinasali lang po nila yung mga kilala po nila at yung
mga gusto lang po nila. Eh kami po hindi po kami sinasali kasi nga po hindi po
kami masyadong lumalabas kasi nga po… marami pong sinasabi tungkol sa amin.
Ayaw naman po naming makipag away kasi nga po hindi naman po kasi kami
ganung tao. Alam po ng adviser ko na nakatira ako sa ilalim ng tulay at… gusto
niya po akong… ano… ipasa po kasi nga po ngayong fourth grading parang hindi
na po ako masyadong nakakapasok kasi nga po marami… parang nagiging over
na po yung pang bubully sa’kin kahit po sa kabilang section yun po parang ayoko
na pong pumasok kasi nga po nahihiya na ‘ko. Tapos po, yun parang gusto
paring… pinu-pursue po ako ng teacher ko na pumasok po nang pumasok para
lang po makapasa ako at hinahabol niya po lahat ng mga ano, mga requirements
ko sa kada subject para lang po pumasa ‘ko. Sobrang thankful ko po sakanya.
Hindi ko na po sinasabi sa tita ko na minsan nabubully po ako minsan kasi po
baka saan pa po mapunta pero po tinitiis ko nalang po yung… yung mga… mga
pinagsasabi po nila tungkol sa’min kaya po… okay lang. Ngayon pong ano…
ngayon po… kinukumpleto ko po, sinusubukan ko pong klo… kumpletuhin…
yung… at ipasa yung mga kulang ko sa mga subjects ko po. Hanggang makatapos
po ako kakayanin ko po ‘to para lang po makapagtapos po ako ng pag-aaral ko.
Sa Government po natin, yung paglilinis po ng ano… ng mga creeks po sa…
bansa po natin kasi po yun nga po kahit na… meron pong ibang mga tao na…
kahit binibigyan po sila ng relocation is hindi po sila… hindi po sila… lumilipat
pero po… yun nga po… pag nalinis po yun parang mas okay po yun kasi nga po
ano… hindi lang po kami yung na… nagkakaro’n ng ano… ng benefits kundi
lahat po ng tao sa Pilipinas at next naman po is yung mga taong nakatira sa
ilalim ng tulay, sa mga gilid ng kalsada, yun nga po bin… bigyan po sila ng
relocation sites para naman po mas maayos po yung lugar natin. Ahm… ano po…
ahm… kung may isang bagay po na sisimbolo sa akin… Bato po. kasi po kahit na
itapon po ako kahit saan kahit ano pong gawin sakin, mananatili po akong
matatag at magiging matapang po ako sa lahat ng mangyayari sa’kin. Naging
mas matatag na po ako sa pagharap sa kahit po anong sabihin nila tungkol
sa’min at sa pag tira po namin sa ilalim ng tulay… hindi po ako malulungkot
pero po mararamdaman ko po yung sakit pero mawawala nalang bigla yun kahit
po ibato nila… kahit anong ibato nila sa’kin mananatili akong matatag sa lahat
ng mga problemang ibibigay po nila sa’kin. Kaya masasabi ko po sa iba…
sasabihin ko lang po sakanila na ako… naranasan ko ang tumira sa ilalim ng
tulay, ako naranasan ko na ma bully pero hanggang ngayon nananatili po akong
nabubuhay at puno ng pag-asa na makaahon sa hirap gamit ang edukasyon.
Hindi po kailangan na panghinaan sila ng loob… kailangan po nila ng… mga
taong mga… magbibigay po sakanila ng inspirasyon. Isipin po nila yung
magulang nila na kasama nila sa ilalim ng tulay. Isipin po nila yung ibang tao na
mas marami pang problema na tinuto… na… hinaharap ngayon. Kaya po maging
thankful po sila kasi po may… hanggang ngayon may tinitirhan po sila. Kung
yung iba nga po walang tinitir’han, walang makain, wala pong mga iba’t-ibang
mga… na ano… hindi po sila nakakapag-aral. Sila po nakakapag-aral, may
tinitirhan, may pamilyang kasama kaya po maging thankful po sila. Hindi
hadlang nga ang pagi… ang pagtira sa ilalim ng tulay para lang po maging
successful. Ipakita po natin na… matatag… masipag… at matapang po yung…
yung mga… Pilipino na harapin parin po ang buhay sa kabila ng mga problema.
Kahit na… mahirap po tayo… kaya parin natin makipagsabayan sa iba at may
marating sa buhay.
[My name is… I’m fifteen years old. I am a grade nine student section three.
It has been fifteen years since we lived under the bridge and since I was born. My
real parents were already gone… then… I was raised by my aunt, sister of my
father. We often got sick most specially me and my grandmother. When I was
grade seven, my… my grandmother had a Dengue… so… that time we kept on
going back and forth to the hospital. That was so hard and we have had so many
debts to pay.My aunt has no job. So… my uncle… he is… he is just a
construction worker… in a company. He is working for us, five hundred a month.
Oops!... Ah, daily I mean. Ay, ah… I do not have siblings, only the children of
my aunt and uncle. That… Because of that, I was like being bullied… I am being
bullied in the classroom and even my friends are joking me. Even if it was just
like a joke, I can feel that what they were telling is true. I was hurt a little… then
every time my new friends or my newly known people finding out that I was just
living… under the bridge, it’s seems like… like they were… they were being
surprised that “Huh? You… you are living under the bridge?” Because of that, I
am getting embarrassed so I am just avoiding them… then… Because of those… I
felt like I am not belong in the society. I also felt like we are too much different
from them because they are living in a normal place. That… then… I cannot… I
cannot help to pity myself. Yes, I’m happy. Even if we are just living there under
the bridge, we are still happy because there are lots of good memories that we can
do despite of our situation. Then that… It was still sad a little because I am being
bullied in the school. Education is very important for me because of our situation
in life, I want to uplift our living. I want my aunt and my uncle to live to another
place, to a better place where we could not acquire illness so that we can also
experience how… happy to live in a normal… place. Yes, because every time
when we are eating, we can smell something strange. That… it is not… it is not,
we lost our interest to eat because of the damn smell of garbage. That, it seems
like they ask their children to go away from me. For example, I just want to play
with them… they… they are telling their children to go away from me then they
will tell; “Don’t go with him because he smells bad because they are living under
the bridge. Ah so ahm… I am an SSG officer. Volunteer… I am an SSG volunteer
in a… in our school. Then… ahm… that… I am top eight in our section. Then…
that… I also have other achievement. I also became… in… Science Club. Then in
Science Month Quiz Bee, I was third place. That… Other people think that if you
are studying under the bridge… Ay! L…living under the bridge… They always
think that… you are not studying. I want to prove to them that it does not matter
no matter where do you live as long as you want to become… to become an
achiever and you would want to do all your best to reach your goals in life. I want
to be a lawyer someday because I want to defend those people who are being
bullied and I… I want to defend those who are being maltreated just like those
people who reside under the bridge… they were not given enough… We are not
given enough… enough… government expenses… because we thought that… if
they really wanted to… uplift our living, or the Philippine economy… still not…
until now… in fifteen years they did not give relocations for us. I want to… They
should prioritize poor people here in the Philippines. Yes… we are very much
willing to relocate if ever but… I don’t know if my grandmother will live our
place because ever since… They told us that ever since… they lived for a long
time in our place so I don’t know… but me and my aunty are willing to… to
move to a new relocation if ever because… They are sickly most especially her
children. Diseases like cough, then… Diarrhea… And that’s too… I am also
becoming sickly that’s why oftentimes; I cannot attend the class so I almost forgot
and I cannot… cannot… cope up with the lessons… I was left behind by my
classmates. I still wanted to improve my achievements but it seems impossible
due to sickness and consecutive absences. Yes… they all knew… while the others
ahm… its fine for them… We are being friends while the others they did not…
they humiliate me but then it’s okay for me. I am trying to understand them for I
can experience those since then… Those… insult… so it is becoming natural
thing for me. But that natural… I can still feel a little bit of pain. They said my
things… my notebook is just… recycled. That is when I was elementary. But that
is not true because my uncle… he is very willing to help because he… he saw my
eagerness to achieve my goals in life and I also wanted to help them. My… my
classmates said… that… I am not washing my clothes and the water that we are
using is from polluted river… and some of my… my clothes… my bag, and all of
the things that I have just came from scrap. It is not a hindrance… partly no, and
partly yes. “no”, because if you really want to become an achiever or a successful
person… you will do everything to become one and… to… to become an
educated person. Then “yes”, because we are being sickly and we are… becoming
sickly and not able to attend the class properly. Those… those people who are
keep on telling me that… that… if… you are living under the bridge is… you
cannot… study well and not able to finish their study. I just want to show them
that living under the bridge is not a hindrance to become a successful person.
With their programs? Ahm… Those are okay… but why is that… they did not
give importance to those people who reside under the bridge. They can only no…
notice those who are living on the street sides and there are also other people who
reside who needed their… their… their… their services. To the Government, why
is that they only give their focus to their own welfare and alliance. Or those…
people who is with them in the government and why do not give their focus to
Filipino citizens who suffer in poverty. We tried to seek for help from Four P’s.
yes, the four P’s program, but they did not allow us to be included in that Four P’s
Program. We haven’t experienced to get included in Four P’s… After that… We
did not try to ask for help from the said program because we knew we will be
rejected. In our place… There is someone in one phase… in each Four P’s there
are group leaders, they only include in the program those people that they knew
and those people that they want. While us, we are not included because we are not
going out as often as the others do because they always talked and humiliate our
condition and we don’t want to argue with them and we are not that kind of
person. My adviser knew that I am living under the bridge and… She wants me
to… to… pass this fourth-grading period because she is very much aware in my
condition. I have a lot of… absences then… It seems like, their bullying upon me
is getting harder even from the other sections that caused me sometimes to think
not to go to school because I felt ashamed. Then… She still wants to… My
teacher still pursuing me to attend the class regularly as much possible so that I
am able to pass and she is catching up all of my subject requirements for me to
pass. That made me so thankful to her. I am not telling my aunty that sometimes I
am being bullied in the school because I don’t want to put things into worst and
yet, I can still manage those… those words, judgements, and mockery that they
utter but… that’s merely fine. Now… now… I am trying to co… complete and…
comply those subject requirements. I can do it and I will do my very best just to
finish my studies. In our Government, the cleaning operation of… creeks… in our
country because even if… there are people who… who was given their
relocations but they did not… they are not… moving… if that was cleaned, that
will be much better because… not only us that will receive benefits but also all
Filipino citizens. Next to that are those people who live under the bridge, on the
sidewalks… give them a relocation sites to make our places better. If there’s one
thing that will symbolize me, I would choose… stone… because… even if I was
thrown away and no matter what they do towards me, I will still be firm and
strong. I became stronger in facing no matter what they said about us and our
residence under the bridge. I will not be sad but still I can feel the pain but will
easily gone even if they throw me away. No matter what they will throw upon me,
I will still be strong. I can proudly tell other people, I will tell them that… I have
experienced to live under the bridge, and I was also a victim of bullying but then,
I still continue life full of hope to make my life better by the use of education.
They don’t need to lose hope… they need… someone who can give them
inspiration. They should also think about their parents who are with them living
under the bridge. They should also think about other people who have much
problems as compared to them. They should be thankful because they have…
they have the proper shelter as compared to those people who do not have the
proper shelter, enough food, other things like… they are not studying unlike other
people they study, they have shelter, and family to live with so be thankful.
Living under the bridge is not a hindrance to become successful. Let us show
that… Filipinos are strong… industrious…and have courage to face life in spite of
problems. Even if… we are poor… we can still be competitive and able to reach
our goals in life.]
Starfire is a cheerful seventeen (17) year old grade 10 student who’s
living under the bridge for two (2) years. She was from Marawi City who moved
in Quezon City with her mother because of Marawi Siege. She wants to be a
doctor someday but it seems that poverty is stopping her. She’s very optimistic in
terms of giving importance on education. She’s very dependent to her mother
since her father passed away. Her mother raised her alone.
Hello po ako po si… Grade10 17 Years old Po. Mag 2years napo simula
po nung ano marawi siege kasi po galing po kasi kami sa Marawi. Dun po sa
Siege Mismo? Nagpakahirap po kasi talagang … One day po bigla nagbarilan

nalang po. Tas ang hirap po talagang magtago, parang sa napapanood po talaga
po nating dramas parang ganun po talaga nangyari. Ah, opo nagaaral po ako
normal typical girl na nag aaral masiyahin/ tas yun yung nanay ko po
nagtatrabaho. Si papa wala na po sya. Rumaraket lang po yung nanay ko mga
naglalabandera po ganun po nagiging yaya. Asa bahay po, opo tas bigla po may
narinig na lang po kaming barilan tapos nagsi... nagsisiuwian na po lahat ng
mga tao tas wala na pong makita sa kalye na kahit isang tao… yung mga bridge
po dun kasi hinarangan po nung mga black group yung bridge hinarangan po ng
malaking fire trucks para po wala po makaalis dun sa marawi. Kaso po
pagkabukas po tinanggal po nila yung harang di po namin alam di ko po alam
kung bakit siguro po para makaalis po. Wala napo kaya po mahirap po
maghanap ng trabaho. Yun din po ganun din po naghahanap po ng raket. tas
rumaraket lang po si nanay tapos naglalabandera tas kung ano lang ginagawa
nya don. Umuupa po .. opo, ahm nasasaktan po talaga ako kasi parang dati po
medyo maayos ayos po yung tinitirhan naming dati sa marawi tapos dito po
parang maingay po marami na po insekto di ko po alam kung nakakasakit. Gusto
parin po talaga namin bumalik sa Marawi kaya lang po hindi pw powede kasi
may Martial Law pa din at tingin namin, hindi magandang bumalik dun. Opo
nanay ko lang po. Nagkasakit po ako ng dengue unang… first year pa lang po
namin dito nagkasakit na po ko ng dengue tas wala po kaming pangtustos kaya
nangutang po yung nanay ko sa kapitbahay na rin po tapos nanghingi din po ako
at mga kaklase ko ng donation sa school po. Para po sa akin ang edukasyon…
eto po yung key para sa successful ng isang tao. Kapag wala ka pong pinag
aralan, mababa lang po din magiging trabaho mo. Kapag may pinag aralan ka
po parang ipepraise ka po ng maraming tao dahil matalino ka parang ganun po.
Ahm ano po sa section po naming nasa top 2 po ako tsaka po ano po CIC or
ombudsman school po namin. Gusto ko po talagang maging doctor kasi gusto ko
po talaga yung tatay ko po kasi namatay nung 5 years old pa po ako dahil po sa
heart attack may heart disease po sya gusto ko po mag treat gusto ko po
makagamot ng mga tao ng may sakit. Para kahit po hindi ko po natulungan yung
tatay ko para mawala sakit nya or ma less yung sakit nya. Sa iba nalang po at
least natutulungan kopo yung ibang tao. Opo kaya… minsan po nabubully po
talaga ako hindi naman po maiiswasan ang mabully po talaga ko about diyan.
Marawi po ahm minsan kung una po naawa sila naawa naman po talaga sila
tapos hindi po maiiwasan minsan sinasabihan po nila ako na Isis po ako kasali
po ako dun sobrang nasasaktan po ako kasi wala naman po din po ako
kalamalam sa mga nangyayari ganune e. alya nga po .. parang nasasabi po sakin
na hala huwag kayo tumabi diyan kasi Isis yan galling yan sa Marawi ganyan po.
opo sobrang nasaktan po ako minsan nga po umiiyak na lang po ako sa bahay
namin na mag isa e para lang mailabas ko po yung sakit ng loob ko. Opo kaso po
naisip ko din po yung nanay ko na nagtataguyod po sakin na parang ginagawa
niya po lahat lahat para lang may pagaral po ako kaya hindi nalang po ako
parang kaya po kahit gaano kasakit yung pangbubully, yung mga sinasabi po nila
okay lang po sakin para lang maano ko po yung … pangarap ko. Para sakin po
opo kase dyan pos a under the bridge po kapag dyan ka po talaga nakatira ang
hirap hirap po talaga. Minsan ang ingay ingay po tapos pag may bagyo binabaha
ganun po tas yung bubong anlakas lakas natatanggal po. Paminsan minsan tapos
marami po ano mga dengue nga po insekto mabaho din po minsan. Para sakin po
opo kase kapag dun po sa ano minsan nga po hindi na po ako nakakapag aral ng
maayos don, kunyare po may assignment hindi ko na po nagagawa kaya minsan
nagawa ginagawa ko na lang po sa school para don ko na lang po tinatapos sa
school kase mahirap po talaga. Ang motivation ko na lang po is yung nanay ko
nagtataguyod po kaya iniisip ko na lang po lahat lahat. Simula nung namatay
yung tatay ko mag isa na lang po sya nagtataguyod sakin atsaka yung mga tao
dinidiscriminate po ako at binubully sila na lang po yung ginagamit ko tas may
ano motivation. Hindi ko na po sinasabi sa kanya kasi po andami na po naming
problema financially. Ayoko na po dumagdag sa kanya. Baka po may mangyari
din a po naming makakaya. Hindi ko na din po sinasabi nahihiya po talaga ko.
Ahm para sakin po masyadong unfair po para samin. Wala po. Kaya kasi po hindi
masyado natutukan. Opo wala po talaga kami nadala. Wala po e ako po nung
pumunta po kami ditto wala po kami nakuha tulong po. Opo wala po talaga wala
po opo kasi po yung time nayon po sabi ng deped papasukin po kami kahit wala
po files card. Unfair po talaga hindi po talaga ako satisfied. Ahm mas tutukan
nalang po yung mga gaing marawi nalang po, hindi po yung puro sa marawi
kundi yung mganagmigrate kasi wala po kasi tulong galling sa kanila. Opo kung
my pagkakataon gusto kopo bumalik don. Kasi masaya po talagang pamumuhay
dun kahit minsan kahit wala pera Masaya parin po. Ako po ahm puno po dahil
kahit ano bagyo kahit ilang bagyo ang dumating po sakin hindi hindi po ako
papatibag. Ahm… pwede po ahm… kahit napo ilang kunyari po ako yung puno as
i-compare ko po sarili ko sa puno kasi po kahit ilang beses nila ako batuhin ng
mga kung anu-ano tayo at tayo padin po ako hinding hindi po ako magpapa…
magpapahulog o magpapatumba para lang po diyan sa masasakit po na sinasabi
nila o binabato po nila sakin. Sige po. Ayaw kopo talaga ayaw kopo talaga
tumutigil sa pagaaral kasi po yung mga parents kopo hindi po talaga sila
nakapagtapos ng pagaaral dahil nga po sa walang masyadong pera kaya po
gusto kopo yung pangarap nila. Ako nalang po ang tutupad nun kahit na hindi po
nila naibigay sakin ang panganagilangan kopo at lahat ng gusto ko ako nalang
po gusto ko po ako nalang po magbibigay sa kanila nun dahil nadin po
nagtataguyod sakin. Ahm para sakin po kahit na ano po mangyari kahit na
mabully man sila or kahit na kahit na kahit ano sakit ma ano sa kanila huwag nila
gagwing reason para magstop sa pagaaral or mapaghinyang sa sarili nila. Thank
you po, opo thank you, Opo. Sana po sa pagkakalam kopo okay-okay napo medyo
maayos na po sa ground zero po renovate ay tinatangal mapo opo meron napo
iba kaso hindi kopo alam kung nasan sila…
[Hello my name is… grade 10 17 years old. It’ s been 2 years since the
Marawi siege, because we came from Marawi. In the actual siege? It’s too hard
for me… one day, we suddenly heard gun shots and it’s really hard to hide. It is
like dramas we have watched, just like that. Ah yes, I study like a typical girl who
is studying, cheerful. Then my mother is working. My Father passed away. My
Mother has some sidelines, she does laundries and she is also a nanny. While we
are inside the house, yes then suddenly we heard gun shots… people were
running back home and there is not even a single person that can be seen on the
street… the bridge was blocked by the group of black men… the bridge was
blocked with fire trucks… so that no one can escape Marawi. And the following
day, they removed the barriers… I don’t know, we don’t know, maybe to escape.
My passed away… it’s very hard for us to find a source of income. That also…
she has some sidelines, like being a maid and accepting some laundries or
anything she can do there. We rent… Yes, ahm… it’s really hurts because our
house in Marawi was much better as compared here… then here… You can hear a
lot of noise, so many insects. I don’t even know if it contains some virus. And it’s
really hard. We still want to go back to Marawi but still it is not possible because
Martial Law is still present and it is not a good idea to live there again. Yes, only
my mother. I got dengue fever… during the first year of our stay here. I got a
dengue, and we don’t have money that is why my mother borrowed some from
our neighbors and I together with my classmates asked for donation from the
school too. For me the education… It is the key for a person to be successful. If
you are uneducated, the job that you will get is not that decent. but if you are
formally educated, the people will praise you because you are smart. Ahm… in
our section I’m the top 2 and also a CIC or Ombudsman in school. I really want to
be a Doctor because I want to because my father died due to heart attack when I
was 5 years old. I want to treat… I want to cure people who has a disease. So that
even though I was not able to help my father or help him to cure his illness, I. at
least I can help other people. Yes, that’s why sometimes I am being bullied,
although I know it is unavoidable. Marawi? Yes, ahm… sometimes if they pity
me… well, they will really pity me. And sometimes they are telling me that I am
an ISIS, that I’m one of them. It really hurts me because I don’t know anything
about those happenings and that’s why I am being told that, “Hala Do not go near
her, she is an ISIS because she came from Marawi.” Yes, it really hurts.
Sometimes I just cry alone at home so that I can release my grudge. Yes, but I
think of my mother who provides for me that’s why no matter how painful being
bullied and being told bad things, it is fine with me just so I can achieve my…
dreams. I do not care about what they are saying towards me, what’s important is
for me to reach my goals. For me, yes, because if you live under the bridge, it is
really difficult. Sometimes it is really noisy, and when there’s a typhoon, it will
flood and sometimes the roofs are being taken off. There are lots of insects and
the place stinks sometimes. For me, yes, because sometimes I ca no longer study
properly. For example, I have an assignment I was not able to do that’s why
sometimes I do it in school because it is really hard. My motivation is my Mother.
That’s why I always think about everything like, the time when my father passed
away, she raised me on her own, and the people are discriminating and bullying
me. I’m using them as my motivation too. I’m not telling her those because we
have a lot of financial problem. I don’t want to add more to her problems. I can’t
stand it if something bad happened to her. I’m not telling her because I’m really
being shy. Ahm… for me it’s really unfair for us. Nothing because we are given
that much focus. Yes, we were not able to bring anything. Nothing, because when
we came here, we did not receive any help. Yes, there was really nothing, yes,
because that time the DepEd said that we will be accepted without any files or
card. It’s really unfair, I’m not really satisfied. Ahm… focus to the people who
came from Marawi, not the people who is in Marawi, but the people who
migrated from Marawi because they do not have any help from them. Yes, if
there’s a chance, I would go back there, because it’s really happy to live there.
Although, sometimes we don’t have money, it is still happy. Me ahm… a tree,
maybe because no matter how many problems go through me, I will not give up.
Ahm, for example, I am going to compare myself to a tree, no matter how many
times they throw anything at me, I will still stand, I will not let myself fall
because of what the hurtful things that they are telling me and throwing at me. I
really don’t want to stop studying because my parents were not able to finish their
studies because they do not have enough money. I want to be the one to achieve
their dreams. I will be the one to achieve those even though they were not able to
provide all of my needs and everything that I want. I will be the one to give them
those since they provided for me. For me, whatever happens, be bullied or
whatever hurtful words others tell you, do not make it a reason for you to stop
studying. Thank you, yes, thank you, yes… I hope… As far as I know, it is
getting better there at ground zero, it is being renovated. But I do not know where
the others are.]
Supergirl is a fourteen year old student who is currently studying in a
public school in Quezon City and she has been living under the bridge for almost
40 years. Supergirl is being raised only by her mother since her father, a company
driver had passed away. Supergirl is a consistent honor student but she is
experiencing discrimination from her classmates because of the place where she
lives. She values education because according to her being an achiever and
someone with proper education is an advantage to this competitive world.Her
inspiration to achieve her ambitions is her mother who raised her as she is now.
According to her, living under the bridge has never been an obstacle for it is what
made her a person with a strong personality. She wants to tell others that poverty,
and discrimination are not in their way to succed.
Ako po si… 13 years old po… ay 14 years old po. 14 years old tapos nag-
aaral po ako sa… Grade 8 na po ako ngayon tapos nag-aaral po ako sa Ismael
Mathay Senior High School po. Iyong tagal po ng pagtira namin, kasi po noong…
iyong magulang po ng parents ko nandoon na po sila since noong mga bata pa po
sila. Matagal na po mga… 40 years na. 40 years na po (laugh) tapos… pero
lumipat naman po kami sa ibang lugar, tapos eh umalis na po iyong mga lolo ko
tsaka lola ko po diyan tsaka hindi na po kami nangungupahan, kaya bumalik
nalang po kami ulit diyan. sarili po naming bahay iyon. Hindi naman po kami
nasasagabal. Okay lang naman po. Ah… iyong papa ko po ano siya, dati po
siyang ano… company driver tapos ano po kasi… noong 2017 po… ay nung last
year lang po, namatay po siya. So parang ang ano po… iyon lang po iyong ano
kasi namin, pinaka ano to… pinaka pinagkukuhanan po namin ng ano… iyong
trabaho niya po eh kaso po nawala po siya kaya mahirap po na ano… na
ginagawa po namin ngayon. Tapos sa mama ko naman po, since ano po kasi
housewife lang po talaga siya kaya wala po… mahirap po sa amin. Tatlo po
kaming magkakapatid tapos iyong isa ko pong kuya, fourth year Electrical
Engineering po tapos iyong pangalawa naman po grade 12 na po siya sa Ismael
Mathay din po tapos ako po grade 8. Opo ako po iyong bunso (laugh) at dalawa
pong lalaki. Iyong mama ko po may small sari-sari store pero kasi po ano eh…
sa… iyong kuya ko nga po college na tapos iyong isa ko po grade 12 na. Kaya
hindi po sapat iyong sari-sari store po ng nanay ko. Iyon po ang nagpapaaral sa
amin… though tinutulungan po kami ng mga side po ng papa ko tsaka mama ko
tsaka side ng papa ko kaso di po maiiiwasan iyong parang may sumbat na… kaya
mahirap. Ano po halimbawa humihingi po kami ng tulong, tapos pagdating po
ng… maya maya po or ilang araw lang sasabihin na nila, “Hindi ba tinulungan
na kita noon tapos hihingi ka pa ngayon? Ganyan naman kayo lagi eh.”, parang
ganoon po, mahirap po… iyong ganoon pong scenario napaka hirap. Iyong
experience naman po naming sa ilalim ng tulay, ahm ano po… masaya na hindi
po (laugh). Masaya siya kasi kapag po nag… iyong mga tao po doon sa amin,
tulungan po talaga kami. Iyong bayanihan po kami sa oras na iyon. Tapos kapag
ano naman po hindi po masaya kasi halimbawa po kapag umuulan po ng malakas
tapos ayan na po babaha na siya kaya mahirap po sa amin lalo na po kapag tag-
ulan. Bumabaha po kahit… hindi naman po inaabot iyong bahay namin pero
iyong labas po kasi kaya mahirap po. Pag alam na po naming mataas na siya,
umaalis na po kami. Nag eevacuate po kami sa tita ko po, may apartment po siya
doon sa labas namin, hindi po iyon inaabot. Ang worst experience ko naman po
doon iyong ano po… iyong mga tao po kasi samin may hindi maiiwasan iyong
mga chika-chika ganoon po, mga tsismosa then tapos parang kami po noon
natsismis po kami tapos parang iyong mga tao po doon sa amin pinaguusapan na
po kami hanggang sa umabot na parang awayin na po kami doon kaya mahirap
po. Hanggat’ sabi naman po ni mama hanggat’ wala pong ginagawang masama
sa amin physically, wag po naming papansinin. Pero kasi iyong mga salita po
nila masakit po eh…parang dindedegrade po kami.Habang palaki po ako ng
palaki, narerealize ko na po iyong pagkakaiba naming sa iang tao pagdating sa
tinitirhan noong… lalo na po noong mga lumalaki na ako. Ah… marami pong
pagkakaiba sabi ko “Bakit doon sila nakatira? Bakit kami dito lang?”, tapos
bakit sila…. noong mga bata pa po isip ko… bakit sila hindi binabaha kami lagi
pong binabaha doon parang natatanong ko na po sa sarili ko iyong ganoon tapos
iyong paglaki ko po parang iyong mga ano po… “Hala bakit sila doon nakatira,
kami dito lang?” eh pare parehas lang naman siguro kami, ganun po iyong nasa
isipan ko po. Sa pag-aaral ko naman po, noong una po syempre sa pag-aaral ko
hindi ko po sinasabi sa kanila na doon ako nakatira kasi iniiwasan ko po iyong
mabully po nila ako like sasabihin na “Ay doon ka nakatira?”, ganoon po kasi
iyong naiisipan kaya iniiwasan ko po… so siguro po simula po nung grade 1
ako… kinder pala, namulat na po ako doon sa dapat hindi ko sasabihin sa kanila
kung saan ako nakatira kasi alam ko ito na iyong mangyayari. Ganoon po kaya
simula grade 1 to grade 5 po siguro tapos nung grade 6 na po ako, unti-unti ko na
pong sinabi sa kanila kasi mahirap po iyong kinikimkim lang po. Iyong reaksyon
po nila ano po… nagulat po sila. Tapos parang… nabully po kasi ako sabi “Ay
doon ka nakatira?”, sabi nila… “Di ba ano doon mga squatter po…squatter
iyong mga tao doon, bakit kayo doon nakatira?”, mga ganoon po iyong sinasabi
nila kaya noong una po medyo… masakit po iyon. Tapos sabi ko kasi kung itatago
ko lang po siya eh wala po eh, mas lalo lang po syang bibigat. Kaya sinabi ko
nalang po. Wala na po akong pakielam kung anong sabihin nila basta kami po
nag-aaral po kami ng mabuti tapos wala po kaming ginagawang masama sa
kanila. Kapag mga ganun po, ayun mga ganun po, iniignore ko po siya, okay lang
iyan wala silang ginagawang masama sakin basta ako walang ginagawang
masama sa kanila. Bahala na po iyong Diyos na gumawa po ng ano sa kanila.
Ganoon lang po iyong sinasabi ko tapos sabi din po kasi ng mga magulang ko na
ganun lang daw po iyong gagawin. May routine po kasi ako na pag-uwi ko ng
bahay syempre magtitinda muna po ako tapos pag nagtitinda po ako
nagcecellphone muna po ako para nanonood muna po ako, nakakapagparelax
muna po sa isip ko kasi kakagaling lang po ng school. Tapos kapag nasa mood na
po ako na “Nako ito na magrereview na ako.”, magrereview na po ako hanggang
gabi. Tapos minsan po kapag ano… napagod… ay may practice po sa school
tapos gabi na po ako makakauwi tapos eh pagod na pagod at nakatulog, gigising
po ako ng madaling araw para saka po ako magrereview. Achiever po ako.
Simula po noong kinder po ako mga certificate lang po na “Most Behave”
(laugh) mga ganun lang po tapos nung grade 2 na po ako nagkaroon po ako ng
top, top 10 po ako. Tapos may isang teacher po na nagsabi sa akin na “Itong
batang to ito iyong parang may potential sa pag-aaral.” Kaya iyong teacher po
na iyon nainspire niya po ako na mag-aral po ng mabuti. Isa po siya sa mga
dahilan. Tapos iyong mga ibang awards ko naman po like iyong mga cooking
contest po kasi ang sarap po kapag nagluluto tapos enjoy na enjoy po. Mahilig po
akong magluto, tapos meron pa iyong mga Readers’ Theatre, Story Telling po,
Declamation kasi maboka naman po ako. Iyon po iyong… ayaw ko po kasi nung
mga dancing ugh! (laugh) Mas gusto ko po iyong mga ganoon. Tapos po noong
mga ano naman po, simula grade 2 hangang ngayon po nasa with honors na po
ako, nasa honors na po. Hindi na po ako natanggal. Tapos minsan po may time na
natatanggal po ako sa with honors. So iyong mga tao ulit po sa amin di ba po ang
alam nila “Uy diba matalino ka? Oh bakit wala ka na diyan?” Napakahirap po
kasi iyong pressure po na nabibigay sa akin tapos iyong family ko rin po ganoon
siya kasi ako parang ako po iyong laging may ganoon na award tapos nung
nawala po ako siguro po first tsaka second grading wala po ako, ganoon lang
naman po. Tapos sinasabi na nila sakin na iyon na… binibigyan na nila ako ng
mga pressure. Mga sinasabi nila na, “Di ba dati ikaw ganyan ka? Eh anon a
nangyari sayo ngayon?” Sa mga teacher ko po, aware po siguro sila kasi hindi ko
naman sinasabi sa kanila, hindi naman ako pala kwento pero aware po sila kasi
kapag nagkukwentuhan po kami, sasabihin nila “Ay diba ikaw iyong nakatira sa
tulay?”. So ako po parang magugulat nalang po ako kung bakit nila nalaman.
May mga kaklase po ako na nangmamaliit sa akin. Hindi naman po siguro sa
lahat maiiwasan iyon kasi di ba ganoon naman po talaga. Halimbawa may award
po ako na nakuha tapos “Ay! Bakit siya iyong nanalo? Hindi naman magaling
iyan eh!”, ganoon po. Tapos kapag nagkukwento naman po sila sasabihin “Iyan
hindi naman magaling yang si ganyan eh…” Ganoon sila tapos “Hala bakit kaya
ganito mga ugali nitong mga to? Eh tapos ginawa ko lang naman iyong best ko.”
Nasasabi iyon. Iyong ano po… iyong siguro nagkaroon ako ng award tapos nasa
stage po ako noon. Tapos may isang grupo po ng kabataan tapos sabi “Hala
bakit nanalo siya? Hindi naman magaling yan eh! Tapos nakatira kaya yan sa
ilalim ng tulay!”, iyon po. Edi parang kumalat po siya tapos parang ano po
noon… nagulat po ako noong nasa stage po ako tapos kitang kita ko po talaga
sila kumpulan po talaga sila noon tapos po eh the day after po noon nagkaroon
na po ng ano sa school, iyong kapag dadaan po ako sa school, “Hala diba iyan
yung naka ano sa tulay? Squatter naman iyan.” Tapos ganoon po sila, kaya
mahirap po sa akin iyon. Tapos one time po pupunta ako sa C.R. para doon po
ako umiyak, ayaw ko pong umiyak kay mama o kaya kay papa noon kasi alam ko
pong mas mahirap po sa kanila iyong ganoong pangyayari.Kung itatanong
naman po iyong kahalagahan ng edukasyon sa akin, opo naman 100%, alam ko
pong may maitutulong ang edukasyon sakin. Sabi po kasi ng papa ko kahit
mahirap tayo, kahit wala tayong kakayahan sa buhay, basta mag-aral ka ng
mabuti. Kasi iyon na daw po iyong kayamanan ko. Iyon na yung tanging
kayamanan na alam mong hindi makukuha ng iba sa akin. Tapos kapag alam
mong… iba po iyong advantage kapag achievers ka tapos kapag nag apply ka sa
isang school parang tanggap ka na po agad ganoon po siya eh lalo na po iyong
gagawin kong… iyong ambisyon ko po kailangan ko po talaga ng maano na
edukasyon.Iyong pagtira po naming sa ilalim ng tulay, ako po para sa akin never
siyang naging sagabal… never po siyang naging sagabal sakin. Kahit na
nabubully po ako hindi ko po pinapansin sila kasi sabi ko marangal po iyong
ginagawa namin. Kaya never po siyang naging sagabal sakin, hindi ko nalang po
sila pinapansin basta po ako, nag-aaral po ako ng mabuti. Pinakagoal ko po
talaga sa buhay ano… maging doctor po… maging doctor po talaga. Tapos
kapag naging doctor po ako tutulungan ko po iyong mga magulang ko, iyong mga
tumulong po sa akin na maabot ko iyong pangarap kong iyon kasi parang sila po
iyong dahilan kung bakit naabot ko po iyong pangarap kong iyon. Kapag naabot
kop o iyong goal na iyon siguro hindi nap o ako titira sa ilalim ng tulay. Siguro
po hi…hindi na, lilipat na po ako sa ibang lugar pero hindi ko po kakalimutan
iyong experience, iyong memories ko po, kung kailangan ko pong tulungan iyong
sa lugar na iyon o kung saan mang lugar. Hindi ko po kakalimutan silang
tulungan, iyong mga memories ko po… kasi napamahal na po ako sa lugar na
kinalakihan ko. Iyong mga experience ko po sa ilalim ng tulay, ano po ako, mas
strong po iyong personality ko po. Dahil siguro sa mga iyon mas natutunan ko
pong palakasin iyong sarili ko, hayaan nalang yan tapos hayaan na iyong mga
nangbubully po ganun. Tapos ano pa po ah… kasi mas napalawak po niya iyong
isipan ko, mas napalawak niya po akong umintindi ng mga bagay-bagay ganun po
siya. Ang inspirasyon ko po siguro, iyong magulang ko po na naghihirap po para
mapalaki niya po kami ng maayos, mapag-aral po kami. Tapos noong ano po
kasi, ang gusto ko lang po sa kanila iyong hindi na sila maghihirap, pag
nagkaroon na po ako ng… kapag nakuha ko na po iyong ambisyon ko. Kung may
isang bagay po na sumisimbulo sa akin, hmm… ah wait… siguro po ano, ah…
takure Kasi po diba kahit… nafeefeel ko po kasi doon sa takure eh… ayun, kahit
naghihirap na po siya iyong init na iyon na galing sa init na iyon tapos iyong mga
paghihirap po, napansin ko po sa kanya na hindi siya sumusuko. Hindi siya
natutunaw agad, hindi siya nagbrebreak agad ganun po. Kaya doon po sa takure
na iyon sabi ko “Ay parang nakita ko sarili ko ditto sa takure na ito. Kaya kapag
nagpapakulo po ako ng tubig sabi ko “itong takureng ito ako to eh.” Tapos
parang nakakatawa man pong isipin pero takure po talaga naisip ko. Kapag
gobyerno po ang pag uusapan, para po sa akin? Kung ano po iyong dapat nilang
i-ano…na ano po katulad nitong nakatira kami sa ilalim ng tulay. Hindi naman
po nila kasalanan na nandoon po kami na naghihirap po kami pero gusto ko po
sana na ano… na tulungan po ng gobyerno iyong mas nangangailangan po
ngayon kasi maroon po tayo ngayon diba iyong parang sa 4P’s di ba? 4P’s po na
iyong iba pong pamilya na mas nangangailangan po iyong mga bata na gusto pa
pong makapag aral, sila pa po iyong hindi nabibigyan ng ganoong bagay iyong
4P’s po. Dapat kasi nakikita ko po karamihan sa mga 4P’s ngayon parang…
katulad po niyan nakatira po kami diyan sa ilalim ng tulay, iyong mga tao po
hindi naman lahat, iyong ibang tao po parang binabalewala lang po nila iyong
binibigay namin. Ganun… na sana mas paigtingin po nila iyong programa po
nila para po sa mga nangangailangan po talaga, sa mga gustong mag aral. May
mensahe po ako sa mga katulad kong nakatira sa ilalim ng tulay. Ang mapapayo
ko po sa kanila iyong pagtira po siguro sa tulay, huwag po nilang isipin na
sagabal po sa buhay iyan kasi ito po ako ngayon, mas strong po iyong personality
ko dahil po doon sa mga bagay na iyon. Tapos iyong kahirapan po, hindi po
talaga sagabal sap ag aaral yan kaya huwag po nilang isipin iyong mga tao na…
na… nangbubully sa kanila, nangdidiscriminate po. Wag po nila isipin iyon basta
ang alam po nila sa sarili nila wala silang ginagawang mali at hindi po sila
nakakagawa ng masama sa iba. Iyon lamang po.
[I am… 13 years old… no 14 years old. 14 years old and studying at… I
am now in grade 8 and I am studying at Ismael Mathay Senior High School. The
amount of time of us living there, because when… the parents of my parents are
there already since they were little. It’s been so long like… 40 years. It’s been 40
years (laugh) and… but we move to another place but we went back there because
my grandfather and my grandfather left already and we are no longer renting
there. It’s our own house. We are not being hitched. We’re fine. Ah, my father
is… he is a former… company driver and then… on November 2018… uhm no, it
was last year, he died. So it’s like… that’s our only, only uhm… our only source
of… is his job but he passed away that’s why it is hard to… do what we are doing
now. And my mother, since she is a housewife, she doesn’t have any… its
difficult for us. We are 3 siblings and one of my brothers is a fourth year
Electrical Engineering and the second one is already a grade 12 student also at
Ismael Mathay and I am a grade 8 student. Yes, I am the youngest (laugh) and to
boys. My mother has a small sari-sari store but ah… my brother who is in college
and the other one is at geade 12. That’s why the revenue of my mother from the
sari-sari store is not enough. Its revenue is the thing that’s providing our education
needs. Although our relatives from my father and from my mother are helping us
but it is unavoidable that there will be upbraiding… that’s why it’s hard. For
example, we are asking for help and when it comes to uhm… after a while or after
few days they will say that “I already helped you last time didn’t I? and now
you’re still asking for another help? You’re always like that.” Like that, it’s hard.
Those kind of scenarios are really tough. Our experience under the bridge is,
ahm… it’s joyful but at the same time it’s not (laugh). It’s joyful because when...
the people there on our place, are helping each other. Our cooperation during
those times. And its not joyful when, for example it is raining, because it will
flood that’s why it’s hard for us especially when it’s rainy season. It floods even
when… our house wasn’t reached but still it is hard because outside, the level of
water is still high, that’s why it’s difficult. When we know that the water level is
already high, we’re leaving. We are evacuating to my aunt. She has an apartment
there outside, and it’s not being reached by the flood. My worst experience there
is the… the people on our place can’t avoid having chit chats, gossipers and us
during that time were gossiped and the people there on our place are already
talking about us until it reached to the point where there are going to dispute us
that’s why it’s hard. Until mother told us that until they are not doing anything
bad towards us physically, we should not give them our attention. But their words
hurt… like they are degrading us. While I am growing up, I’m realizing the
difference between other people in terms of shelter… especially when I’m
growing up. Ah… there are lots of differences and I said, “Why do I live there?
Why do we only live here?”, and while them… when my mind was not yet
mature… why are they not being flooded, but us we are always being reached by
it. It’s like I am asking myself and when I grew up… “Why do they live there,
and why do we live here?” perhaps we are all the same, that’s what’s in my mind.
On my studies, at fiest ofcourse I cannot tell them that I live there because I’m
avoiding to be bullied by them like they will tell me that “oh you live there?”
that’s what I think of so I am avoiding to… maybe it started when I was on grade
1… no, kinder, I became aware that I should not tell them where I live because I
know what will happen. So starting from grade 1 to grade 5, then at grade 6, I
started telling them because it’s hard to harbor something. Their reaction was…
they were shocked. And like… I was bullied, they said, “Oh you live there?” and
“The people there are squatters right… the people there are squatters, why do you
live there?” they are saying things like that, that’s why at first… it kind of…
hurts. And then I told myself that if I am going to hide it, it will just become more
of a burden... that’s why I said, “I wil no longer care about what they say as long
as we are studying well and we are not doing anything wrong towards them.When
it comes to that, I ignore it. That’s fine, they are not doing anything bad towards
and I am not doing anything bad towards them too. It’s up to God who made
them. That’s what I’m saying and my parents also told me to do so. I have a
routine that whenever I got home, I’ll deal with the sari-sari store first and while
I’m selling, I am using my cellphone so that I can watch something that will make
me relax my mind because I just got home from schoo. And when I’m in the
mood where, “Oh, this is the time to review.” I will review until night time. And
sometimes when… I got tired… if there’s practice at school and I got home at
night, really tired and fell asleep, I will wake up at dawn so that I wil review. I am
an achiever. It started when I was at kinder, I got the most behave certificate
(laugh) only and at grade 2, I got into top 10, I was the top 10. And there is one
teacher who told me that, “this child has an academic potential.” That teacher
inspired me to striver harder in my studies. She is one of the reasons. And the
other awards like from cooking contest because it’s fun and enjoyable. I love
cooking and also those Reader’s Theatre, storytelling and also declamation since I
am talkative. I don’t like dancing Ugh! (laugh) I love those things more than
dancing. And when… started at grade 2 until now, I am an honor student. So the
the people there on our place since they know that, “hey, you’re smart right? Why
are you no longer in the with honors?” because it’s really hard to work with the
pressure that they are giving me including my family because I am always the one
with an award and when I wasn’t included from first and second grading, they are
telling me those. They are giving me pressure. They are saying that, “you are a
former honor student, right? What happened to you?” About my teachers, maybe
they are aware because I didn’t even tell them because I’m not someone who tells
stories but they are aware because when I’m having a conversation with them,
they will tell me, “You are the one who live under the bridge right?” so I’m being
shocked about how were they able to know that. I have classmates who are
belittling me. I think it cannot be avoided because that’s how it is. For example, I
receive an award then they will say, “Ay! Why did she win? She’s not even
good!” and “That girl? She’s not even good…” they are like that and, “hala! Why
is this child’s attitude like this?” eh I’m just doing my best. It is being said. Uhm
about that… maybe the time when I gained an award and I am on the stage during
that time. Then there is a group of people who said, “Hala! Why did she win?
She’s not even good eh! And she lives under the bridge!” then its like those
information spread during that time… I was shocked when I was on the stage and
I can see all of them grouping around and the day after that, whenever I am
passing by somewhere at school, they are saying, “Hala! She’s the one who lives
under the bridge right? She’s sa squatter!” they are like that, that’s why its hard on
my part. Then there’s one time where I’ll go to the C.R. so that’s where I’ll cry
because I don’t want to cry to my mom or my dad because I know that kind of
even will be a lot harder for them. If you’re going to ask me the importance of
education, yes maam 100%. I know that education has something to help us. My
father said then even though were poor, even though we don’t have something in
life, just study hard. Because that is my wealth. That is the only wealth that you
know that no when will get from you. And then you know that… It is a different
kind of advantage if you are an achiever because when you apply in a school, it’s
like you’re already accepted. Especially on my ambition, I really need the
education for that. Our stay under the bridge, for me, it never became a
hindrance… it never became an obstacle for me. Even though I’m being bullied, I
don’t pay attention to that becaue I said that what were doing is honorable. That’s
why it has never been an obstacle for me, I’m not paying attention to them as long
as I a studying hard. My main goal in life is… to be a doctor… it’s really to be a
doctor. And when I became a doctor, I am going to help my parents and the
people who helped me to reach that dream of mine. When I achieved my dream.
When I reached that goal, I think I am no longer going to love under the bridge.
Maybe not… not anymore. Am going to move to another place but I am not
going to forget the experience. If I need to help whatever place… I am not going
to forget the memories because I loved the place that I grew up to. My experience
under the bridge, uhm… my personality became stronger. Maybe because of that,
I learned more to make myself stronger and not to pay attention to those who are
bullying me. And uhm… since I am more open minded, my understanding
towards things is greater than them. Maybe my inspiration are my parents because
they are the one who went through hardhips just to raise us well and to sent us to
schoo. And the only thing that I want for them is where hey no longer have to
experience hardships, when I got… when I achieved my ambition. If there is one
thing that symbolizes me, hmm… ah wait… maybe ah… the kettle because
even… I feel that with kettle… ah, even it’s suffering with the heat or the
hardships, I noticed that it is not giving up. It is not easily melting. It doesn’t
break immediately. That’s why when I’m boiling water, I saying that, “This kettle
is me.” And even it’s fun to think of, but I really think of kettle. For me? Talking
about the government… about what they should focus on is us who live under the
bridge. I know that it is not their fault about why we are experiencing hardships
while living there, I want that… I hope that the government helps who are more in
need because I know we have the, 4 p’s right? 4 p’s where the other family who
are really in need are not given to chance to enter 4 p’s. because what I see is
most of those who are in 4 p’s are not… like us, we are living under the bridge,
but the other people are not giving importance to our situation... The government
should improve theur programs to those who are really in need… to those who
really want to go to school.I have a message for those like me who are living
under the bridge. The advice that I can give them is them living under the bridge,
they should not thing of it as an obstacle in life because it is I now, I have a
stronger personality because of those things. And the poverty, it is not really a
hindrance to your education so and they should not think about the people who…
who... are bullying and discriminating them. They should not think of that as long
as they know to themselves that they are not doing anything wrong and they are
not doing anything bad towards other people. That’s all.

Thor is a senior high school student at a public school in Quezon City.
They have been living under the bridge for more than 20 years. Thor’s father
passed away so he is being raised by his mother alone. Thor works for her aunt
and is helping his mother in handling their sari-sari store as source of their
income. Thor is experiencing discrimination from some of his classmates but
despite that, he manage to be a consistent honor student by using those negative
things being thrown at him as his strength and motivation. Thor’s ambition is to
be a Civil Engineer to honor his father’s last wish before he died. He wants to
inspire others by also using their weakness which is living under the bridge as
their source of strength.
Uh, ako po si… uh… grade twelve, senior high school student po from
Ismael Mathay Senior High School po. Nakatira kami sa ilalim ng tulay sa loob
ng uhm, since 20 years po. Siguro po kasi ano, simula po noong pinanganak si
kuya, diyan na po kasi parang dyan nap o kami lumaki. Parang ‘yan nap o talaga
yung naging tirahan naming and parang iyong bridge na yung saksi sa mga
nanhyari sa buhay namin. Uhm, I mama po uhm, since po kasi noonh ano, ang
natatrabaho nap o no’n po talaga samin, si papa po. So si mama po samin
pagdating po sa’min is talaga pong siya ‘yong nagbabantay samin and parang...
ano po lahat nggawain bilang nanay po, ginagawa nya para sa’min. Si papa po
noong nabubuhay pa siya… uhm, ang trabaho niya po is ano po, uhm… ganito po
kasi yan. Mayroon po yung tita naming na from Australia, nagpadla po sa’min ng
parang hanapbuhay showcase po sa amin. Eh sa hindi po inaasahang

pagkakataon is, si papa po parang nabaun po sa utang, naibenta niya po ‘yong
taxi. Parang ‘yong kabuhayan na pong ‘yon, parang ayun po ‘yung piundar po
para sa’min, para makaahon po sa hirap. Pero po a kasamaang palad po, nabaun
po si papa sa utang and binenta niya po ‘yong taxi and nawalan po siya ng
trabaho. And then po…uhm nakahanap po siya ng magandang trabaho din po
which is uh… construction company ‘yung mga pinasukan niya and sa
kasamaang palad po, si papa po namatay nung last February 2016 po. Uh… ako
po, uh… ang pinagkukunan kop o ng pera ay… kasi po ako, meron po akong sa
tita ko po. Uhm, may construction company po sila. Bale po kapag, kapag po ano
po… kapag umalis po sila, uhm bale po parang ako po ‘yong naiiwan sa bahay…
nila. Then parang sinasahuran nila ako. Parang doon na po kami, parang don
nap o ako kumukuha ng…. ng parang pwede kong ibigay kay mama. And actually
may tindahan din po kaming ginawa nan a kumikita ng ahm… sapat lang po para
sa pang araw-araw naming para… para po uhh… pambayad ng tubig at ilaw po
buwan-buwan.Uhm, si mama po yung nagbabantay sa tindahan. Bale po kada…
kapag may free time po kami, tinutulungan namin si mama para po magawa niya
yung ibang gawaing bahay po. Like pagakaba po, paghuhugas ng pinggan and so
on po. Yung naranasan kop o mahirap. Talaga pong mahirap. Kasi po ahh…
kapag halimbawa nalang po panahon ng… tag-ulan po. Ahh, kasi po diyan kasi
sa… sa bahay po naming diyan, uhm… pag, pag panahon po talaga ng tag-ulan
is talagang hindi pwedeng hindi babahain lalo nap o pa gang… kahit sabihin
mop o walang bagyo. Kahit… basta po sobrang tagal po ng ulan, kapag umabot
po ng isang oras and then sobrang lakas ng ulan, hindi po pwede kayong hindi
babahain. So mahirap po yung naging… mahirap po yung naranasan ko diyan
sa… sa bahay po namin diyan sa baba. Bale po ano, uhm… last ano po, yung eto
lang po nung nakaraang ulan po is talagang bumaha rin po diyan so nahihirapan
po kaming mag-akyat at baba ng mga gamit namin. So madami pong mga damit
na nababasa… na napupunta sab aha na inaanod po. Ah, opo nag e-evacuate
kami. Kaso po yung evacuation namin is diyan lang po sa ano, sa tulay po. Baka
kasi… opo ganon lang po. Iaakyat lang namin yung gamit namin. Opo, kasi po
ahh… ayaw po kasi… bilang ano po, masakit naman pong makikita yung bahay
niyong inaanod. So gusto naming Makita ‘yong bahay namin na nandon parin.
Hindi yung pagdating namin… halimbawa galling kaming evacuation center na
kapag uwi namin, wala na yung bahay namin don.Apat po kaming magkakapatid.
Tatlo pot as isang babae po, Ahm, pangalawa po ako. 4th year college na po yung
panganay. Yung course niya po ah… ano po yata siya… tawag ditto? Ano yung
course niya? Uhh… education din po sa may… PUP po. Bale pop pagdating po
kasi sa PUP uhh… anon a po, uhhh… libre po siya don. At yung transportation
niya po> Bale po ano po, nagbibigay po ng allowance si mama po kapag po
mayroong extra sa tindahan… binibigyan nap o ni mama. Maytime po na si kuya
po ang… pumapasok po ng fifty pesos lang po yung dala niya pang pasok ang
pang uwi lang po. Meron naman po siyang pagkain, magdadala lang po siya ng
kanin. The rest po… wala na po. Yung pinakaworst na experience kop o uhm…
siguro po yung tuwing gabi po. Mayroon pong mga… kasi po kapag dating po ng
ganyan na… na squatter area pot as ganyan pa po, hindi po maiiwasan yung mga
drug ano po… tuwing gabi po diyan… lalo nap o sapanahon ngayon na hawak na
po ni president Rodrigo Duterte po. Bale po tuwing gabi po diyan may mga pulis
na nagsisibabaan po. So ayun po ‘yung parang parang pinaka-nakakatakot don
sa lugar naming. Ahm para po sa’kin noong bata po talaga ako parang ang
kasi… kasi mayroon po kaming childhood memories kumbaga. Marami po
kayong makikilala pero syempre po habang nagkakaisip ka, hindi naman po
puwedeng diyan ka nalang lagi, lalo na po ngayno na sobrang hirap ng buhay
diyan. Alam po naman natin yun, kapag kumbaga kapag hindi ka naman
nagsikap, diyan ka lang tutunganga, tambay ka lang, syempre po ipupush mo
yung sarili mo na, sana someday, maii-angat ko rin ‘yong pamilya ko ditto sa
tulay na ‘to. Di na kami ditto titira, parang babalikan nalang namin to para ala-
ala nalang. Parang magbabalik nalang don kumbaga… ahm, “Namiss ko ‘tong
lugar na ‘to, ito kasi ‘yong humubog sa’kin bilang… sa isang pagkatao ko and
marami akong… marami akong natutunan sa lugar na ‘to.Yung pag-aaral kop o
uhm… actually po ano… uhm, okay po siya kasi ah… syempre po sa tulay po
kami nakatira. Syempre po bilang isang kabataan or bilang isang mag-aaral…
Uhm, syempre magpupursigi ka po sap ag-aaral, lalo nap o kung makikita mo
yung magulang mon a nahihirapan at syempre po nag-iisa nalang si mama.
Uhm… at uhm… tawag ditto? Uhm… sa may… grade 12 po ako ngayon sa
Ismael Mathay, nakakuha po ako ng academic excellence which is with honors
po… na pumalo ng average 90 po.Ah ako po kasi bale po lagi po akong late
pumasok ng school, kasi po syempre… si mama po tuwing gabi tinutuungan ko
magtinda. Eh ang pasok ko po sa school is 6:30 dapat nasa school na. E ako po
nakakatulog ako mga 2 po, so syempre bilang estudyante po, kapos po yung
pagtulog ko. Magigising po ako ng 6 po tapos po magreready pa po. Syempre po
bilang kap… kapos… ay malapit din po ‘yong Ismael Mathay tapos kapos pa po
kami sap era, syempre mas pipiliin ko nalang pong maglakad kasi kaya… afford
naman ng katawan ko na maglakad ng umaga kahit… kahit na… nalelate po ako.
Uhm… nung ano po ako nung… grade 1 hanggang… grade 4 oi, consistent po
akong best in math po and pagdating po ng… 4 and 2 to 6 po… ano po ako, lagi
po akong nasa top. And then pagdating po ng ano po ng… grade7 and grade 10
po, hindi rin po ako nawawala sa top lagi.Uhm… actually po mayroon pong time
nag anon kasi po syempre kapag umuulan… iniisip nap o… lalo na po pag
panahon ng tag-ulan, iniisip na po namin, kapag…bandang 12 po ang lakas ng
ulan, syempre po kinabukasan iisipin namin, “Makakapasok ba kami?” syempre
po kasi hindi po maiiwasan yung pagbaha. Pero po, uhm… kinoconsider kop o
siyang kalakasan ko. Kasi po uhm… diba po… diyan na ako lumaki, parang…
uhm… kung hindi kappa magpupursigi, ano nalang? Kumbaga diyan ka nalang
forever. Pero siyempre dapat kumilos ka din. Ahh, it is time na para kumilos para
hindi nalang yung forever tambay ka lang or forever kang diyan.Uhm…
pagdating po kasi sa education lalo na po pag ano… kapag mga ganto po na
kabataan katulad ko na… na… galing lang po sa hirap… isa talagang napaka-
halaga po sa’min kasi po turo po ng magulang namin… ahm… kung hindi man
kayo ganyan kayaman pero kung mahhihirap kayo ngayon at makapag tapos kayo
ng balang araw, makakamit niyo din ‘yon. Parang uhm… kung hindi naman daw
po kami mag-aano… magpupursigi, makikita niyo narin yung kalalabasan niyo,
kasi po syempre nakikita naman namin yung output ng mga ibang tao diyan
sa’min… na nag-stop po, mas piniling magtrabaho at hindi po mag-aral, syempre
po nahihirapan din po sila. So para sa’kin yung edukasyon din po is parang
weapon po siya… kasi po uhm… kapag ginamit yung edukasyon bilang isang
armas, syempre po diba… kumbaga halimbawa nalang po, may mayabang na tao
diyan na nagsabi, o ganito ako, manager ako sa ganyan ganayan tapos ano bang
natapos mo? Tapos sasagutin ka ng highsvhool lang. syempre bilang ako na
nakapagtapos diba… parang… ang sarap painggan na… na… ako po kasi ang
pangarap ko maging civil engineer po. So halimbawa nalang po may nagyabang
po sa’yo ng ganon. So parang ang sarap sa pakiramdam na sabihin mo na ito
‘yong natapos ko ganyan ganyan, hindi mo ako kilala pero hinuhusgahan mo ako
porke’t diyan lang kami nakatira. Ito yung natapos ko. Parang ang sarap lang po
na… sa pakiramdam nag anon tapos… ang edukasyon rin po ang parang
magsasalba sa buhay namin para umahon po.Uhm… opo kasi masayahin po
talaga akong tao. Bale po uhm… yung kumbaga yung negative na sinasabi nila
sa’kin ginagawa ko nalang positive po. Halimbawa nalang po tuwing magkaka-
yayaan po ng swimming, sinasabi nila, “Bry, tara swimming tayo sa inyo.”
Syempre po along the river po, edi sinasabi ko, “Tara, sige swimming kayo
sa’min, tag-iisang cottage pa tayo.” Parang hindi ko po siya… yung pang-aasar
na ‘yon, hindi kop o siya ginagamit bilang kahinaan. Ginagamit kop o siya bilang
kalakasan para po… para mag move forward po para… harapin yung… kung ano
yung sasabihin nila.Discrimination uhm… yung iba… yung bukod lang po uhm…
ganon lang po yung naexperience ko kasi po yung iba kong classmate is… alam
din po nila yung situation ko and… public school po ako and alam din po nila nag
anon nga… na pagdating sa public, mahirap yung tao don and ano po um… very
friendly din naman po kasi sila. Halos lahat po ng classmate ko sa room… is
close kop o. Uhm… yung ano… yung kapag… kapag nasa school ako yung
sinasabi nila na… kapag malakas yung ulan? And then papasok akong basa yung
sapatos ko? Sasabihin nila sa’kin na, “Oh Bry, bat kappa pumasok? Muntik na
bahain yung sapatos mo.” Ayun lang po, parang naooffend po ako sag anon. Ang
pangarap kop o makapagtapos as a civil engineer po. Ah actually po… si… papa
po. Kasi po ang gusto ni papa po… uhm.. tawag ditto? Makapag… isa man po sa
aming magkakapatid, makapag-take po ng engineering. SO after… bago po
mamatay si papa, sinabi niya sa’kin na gusto niya po akong maging civil
engineer. So ayun po… pinupush kop o talaga yung sarili ko na maka…
makapag… maka-take po ng exam and para po makapag-aral po as a civil
engineer.Sumisimbulo sakin? Siguro po ano… ahm… ballpen po. Kasi po ang
ballpen po alam naman po natin na may tinta po? Kasi po… uhm… kaya ko po
sinabign ball… pen… kasi po ako… uhm… kapag kumbaga naubos na ako,
magpapahinga lang po ako saglit then… mag… gagawin ko nap o yung ulit,…
parang hindi po talaga tutuluyang magpahinga… parang pahinga lang saglit
then push nap o ako sa another na gagawin kop o. At saka yung ink po. Kasi po
ang… parang yung ink po diba parang siya po yung nagbibigay… kulay or
nagbibigay sulat po ng ano… pag nagsusulat ka? Kasi po para sakin kaya po ako
naging ink, kasi po si mama po… kapag wala po sila… kapag wala po kaming
makain, ako po yung… nagiging way nila para mahanap po ng pagkain. Parang
ako po yung dumidiskarte.Ang advice ko po sa kanila uhm… siguro po uhm…

gamitin po nila yung… kahinaan nila… bilang… kalakasan po. Halimbawa
nalang po uhm… nakatira… ako po katulad kop o, ginamit kop o yung kahinaan
ko na nakatira ako diyan sa lugar na ‘yan bilang kalakasan ko po. Parang…
namotivate kop o yung sarili ko na mag-aral ng mabuti, na magpursigi para
maiahon yung bihay ko and… actually po kapag… kapag mayroon po silang…
kasi po diba karamihan po ng bata… binibigyan po sila ng… magulang nila ng
time para makapag-aral? Kasi po yung education is talagang napakaimportante
bilang… bilang isang tao and bilang estudyante. Kasi po parang ayun po yung
magppursue ng… ng… ng… kagandahan sa buhay mo and… kaya kop o nasabi n
asana hindi nila sayangin yung… yung ibibigay na opportunity ng magulang nila
kapag gusto silang paaralin kasi po marami pong kabataan na gustong mag-aral
pero hindi po sila mapag-aral ng magulang nila. Siguro po masasabi ko sa
government is… dagdagan po nila yung assisstancee pagdating po sa ganyan…
sa mga taong nakatira sa… ilog or tabi ng ilog. Sana po ma… parang mabigyan
po sila ng magandang lugar o pageevacuate-an na… na… may trabaho, may
eskwelahan na king saan pwede pong lipatan ng mga tao kung san nakatira
yung… yung mga taong nakatira sa ilog. Sigurp po ‘yong 4 p’s po, dapat po
nilang mas dagdagan yung mga pondo kasi mas marami pong nangangailangan
na mahirap na tao, kasi po kami beneficiary po kami ng 4 p’s. So… ang laking
tulong po saamin nung kada buwan, mayroon kaming marereceive don… by
government… parang pandagdag po sa tustusin namin. Parang habang nag-
aaral, hindi lang po kami doon sa tindahan kukuha kasi po ang tindahan po hindi
naman po… sapat and then.. lagi po siyang… di naman po pang habang buhay
yun and… may… times din po na… malulugi din yan… kumbaga meron po
talagang araw na malas.Opo ayos lang samin na lumpiat basta po yung lilipatan
po namin is mayroon pong eskwelahan and pagkukuhanan po ng trabaho. Kasi
po ang nagiging issue po kasi… pagdating sa ganyan… yung lilipatan nyo is…
wala naman kayong pagkukuhaan ng trabaho so… pano nalang? Edi nakatanga
lang din po kayo sa lilipatan niyo? Tas… and then po kaya ko din po nasabing
eskwelahan… yung eskwelahan po kasi minsan na… yung paglilipatan nyo
halimbawa sa… ng bahay… is yung eskwelahan po is sobrang layo po. Pano
nalang po diba na… naglalakad lang po kami… e ditto po is almost malapit lang
po yung… school samin.Siguro yung naexperience ko po parang… mas…
pinatatag po yun sarili ko. Kasi po uhm… parang tinuturuan kop o yung sarili ko
na… hindi nalang po agad sumuko sa isang bagay. Halimbawa po kapag nadapa
ka, uhm… hindi nalang po yung lagi… yung magiistay ka don sa… pinagdapaan
mo, dapat… kailangan mong tumayo, hindi lang yung parang… kapag… uhm…
halimbwa nalang po na… nakaupo ka sa isang upuan, hindi nalang forever ka
dapat na nakaupo don. Kailangan mong gumalaw kung gusto mong may
magbago sa buhay mo. Parang ayun yung tinuro ko po sa sarili ko based don sa
mga experience na naranasan ko po. Thank you po.
[Uh, I am... Uh… a grade twelve, senior high school student from Ismael
Mathay senior high school. We have been living under the bridge for uhm... 20
years. Maybe since my elder brother was born, that’s where we grew up. Like it
has been our home and that bridge is the witness of things that happened in our
life. Uhm… My mother uhm… ever since, the one who is working for us is my
father. so… my mother, when it comes to us, she is the one who is taking care of
like… everything that is the chore of the mother, she’s doing it for us. My father
when he was still alive… uhm, his job is uhm… It’s actually like this. Our aunt
from Australia, sent us like a hanapbuhay showcase. Eh, in unexpected
circumstance, my father had too much debt, he sold the taxi. That livelihood, like
we established that for us to raise ourselves from poverty. But unfortunately,
father had too much debt and sold the taxi and he lost his job. And then… uhm he
found a decent job which is uh… he went to a construction company and
unfortunately, my father died last February 2016. Uh… me, uh… my main source
of income is… since… I, I have an aunt. Uhm, they have a construction company.
So when, when… when they leave, uhm it’s like I’m the one being left in their…
house. Then I am being paid. It’s like where we, It’s like where we are getting…
like what I can give to mother. And actually, we have established a Sari-Sari store
that earns uhm… just enough for our daily… for… payment for the monthly
water and electric bill. Uhm, mother handles the sari-sari store… when we have
our free time, we are helping our mother so she could do the other household
chores. Like doing the laundry, washing the dishes and so on. My experience is
difficult. It’s really difficult because ah… for example, when it comes to the rainy
season. Ah, because there… in our house, uhm… every rainy season, flood is
inevitable especially when… Even when you say that there is no storm. Even…
when it rains for too long, when it reached an hour and the rain is too heavy,
flooding is inevitable. So what I experienced there… on our house… is difficult.

Then uhm… last uh… just this last, just during the last rain, it really flooded there
and of course we do not have a 2nd floor there so we are having a hard time to
bring up and bring down our things. So many clothes got wet… that went with the
flow of the flashflood. Ah, yes, we evacuate when it’s raining. However, our
place of evacuation is only there at, at the bridge…Yes just like that. We will just
bring our things up there because ah… we don’t want… as an… It’s painful to see
your house being taken away by the current. So we want to see our house that it’s
still there. Not that when we come back… for example we came back from
evacuation center, when we arrive, our house is no longer there. We are four
siblings, Three boys and one girl. I’m the second child. The eldest one is a fourth
year college student. His course is ah… I think he is… What do you call that?
What’s his course? Uhh… education student too at… PUP. When it comes to
PUP uhh... It’s free there. And his transportation fee? Mother is giving an
allowance when there is an extra from the sari-sari store… mother is giving him.
There’s time that elder brother is… going to school with only fifty pesos only for
fare. He has food, he will just bring rice. But the rest, there’s none. My worst
experience is uhm… Maybe the night, there are… because when it comes to
squatter are like that, drug related things are inevitable. Yes, every night,
especially now that president Rodrigo Duterte is in control. Every night, there are
policemen that are going down there. So that’s the most terrifying thing on our
place. Ahm when I was a child, for me, it’s really happy… because we have
childhood memories. You will meet many people but of course while you’re
becoming mature, it is not acceptable that you stay there, especially now that life
is hard. What I want is ahm… uplift my family because life there is really hard.
We all know that, if you did not try, you just stay there, doing nothing, of course
you have to push yourself that I hope someday, I will be able to uplift my family
away from this bridge. We no longer have to live here like we are just going back
here only to reminisce. Like we will go back there and say ahm, “I miss this place
because it is what honed me… my personality and ia have a lot of… I have
learned lots of things in this place." My studies uhm… actually… uhm… its
fine… since we live under the bridge, of course as a youth or as a student… uhm,
of course I will study hard, especially when you see your parent having a hard
time because mother is alone. Uhm… and uhm… I am now a grade 12 student at
Ismael Mathay, I got an academic excellence, with honors. My average reached
90. Ah because I, I am always late to come to school because… we help our
mother on selling every night. My class starts at 6:30 but I sleep at 2 am so of
course as a student I am lacking of sleep. I will wake up at 6 and then I will get
read. Of course Ismael Mathay is near and we lack money, of course we’ll choose
to walk because we can… and our body can afford to walk in the morning
although I am being late. Uhm… when I was in… Grade1 until… grade 4, I was a
consistent best in math. And when it comes to… 4 and 2-6… I am always at the
top students. And then when I went to… grade 7 and grade 10, I never got out of
the top students. Uhm… actually there are times that I did consider living under
the bridge an obstacle because of course when it’s raining… I am thinking…
especially in rainy season. We are thinking that its already… 12 am and the rain is
too heave, of course we will think of the day tomorrow if “Can we still go to
class?” because we cannot control the flashflood. But, uhm… I consider it as my
strength. Because uhm… that’s where I grew up, like… uhm… if I’m not going to
work hard, what now? Are you going to stay there forever? Of course you have to
take actions. Ahh, it’s time for you to make actions and not to do nothing forever
and stay there forever. Uhm… when it comes to education especially when…
when it comes to youth like me… that comes from poverty… is it is really
important for us. Because as our parents taught us… ahm… even if you are not
that rich but if you are going to struggle now and finish your studies someday,
you are going to achieve your dreams. Like… uhm… if you are not going to…
work hard, you will also see what you’ll end up to. Because ofcourse we are
seeing the output of other people out there… who stopped, and chose to work
instead of going to school. Of course they are having a hard time. So for me,
education is like a weapon… because… uhm… if you use education as a
weapon… for example, there is someone boastful saying, I am like this, a
manager, so on and so forth and what have you finished? And then will tell you
that, “Only High school.” Of course as someone who finished his studies… is
like… it’s nice to hear… that… I am like… My dream is to be a Civil Engineer.
So for example if someone boasted to you like that, It’s a nice feeling to say that I
finished this and that, you don’t know me but you are judging me because we live
there… this is what I finished. Like its really nice… to feel like that and… the
education is also what will uplift our lives and make it better. Uhm… yes because
I’m a cheerful person… so uhm… the negative things that they are telling me, I’m
making that positive. For example, every time that they will tell me to go
swimming, they are telling me that, “Bry, let’s swim at your place, Bry.” since we
are along the river. So I’m telling them, “Let’s go… swim in our place and have
one cottage each.” Like I’m not… those mockery, I’m not letting those be my
weakness. I’m using it as my strength… to move forward to… face the… things
that they are going to say. Discrimination uhm… the other… except from uhm…
I only experienced that because my other classmates are… they know my
situation and… I am at public school and they know that… when it comes to
public schools, most people there are poor and uhm… they are very friendly. I’m
close to almost all of my classmates in the classroom… Uhm… the… when…
when I am in school, they are saying that… When the rainfall is heavy? And then
I will enter the classroom with wet shoes… They will tell me, “Hey Bry, why did
you go to school? Your shoes almost got wet.” I am offended by that. My
ambition is to be Civil Engineer. Ah, actually… it’s father. Because my father
wanted to… what do you call that? That someone in his children will take the
course of being and engineer. So after… uhm… before my father died, he told me
that he wants me to be a civil engineer. So… I pushed myself to… to take… to
take the exam to be able to study as civil engineer. What symbolizes me? Maybe
ahm… ball pen. Because we all know that ball pen has in right? Because…
uhm… that’s why I said that ball… pen… because I am… uhm… like if I am all
exhausted, I’ll just take a rest for a while and then... I’ll… I will immediately start
working again… like I am not really going to take a rest for good. Like just rest
for a while and then push myself to another thing that I will do. Also the ink
because the… The ink is like it is the one giving… when you are writing. I chose
ink because for me, when mother… when they no longer have anything… when
we no longer have something to eat, I am the one… making a way to find
something to eat for them. Like I am the one who finds a way. My advice to them
is uhm… maybe uhm… to use their… weakness… as their strength. For example,
uhm… they live… like me, I used my weakness thati live there in that place as
my strength. Like… I motivated myself to study well and to strive to be able to
uplift my life and… actually when… when they have… because most children…
they are being given some time to study by their parents right? Because education
is really important as a… as a person and as a student. Because it’s what’s going
to pursue the… the… the good things on your life and… that’s why I said that I
hope they do not waste the… the opportunity that their parents will give them if
they want them to study because there are a lot of young ones who wants to study
but their parents cannot send them to school. Maybe I can say towards the
government is… for them to add more assistance when it comes to… people who
live under the… river or along the river. I hope that… they will be given a better
place to evacuate into… that… that… that has jobs, schools where they the people
who will relocate can go to… the people who lives under the bridge?] Maybe the
4 p’s, they should add more funds because there are more people in need. Because
we are also beneficiaries of 4 p’s. So… it is really a big help for us because every
month we are we are receiving something from… the government… to be added
tor our budget. So while studying, we are not only getting money from the sari-
sari store which is not enough and then… its always… it will not last a lifetime
and… there are also times that… it will go to bankruptcy. Like there is always an
unfortunate day. Yes, we are willing to move as long as the place that we will
transfer to has a school and place for jobs. Because what’s being the issue is…
when it comes to that… the place that you will transfer to is… it has no jobs… so
how? You will just stay there doing nothing at the place where you transferred
to… and… and then… that’s why I mentioned the school… because the school is
sometimes… to the place where we will transfer to… the school is too far. Since
we are just walking to school. But here the school is really near. Maybe my
experience is like… it made me… it made me stronger. Because uhm… like I’m
teaching myself not to give up easily to a certain thing. For example, if you
stumble, uhm… you should not stay from where you fell down. Instead, you
should stand up. You should not… when… uhm… just an example… when you
are sitting on a chair, you should not stay there forever. You should move if you
want to change something in your life. Like it’s what I taught myself based of the
things that I have experienced. Thank you.]
RESEARCHERS’ EXPERIENCES
Before we have decided to conduct this phenomenological research, we all
knew that this would be very difficult considering the time allotment left for
secondary education students like us. In like manner, we also have had hard times
in budgeting our time because we are still under the On-the-Job Training
complying the required number of hours in public school as a practice teacher up
to the final teaching demonstration that was scheduled accordingly and the
research study itself which are happening at the same time. Our group interaction,
temper and friendship was also challenged for sometimes, we have personal
problems, different points of view, and capabilities on doing things but still, we
are able to manage those struggles and learned to understand each other to work
as one and develop our interpersonal skills. We have to divide ourselves
effectively in order to do our part. Different assigned school also became a big
challenge to among all the researchers to meet each other and conduct the
research. We could not meet easily due to place distances from the assigned
public school to the planned meeting place for some important matters with
regards to our research study. However, we still aimed for a good research and
give justice to the lived experiences of the students living under the bridge.
Although we are motivated to pursue our research study, searching and
selecting our co-researchers is not an easy matter. There are instances where we
have had hard times to schedule an interview of our co-researchers because their
schedule did not fit our time so there are classes that we need to sacrifice for the
sake of the scheduled interview. In addition to that, there are important documents
that are needed to be signed by the parents of the co-researchers for they are all
minors. Given the fact that our co-researchers are minors, conducting the
interview and extracting all the necessary information are difficult because we
need to get their trust as well as their parents and make sure that each of the co-
researchers are comfortable in answering all the prepared questions that could
help us arrive at the themes for our research.

Setting aside our own idea in each interview was also a challenge for we
have our own presumptions about their experiences before we learned that they
experienced even worse than what we think. Creswell (2008) said that the
researcher needs to set aside all prejudgments, bracketing his or her experiences.
For the precision of the outcome of our research, we bear in mind about
Creswell’s statement to ensure that all the information is purely extracted from the
co-researcher’s experiences only.
As every interview was done, we learn more and more about each of the
co-researchers’ characteristics and the way how they handle their situations and
all of them has an urge to help other people someday so we came up with the
decision to label them similarly with the name of popular super heroes. They have
their own special powers referring to their individual capabilities and way on
showing strength and perseverance to achieve their goals.
The first co-researcher was named “Supergirl” because she has a very
strong personality like a hero in terms of dealing problems. We learned about her
through recommendation of one of the researcher’s neighbor. She is his
classmate. We are very happy that God made ways to made us get in touched with
co-researchers. Next to that, we had presented an informed consent immediately
for her parents to get their approval that also signifies that the interview was
already granted. We planned the interview right away and that was scheduled two
o’clock in the afternoon after her class. At first, we are nervous about what will be
the reaction of her mother but surprisingly, her mother was very supportive after
knowing the purpose of our research so the interview was done
successfully.Before the actual interview, we talked to her about how the interview
will happen by informing her about all her rights as a co-researcher and to know
more about her that also helped to set her mood in to a relaxed condition. Our
group had prepared all the necessary equipment for the recording to make sure
that it could be heard clearly as much as possible so that there will be no problems
in transcribing and analyzing the recorded interview. At the actual interview, she
felt relaxed and comfortable in sharing her story and there was no sign of
nervousness that can be seen from her. In contrary, we, the researchers were much
nervous as compared to her. She is a girl with a positive outlook in life despite of
her situation and definitely, she can be an inspiration and a role model for every
student. She is physically and emotionally strong but like any other person, she
also has weaknesses like being hurt inside every time she encounters bullying
from her classmates and neighbors because of the place where she lives. Her
positivity drove herself to perform better and inspire other people.
Finding the second co-researcher was not that easy. Although we already
have some prospective co-researchers, unluckily, some of them had withdrawn
due to various reasons but since we are still conducting an OJT, and we all knew
that our time is very limited to continue looking for the co-researchers, it helped a
lot in finding our next co-researchers. We used the opportunity to ask our students
then luckily, there are some who recommended some of their classmates, friends,
and neighbors who are also an achiever student who lives under the bridge. That
way, we learned about our second co-researcher. He was named “Thor”. He has
also a strong personality.All the aspects of the interview went well. When he
mentioned his father, he tried to hold his emotions because his father had passed
away but still we can feel his pain. While sharing his experiences in school, we
feel that he is a little bit hesitant to tell some of his classmates who made fun of
him.
Our next two co-researchers was a former student of one of the researcher
in Culiat High School in different sections but they were not familiar with each
other. We scheduled their interview individuallyin the afternoon because that was
the only time when the other researchers and co-researchers are available. One of
them was named “Hulk”. He was listed as the third co-researcher. Both of his
parents had passed away so his aunt took care of him. All of the researchers had
pitied and admired him at the same time because of his wonderful character and
perseverance.
Our fourth co-researcher was named “Starfire”.Her interview was
scheduled the day after the third co-researcher. We have set the place of interview
to the nearest restaurant from her school so it would be easily for her to go home
right after the interview. The sufferings went to some of us who need to travel
from their OJT places. We also had crisis in budgeting our allowance for we had
to paythe bill from the restaurant where we conduct the interview. Thus, we made
sure that our co-researcher would not feel any discomfort so we have decided to
contribute just to pay the bill. All of those struggles before the interview was
really worthit and relieved upon hearing the story of our fourth co-researcher. She
was from Marawi and also had experienced the Marawi Siege. During her
interview, we seemed to be listening to the radio drama because of the tragic
experience that she had during the Marawi Siege.Although, there are questions
that was hard for her to answer but we understand her part knowing that she was
still young to experience those. Knowing the fact that she came from Marawi, she
had language discomfort, so sometimes she can’t avoid using her dialect so we
need to ask her about the meaning of those words.
Meeting the fifth co-researcher was unintentional. She was a neighbor of
the fourth co-researcher. She was named “Wonderwoman”. During the interview,
have discovered that she was also came from Marawi. Among all our co-
researchers, she is quite different because unlike the other co-researchers, they
had not experienced poverty during their stay in Marawi. In fact, she was studying
at the private school there. We asked her about our fourth co-researcher but she
said that although she knew her, she doesn’t know that the fourth co-researcher
was also came from Marawi.
After we have gathered the data, the transcribing followed. Even if we
have an assigned co-researchers to be transcribed, it was still very hard because
we need to listen carefuly to each stories and we have to make sure that the
transcription would be precisely done.After the transcription, we sent it back to
the co-researchers through social media to check and make sure that we have
transcribed all the essence of the interview and to maked sure that we didn’t
missed and altered even a single word from their answers. We, again needed to
wait a few days to receive back all the data for some corrections.
Analyzing the data comes next which also took a long time to do. Electric
interruption also became a challenge for us because we need to stop and wait until
the electric resumed. There are timeswhere all the researchers needed to spend
their nights to have the brainstorming in analyzing each data. Getting the common
themes or eidetic insights was difficult. We also needed to translate in English all
the data from the co-researchers that we used to support the insights. All datas
were read and analyze numerous times before we arrived at the seven common
themes out their lived experiences.
INSIGHTS
These insights emerged after rigorous analysis of the gathered data and
they are supported with direct quotations from our co-researchers.
1. Experiencing Poverty. In all of the interviews these came out as the main
reason, why these students are living under the bridge together with their
family. It was either because of they experienced coming from a place
where a war happened and forced to move here in Quezon City or they are
experiencing poverty, having lack of basic needs including housing. This
agrees with Eschooltodays’ (2017) report that there are different kinds of
poverty including Absolute Poverty, an extreme kind of poverty involving
the chronic lack of basic food, clean water, health and housing and
Situational Poverty, referring to people or families that are poor because
of some adversities like earthquakes, floods, wars or a serious illness.
Wonderwoman and Starfire have the same situation experiencing
situational poverty. The two of them were from Marawi City and because
of the Marawi siege they were forcd to move here with their family.…
Since po nung nagevacuate po kami dito sa Metro Manila… galing po
kaming Marawi. Ahmm .. opo.. pero yung mga pinsan ko po naiwan doon
po sa Marawi. Tapos yun po… since po nung nangyari po yung Marawi
siege.. lumipat na po kami dito… […we live here since when we
evacuated here in Metro Manila… we were from Marawi. Ahmm…
yes… but my cousins were left there in Marawi. And then… since the
Marawi siege happened… we moved here…]Starfire said:Mag 2years
napo simula po nung ano marawi siege kasi po galing po kasi kami sa
Marawi.[It’ s been 2 years since the Marawi siege, because we came
from Marawi.] Umuupa po ... opo, ahm nasasaktan po talaga ako kasi
parang dati po medyo maayos ayos po yung tinitirhan naming dati sa
marawi tapos dito po parang maingay po marami na po insekto di ko po
alam kung nakakasakit. Gusto parin po talaga namin bumalik sa Marawi
kaya lang po hindi pw powede kasi may Martial Law pa din at tingin
namin, hindi magandang bumalik dun. [We rent… Yes, ahm… it’s
really hurts because our house in Marawi was much better as
compared here… then here… You can hear a lot of noise, so many
insects. I don’t even know if it contains some virus. And it’s really
hard. We still want to go back to Marawi but still it is not possible
because Martial Law is still present and it is not a good idea to live
there again.]
Hulk, Supergirl and Thor have the same reason why they are living
under the bridge. It is because they are experiencing absolute poverty.
Hulk got illness while living under the bridge because he was exposed in
a very polluted place. He is with his aunt and if they are sick , his aunt
can’t help it due to lack of finances. As Hulk said: Ahm… madalas po
kaming magkasakit lalo na po ako pati po yung lola ko po. Nung grade
seven po ako… yung… yung lola ko po nag ka dengue po siya… so ba...
bale po pabalik-balik po kami sa ano... sa ospital po. Yun nga po ah…
sobrang hirap nagkautang-utang po kami. Wala pong trabaho yung
tiyahin ko po, bale po yung... yung tito ko po… ano po siya... construction
worker lang po siya sa ano… sa isang company. Nagtatrabaho po para
sa’min. Five hundred po sa isang buwan po. Ay! Ah, bale po isang araw
pala po. Ay, Ah… Bale po wala po ‘kong kapatid yung mga anak lang po
ng tiyahin ko ‘tsaka ng tiyuhin ko po. [Ahm… We often got sick most
specially me and my grandmother. When I was grade seven, my… my
grandmother had a Dengue… so… that time we kept on going back
and forth to the hospital. That was so hard and we have had so many
debts to pay.My aunt has no job. So… my uncle… he is… he is just a
construction worker… in a company. He is working for us, five
hundred a month. Oops!... Ah, daily I mean. Ay, ah… I do not have
siblings, only the children of my aunt and uncle.]Since Thor’s father
died, their dream to leave the bridge vanished. His father is the only one
who supported them as he stated:Ah… iyong papa ko po ano siya, dati po
siyang ano… company driver tapos ano po kasi… noong 2017 po… ay
nung last year lang po, namatay po siya. So parang ang ano po… iyon
lang po iyong ano kasi namin, pinaka ano to… pinaka pinagkukuhanan po
namin ng ano… iyong trabaho niya po eh kaso po nawala po siya kaya
mahirap po na ano… na ginagawa po namin ngayon. Tapos sa mama ko
naman po, since ano po kasi housewife lang po talaga siya kaya wala
po… mahirap po sa amin. [Ah, my father is… he is a former…
company driver and then… on November 2018… uhm no, it was last
year, he died. So it’s like… that’s our only, only uhm… our only
source of… is his job but he passed away that’s why it is hard to… do
what we are doing now. And my mother, since she is a housewife, she
doesn’t have any… its difficult for us.]Supergirl’s family cannot afford
to pay rentals due to money matters that is why they chose to stay under
the bridge. 40 years na po (laugh) tapos… pero lumipat naman po kami sa
ibang lugar, tapos eh umalis na po iyong mga lolo ko tsaka lola ko po
diyan tsaka hindi na po kami nangungupahan, kaya bumalik nalang po
kami ulit diyan. [It has been 40 years (laugh) and… but we move to
another place but we went back there because my grandfather and
my grand left already and we are no longer renting there.]

The students cannot help themselves but to accept the reality about
their current situation. Hence, they are still hoping to make their lives
better someday.
2. Subjected to Discrimination. All of the co-researchers are experiencing
poverty and they are all living under the bridge. These are the reason why
they are subject to discrimination. We all know that the world is full of
judgmental people and these students were not exempted to be a victim.
Every day, they face a lot of prejudices among their classmates, neighbors
and other people who surround them. Classmates and teachers of
Wonderwoman are aware about her situation and because of that,
discrimination to her became more retrograded. As what she said: Opo,
alam po ng mga classmates at teacher ko po. Syempre po hindi naman
natin maiiwasn na parang masasabi nila na “ay! Taga- ano lang pala
yan.. sa ilalim ng tulay” ganyan po… tapos parang nabubully po ako
katulad po nang pag may bago po akong friend..sasabihan po nila yung
bago ko pong friend na huwag daw po akong kaibiganin kasi nakatira
daw po ako sa ilalim ng tulay [Yes, my classmates and teacher know.
Of course, it will not be avoided that they will say something like…
“ayy, she is just living under the bridge”… and then they bully me
like if I have a new friend, they will tell her to befriend me because I
am living under the bridge...and say something bad about me..] Hulk
is discriminated by his neighbor. His palymates once told by their parents
to avoid him because he is dirty and living under the bridge. Yun po…
parang pinapalayo po nila yung anak nila. Kunwari po gusto ko lang po
makipag laro… lumalayo, pinapalayo nila yung mga anak nila kasi nga
po ‘sabihin; “wag ka d’yan lumapit kasi ang baho baho nila nakatira yan
sa ilalim ng tulay. Ganun nga po. [That… it seems like they ask their
children to go away from me. For example, I just want to play with
them… they… they are telling their children to go away from me then
they will tell; “Don’t go with him because he smells bad because they
are living under the bridge.]Starfire was once told that she is a member
of ISIS, because of her religion and from where she was living. She stated:
hindi po maiiwasan minsan sinasabihan po nila ako na Isis po ako kasali
po ako dun sobrang nasasaktan po ako kasi wala naman po din po ako
kalamalam sa mga nangyayari ganune e.kaya nga po .. parang nasasabi
po sakin na hala huwag kayo tumabi diyan kasi Isis yan galling yan sa
Marawi…[ And sometimes they are telling me that I am an ISIS, that
I’m one of them. It really hurts me because I don’t know anything
about those happenings and that’s why I am being told that, “Hala Do
not go near her, she is an ISIS because she came from Marawi.]Even
at the moment when she was going to received an award, Supergirl still
heard some words discriminating her. As she said: Nasasabi iyon. Iyong
ano po… iyong siguro nagkaroon ako ng award tapos nasa stage po ako
noon. Tapos may isang grupo po ng kabataan tapos sabi “Hala bakit
nanalo siya? Hindi naman magaling yan eh! Tapos nakatira kaya yan sa
ilalim ng tulay!”, iyon po. Edi parang kumalat po siya tapos parang ano
po noon… nagulat po ako noong nasa stage po ako tapos kitang kita ko po
talaga sila kumpulan po talaga sila noon tapos po eh the day after po
noon nagkaroon na po ng ano sa school, iyong kapag dadaan po ako sa
school, “Hala diba iyan yung naka ano sa tulay? Squatter naman iyan.”
Tapos ganoon po sila, kaya mahirap po sa akin iyon. Tapos one time po
pupunta ako sa C.R. para doon po ako umiyak, ayaw ko pong umiyak kay
mama o kaya kay papa noon kasi alam ko pong mas mahirap po sa kanila
iyong ganoong pangyayari. [It is being said. Uhm about that… maybe
the time when I gained an award and I am on the stage during that
time. Then there is a group of people who said, “Hala! Why did she
win? She’s not even good eh! And she lives under the bridge!” then its
like those information spread during that time… I was shocked when
I was on the stage and I can see all of them grouping around and the
day after that, whenever I am passing by somewhere at school, they
are saying, “Hala! She’s the one who lives under the bridge right?
She’s sa squatter!” they are like that, that’s why its hard on my part.
Then there’s one time where I’ll go to the C.R. so that’s where I’ll cry
because I don’t want to cry to my mom or my dad because I know
that kind of even will be a lot harder for them.]
The co-researchers shared their experiences about discrimination,
and those hurt them so much that even them doubted themselves.
3. State of being Persistent. The students were able to use words of
discrimination as their fuel to push themselves to strive harder. Persistence

is defined ascontinuing to do something even though it is difficult or other
want you to stop but these students were very motivated to not give up and
do not let any words destroy them.As wonderwoman said:… dahil din po
sa pang-aasar nila sa akin, mas namotivate po ako at mas nagkaroon po
ako ng eagerness na ipagpatuloy ko po yung pag-aaral ko atsaka mas
galingan ko pa po sa pag-aaral ko… […because of those bad words
thrown on me, it made me more motivated and I got more eagerness
to continue my studies and to do my best on it…] They were able to
motivate themselves and focus on what they want. They were able to
ignore those words and try to compose their mind to still be on track.
Starfire’s reason not to stop is because of her mother that does everything
to support her for studying. …Opo kaso po naisip ko din po yung nanay ko
na nagtataguyod po sakin na parang ginagawa niya po lahat lahat para
lang may pagaral po ako kaya hindi nalang po ako parang kaya po kahit
gaano kasakit yung pangbubully, yung mga sinasabi po nila okay lang po
sakin para lang maano ko po yung … pangarap ko. [Yes, but I think of
my mother who provides for me that’s why no matter how painful
being bullied and being told bad things, it is fine with me just so I can
achieve my… dreams. I do not care about what they are saying
towards me, what’s important is for me to reach my goals.] Hulk is
very determined to do everything and do not stop to achieve something.
He used to consider things not as a hindrance but his motivation, as he
stated: Hindi po siya hindrance… Meron pong hindi, at meron po’ng oo.
Hindi po… kasi po kung gusto mo po talagang maging isang achiever o
gusto mong maging isang successful na tao… gagawin mo po ang lahat
para lamang po maging isa kang successful at sa… at ano… educated na
tao. Opo, kasi po yun nga po nagiging sakitin po tayo at nagiging ano…
nagiging sakitin po hindi nga po nakakapasok ng maayos. Yun po. . [It is
not a hindrance… partly no, and partly yes. “no”, because if you
really want to become an achiever or a successful person… you will do
everything to become one and… to… to become an educated person.
Then “yes”, because we are being sickly and we are… becoming sickly
and not able to attend the class properly.]
As what other ordinary students feel and do to not give up, the only
difference with these students is that they have deep reasons and
experiences. They have the ability to adjust to their surroundings and
blend with the society inspite of having those eyes judging and degrading
them.
4. Valuing the Importance of Education. Inspite of various reasons why
the co-researchers experience poverty, still, they are very much aware
about the importance of education that drove them to pursue their goals
and attain a degree. They consider education as the most powerful
weapon, for all they know that they can use this to the bettermernt of
themselves. They value education where as infact, it is very evident
among all our co-researchers achievements.Wonderwoman and Supergirl
have the same achievement being the top 1 in their respective classes.
Ever since po… talaga.. ano talaga po ako consistent po ako na nasa
honor roll and then.. ahmmm… kasali rin po ako sa iba’t ibang clubs,
katulad po ahmmm.. ng English club. Yun po. Opo, Top 1 po ako sa
section namin. Sobrang importante po, syempre po education po… yun po
yung nagbibigay sayo ng knowledge.. at yung knowledge mo na yun.. kahit
sino man po yan, walang makakakuha nun sayo at forever na po yan na
sayo [Ever since.. I am consistent honor student and then…ahmm… I
joined also different clubs, like ...ahmm. English club. Yes, I am the
top one in our section. . It is very important, of course it is education...
it gives you knowledge… and that knowledge … will never be stole
from you and it will stay forever] Hulk, not only excelling in academics
but also he has the sense of being a leader. He is an officer of Supreme
Student Government in their school.Ah bale po ahm… isa po ‘kong SSG
po. Volunteer po… SSG volunteer po ako sa isang… sa school po namin.
Tapos po, ahm… yun nga po… top eight po ako sa section namin. Ta’s
po… yun nga… meron din po akong ibang achievement po. Naging isa rin
po akong ano… sa… Science Club po. Ta’s sa Science Month din po yung
Quiz Bee po, third place po ako nun. Sobrang importante po para sa’kin
ang edukasyon kasi nga po… yun nga po… sa sitwasyon po ng buhay
namin gusto ko nga pong mapa-angat yung buhay namin. [Ah so ahm…
I am an SSG officer. Volunteer… I am an SSG volunteer in a… in our
school. Then… ahm… that… I am top eight in our section. Then…
that… I also have other achievement. I also became… in… Science

Club. Then in Science Month Quiz Bee, I was third place. Education
is very important for me because of our situation in life, I want to
uplift our living] Thor said: … Uhm, syempre magpupursigi ka po sa
pag-aaral, lalo na po kung makikita mo yung magulang mo na
nahihirapan at syempre po nag-iisa nalang si mama. Uhm… at uhm…
tawag dito? Uhm… sa may… grade 12 po ako ngayon sa Ismael Mathay,
nakakuha po ako ng academic excellence which is with honors po… na
pumalo ng average 90 po.Uhm… pagdating po kasi sa education lalo na
po pag ano… kapag mga ganto po na kabataan katulad ko na… na…
galing lang po sa hirap… isa talagang napaka-halaga po sa’min kasi po
turo po ng magulang namin… ahm… kung hindi man kayo ganyan
kayaman pero kung mahhihirap kayo ngayon at makapag tapos kayo ng
balang araw, makakamit niyo din ‘yon. [uhm, of course I will study
hard, especially when you see your parent having a hard time because
mother is alone. Uhm… and uhm… I am now a grade 12 student at
Ismael Mathay, I got an academic excellence, with honors. My
average reached 90. Uhm… when it comes to education especially
when… when it comes to youth like me… that comes from poverty…
it is really important for us. Because as our parents taught us…
ahm… even if you are not that rich but if you are going to struggle
now and finish your studies someday, you are going to achieve your
dreams.]Starfire stated: Para po sa akin ang edukasyon… eto po yung
key para sa successful ng isang tao. Kapag wala ka pong pinag aralan,
mababa lang po din magiging trabaho mo. Kapag may pinag aralan ka po
parang ipepraise ka po ng maraming tao dahil matalino ka parang ganun
po. Ahm ano po sa section po naming nasa top 2 po ako tsaka po ano po
CIC or ombudsman school po naming…. [For me the education… It is
the key for a person to be successful. If you are uneducated, the job
that you will get is not that decent. but if you are formally educated,
the people will praise you because you are smart. Ahm in our section
I’m the top 2 and also a CIC or Ombudsman in school.]
Valuing the importance of education, the co-researchers were able
to join any extra-curricular activities and be on top of their class.They
were not beaten by their doubts and that is why the researchers were
inspired by their stories. Their confidence and diligence were the main
ingridients to achieve those.
5. Eagerness to Help their Family.In all of our interviews, the co-
researchers’ reason why they are continuing and giving all their best in
education is because they want to help their family. They have their plans
not just for their selves but also for their family. Although some of them
don’t have their father anymore or even their biological parents, they still
have eagerness to help those people who are with them all through out
their journey. Hulk does not have his parents anymore, he was raised by
his aunt and supported his studies. To give back to what his aunt have
done to him, he wants to help them to move from another place, be safe
away from illness and live a normal life. … sa sitwasyon po ng buhay

namin gusto ko nga pong mapa-angat yung buhay namin. Gusto ko po
tumira po yung tiyahin ko po ‘tsaka yung tiyuhin ko po sa ibang lugar, yun
nga po sa mas maayos na lugar yung hindi po kami magiging sakitin para
naman po maranasan po namin kung ga’no po mag… kasaya mabuhay po
ng normal na ano… na… lugar. [because of our situation in life, I want
to uplift our living. I want my aunt and my uncle to live to another
place, to a better place where we could not acquire illness so that we
can also experience how… happy to live in a normal… place.]
Wonderwoman once thought of not continuing her studies to help her
parents and support the educational needs of her siblings but she still have
plans to finish her studies. …dahil nga po sa kahirapan … parang yun po
yung nagiging… parang naiisipan ko po na sige mag-ano na lang po ako..
tulungan ko na lang parents ko na magtrabaho para masuportahan ko rin
po sila and yung pangangailangan po namin tapos kung magkaroon na po
kami ng enough money .. doon na lang po ako mag… mag papatuloy ng
pag-aaral kasi po… kailangan ko po talaga mag-aaral[… because of
poverty… I just think of going to work... to help my parents to
support them also and their needs and then if I get enough money..
that’s the time I will continue my studies because… I really need to go
to school.] Starfire does not want to stop studying because she want to
help her parents to achieve their dreams.…Ayaw ko po talaga ayaw kopo
talaga tumutigil sa pagaaral kasi po yung mga parents ko po hindi po
talaga sila nakapagtapos ng pagaaral dahil nga po sa walang masyadong

pera kaya po gusto kopo yung pangarap nila. Ako nalang po ang tutupad
nun kahit na hindi po nila naibigay sakin ang panganagilangan kopo at
lahat ng gusto ko ako nalang po gusto ko po ako nalang po magbibigay sa
kanila nun dahil nadin po nagtataguyod sakin… [I really don’t want to
stop studying because my parents were not able to finish their studies
because they do not have enough money. I want to be the one to
achieve their dreams. I will be the one to achieve those even though
they were not able to provide all of my needs and everything that I
want. I will be the one to give them those since they provided for
me.]Thor wants to push himself to strive for more to uplift her parents
from living under the bridge. …syempre po ipupush mo yung sarili mo na,
sana someday, maii-angat ko rin ‘yong pamilya ko ditto sa tulay na ‘to. Di
na kami ditto titira, parang babalikan nalang namin to para ala-ala
nalang. Parang magbabalik nalang don … […of course you have to
push yourself that I hope someday, I will be able to uplift my family
away from this bridge. We no longer have to live here like we are just
going back here only to reminisce…]For Supergirl, her parents are her
inspiration and she wants them to experience a better life. Ang inspirasyon
ko po siguro, iyong magulang ko po na naghihirap po para mapalaki niya
po kami ng maayos, mapag-aral po kami. Tapos noong ano po kasi, ang
gusto ko lang po sa kanila iyong hindi na sila maghihirap, pag nagkaroon
na po ako ng… kapag nakuha ko na po iyong ambisyon ko. [ My
inspiration are my parents because they are the one who went
through hardhips just to raise us well and to sent us to school. And the
only thing that I want for them is where they no longer have to
experience hardships, when I got… when I achieved my ambition.]
The eagerness of the co-researchers to help their parents were very
inspirational. It is their greatest joy and mission to bring them the
happiness experiencing better life. All of them wants to start by moving
their parents away from living under the bridge and their only key is to
finish their studies.
6. Building Dreams towards Success. The dreams of the co-researchers are
the only thing that makes them still running and fighting for their lives. All
of them wants to earn degree someday. They have these dreams of living a
normal life without discrimination and hindrances. Just like Starfirea and
Supergirl, they want to be a doctor. …Gusto ko po talagang maging
doctor kasi gusto ko po talaga yung tatay ko po kasi namatay nung 5 years
old pa po ako dahil po sa heart attack may heart disease po sya gusto ko
po mag treat gusto ko po makagamot ng mga tao ng may sakit. Para kahit
po hindi ko po natulungan yung tatay ko para mawala sakit nya or ma less
yung sakit nya. Sa iba nalang po at least natutulungan kopo yung ibang
tao. […I really want to be a Doctor because I want to because my
father died due to heart attack when I was 5 years old. I want to treat,
I want to cure people who has a disease. So that even though I was not
able to help my father or help him to cure his illness, I. at least I can
help other people.] Hulk wants to be a lawyer to protect those who were
bullied like him. As he stated: Yun po, gusto ko nga pong maging isang
lawyer kasi nga po ayoko lang pong ipagtanggol yung mga taong
nabubully katulad ko gus… katulad ko po gusto ko po ipagtanggol lahat
ng mga na… mga naaapi po sa panahon natin katulad po ng mga nasa
ilalim ng tulay…[I want to be a lawyer someday because I want to
defend those people who are being bullied and I… I want to defend
those who are being maltreated just like those people who reside
under the bridge.] Wonderwoman wants to be an accountant because she
wants to be rich. …Ever since po talaga… gusto ko po maging accountant.
Gusto ko pong … syempre kapag po accountant ka parang …. unang
thought po nila .. maiisip nila is mayaman ka kasi ikaw po yung
naghahandle ng pera… yun din po yung nasa mindset ko once na naging
accountant po ako maiiakyat ko po.. matutulungan ko po yung parents ko
na mawala po kami sa paghihirap. Matutulungan ko po sila na kunin po
yung mga gusto po nila makuha ganyan, magiging maayos po yung buhay
namin… […Ever since…I want to be an accountant…of course some
people think that if you are an accountant you are rich because you
handle lots of money… and it is also in my mind once I became an
accountant, I will be able to climb… help my parents to not stay in
poverty. I will be able to help them get what they want and also give
them a good life.] Thor’s dream is to beacomae a civil engineer. … ako po
kasi ang pangarap ko maging civil engineer po. So halimbawa nalang po
may nagyabang po sa’yo ng ganon. So parang ang sarap sa pakiramdam

na sabihin mo na ito ‘yong natapos ko ganyan ganyan, hindi mo ako kilala
pero hinuhusgahan mo ako porke’t diyan lang kami nakatira. Ito yung
natapos ko. Parang ang sarap lang po na… sa pakiramdam nag anon
tapos… ang edukasyon rin po ang parang magsasalba sa buhay namin
para umahon po. [… My dream is to be a Civil Engineer. So for
example if someone boasted to you like that, It’s a nice feeling to say
that I finished this and that, you don’t know me but you are judging
me because we live there… this is what I finished. Like its really
nice… to feel like that and… the education is also what will uplift our
lives and make it better.]
All of the co-researchers are determined to finish their studies and
they believe that education could help them attain all their dreams in life.
Moreover, they also believe that nobody can help them elevate their lives
but themselves. Their condition in life ignites their determination for them
to reach their dreams.
7. Learned through Experiences. “Experience is the best teacher”. It is
undoubtedly that the co-researchers have different experiences but still
they learned the most important lesson in life more than academics. They
were able to realize their own values in the community and to their
family.They learned through their experiences from being discriminated
up to those challenges they encountered. The co-researchers learned to be
strong facing those problems and people judging them. Wonderwoman
learned to be transparent and not letting herself be affected by those words

destroying them emotionally. Yung ano ko po…yung tatag po ng sarili ko,
naging mas matatag po ako. Di ba po, sinabi ko nga po na parang lagi…
lagi po akong naaasar, na nakatira lang daw… ganyan, inaasar din po
nila minsan na mabaho ganyan,… kasi ganoon nga na pangit po yung
place na tinitirahan ko… ganoon tapos since then po.. hindi na po ako
masyadong nagpapaapekto kasi nga po nasanay na ako tapos yun parang
naiisip ko na lang na kahit na po ang dami dami na po nilang sinasabi sa
akin na pangungutya parang nakakayanan ko na rin po, hindi rin po ako
nag-gigive up. [I noticed…my emotional strength, I became stronger. I
told you that .. they always .. say bad words towards me , they say that
I just live there.. they bullied me saying that I smell bad.. And yeah
because of how ugly place we have to live in… since then… I thought
myself not to be affected, be stronger, just face those words and don’t
give up.] Hulk once stated: …Naging mas matatag na po ako sa pagharap
sa kahit po anong sabihin nila tungkol sa’min at sa pag tira po namin sa
ilalim ng tulay… [I became stronger in facing no matter what they said
about us and our residence under the bridge.] Even Supergirl learned to
make her self strong. Iyong mga experience ko po sa ilalim ng tulay, ano
po ako, mas strong po iyong personality ko po. Dahil siguro sa mga iyon
mas natutunan ko pong palakasin iyong sarili ko, hayaan nalang yan
tapos hayaan na iyong mga nangbubully po ganun. [My experience
under the bridge, uhm… my personality became stronger. Maybe
because of that, I learned more to make myself stronger and not to

pay attention to those who are bullying me.] As Thor also said: Siguro
yung naexperience ko po parang… mas… pinatatag po yun sarili ko. Kasi
po uhm… parang tinuturuan kop o yung sarili ko na… hindi nalang po
agad sumuko sa isang bagay. Halimbawa po kapag nadapa ka, uhm…
hindi nalang po yung lagi… yung magiistay ka don sa… pinagdapaan mo,
dapat… kailangan mong tumayo, hindi lang yung parang… kapag…
uhm… halimbwa nalang po na… nakaupo ka sa isang upuan, hindi
nalang forever ka dapat na nakaupo don. Kailangan mong gumalaw kung
gusto mong may magbago sa buhay mo. Parang ayun yung tinuro ko po sa
sarili ko based don sa mga experience na naranasan ko po. . [Maybe my
experience is like… it made me… it made me stronger. Because
uhm… like I’m teaching myself not to give up easily to a certain thing.
For example, if you stumble, uhm… you should not stay from where
you fell down. Instead, you should stand up. You should not…
when… uhm… just an example… when you are sitting on a chair, you
should not stay there forever. You should move if you want to change
something in your life. Like it’s what I taught myself based of the
things that I have experienced.]
The co-researchers lived experiences helped in molding their
personality, characteristics, and totality as a person. They faced those
struggles positively and serve as their motivation to do better. Since the
co-researcher experienced those, they are driven to help other people not
to experience those who are with the same situation as them most
especially those children who study and living under the bridge when they
are already capable of doing so.

Chapter 5
SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS, SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION,
IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter presents the summary of findings, symbolic representation,
conclusions and recommendations.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
After thorough analysis of the data we hereby present the summary of
findings.
The students lived under the bridge together with their family for
only one reason and that is they are all experiencing poverty. This one is
satisfied as what is seen in the result of the study. Two of the co-
researchers are experiencing situational poverty where in they came from
Marawi City and being affected by the Marawi Siege. The other three co-
researchers are experiencing absolute poverty where in they have lack of
basic needs including comfortable shelter.
It was found out that because they are experiencing poverty and
living under the bridge, they were been subjected to discrimination. They
were being bullied most especially in school and being discriminated by
their classmates. All of them have their

own stories on how they were being judged by the people in the society like being
afraid to them because of where they came from and what situation they have.
Being persistent is also found out in these students. Although they were
experiencing discrimination, they did not stop to attend formal schooling and just
ignore those prejudices. They were focus on what they want to do and to achieve.
The students value the importance of education for all they know that this
will be their way to become successful. They also believe that the education is the
most powerful weapon they could have. These students were all achiever in their
class and some of them joined school clubs and elected as an officer. Thus,
attending formal schooling and experiencing discrimination became a challenge
for them.
Eagerness to help their family is one of the reasons why they are ignoring
those words being thrown to them and just focus on their studies. They want to
uplift their families from poverty. They want to support them and pay back those
help they received from them. They want to give them a normal life and bought
their own house.
They also have their dreams for themselves. Some of them want to be a
doctor to help other people who do not have money for medicals. One of them
wants to be an accountant because she knows that this will be the only way to
become rich. And the other one wants to be a civil engineer and build their own
house. They are all eager to attain degrees so that people who judged them may
see that they still have purpose in the society.
From what they experienced and encountered all throughout, the most
important thing they did was they learned. They learned to be strong not just
physically but also emotionally. They learned to ignore prejudices and
discrimination. They learned not to be affected by challenges. They learned to
convert those into motivation and most especially they learned to believe on
themselves.
SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION
We, the researchers have came up with the idea of choosing diamond to
best symbolize our co-researchers. While discussing the special qualities of our
co-researchers, suddenly, one of us come up with the idea that most of the
characteristics of our co-researchers matches with the qualities of a diamond.
A diamond takes a lot of time to be formed and once it was mined, it
needs to be processed to be as perfect and as bright as it can be. Students who are
living under the bridge also took a lot of time to be what they are at this point in
their lives. They went through years of hard work to be an achiever academically.
It took them their entire lives to be as bright as they are now.
Diamond is the hardest mineral that can be found on earth. It is
indestructible, just like our co-researchers, they endured a lot of discrimination

from the people around them, classmates and from the judgemental society. They
did not let themselves get affected by all the negative things being thrown at
them. Students living under the bridge have their goals and they will not let
anyone interfere them from achieving all of their ambitions
A diamond is buried deep underground, no one knows that it is there, no
one has an idea that there is a precious stone under that soil, the same with our co-
researchers. Since they were living under the bridge, most people think that there
is nothing precious to be found there. However, they do not know that there are
bright minds with bright ideas lying within that place.

IMPLICATIONS
The following implications are formulated after analysis of the data:
1. The main reason why the co-researchers reside under the bridge is due to
unemployment and various types of poverty namely; situational and
absolute poverty. Therefore, those students and their family are having
difficulties in terms of having the proper shelter and handling their basic
necessities, education and they had no choice but to reside under the
bridge.
2. The co-researchers experience discrimination due to the location where
they live. People make rapid judgment about the co-researchers because
they live under the bridge. They also had problems in handling their
emotions while studying and they can also feel that they are not belong in
the society.
3. Persistency had been clearly manifested among all the co-researchers. In
spite of all judgment, discrimination, from the place where they came, and
lots of struggles that they had, yet they still continue their studies and they
are an achiever.
4. The importance of education had valued by the co-researcher by the co-
researcher. Their eagerness to make their lives better along with their
situation, fueled them up to still pursue their studies and maintain their
stand as an achiever. They believe that education is the best weapon that
they can use in order to uplift their living.

5. Family is one of the most important unit of the society. To help them is
one of the co-researcher’s concern. They want to help their parents as well
as how they want to help themselves. They didn’t want their parents to
suffer and live under the bridge for a long time.
6. Other people have the thoughts that people who resides under the bridge
do not have dreams in life. They also think that these people do not attend
formal schooling without knowing that they are also human who wants to
experience a formal living like the other people do by attaining a degree in
the future.
7. Struggles are inevitable among all the co-researchers. Given the fact that
they are living under the bridge, they don’t want to forget those
experiences because according to them, that made them stronger and
learned through all the struggles that they had.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The following are hereby recommended based on the given
conclusions:
Students Living under the Bridge for them to continue being strong and
do not give up to the challenges they have. To continue to dream and strive for
their goals. May they also ensure that education will be their only weapon to open
the door of success.
Families of Students Living under the Bridge for them to give full
support and guidance to their sons\daughters. May they do their best to ensure that
the dreams and goals of their children will not be wasted. May they also ensure to
communicate with them, talk to them sincerely as much as possible.
School Administrators for them to formulate policies for the betterment
of the students living under the bridge and to ensure the safety and protection for
them.
Department of Education for them to have a program for the students
living under the bridge. May these programs be made public so that the students
living under the bridge would know that there are scholarships for them to be
supported.
Lawmakers for them to recognize the challenges of the students living
under the bridge by making laws that will protect their rights as students
experiencing poverty. May there also be agencies that they can support or put up
to help students living under the bridge in general to maintain their good
performance in school and in community.
Future Researchers for them to do further research on the same topic and
this time can use Out-of-School youth as co-researchers so that we can see if there
are differences and similarities in their lived experiences.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Asian Development Bank (2009). Poverty in the Philippines. Retrieved from

https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/27529/poverty-philippines-
causes-constraints-opportunities.pdf
ASCD (n.d.). Types of poverty. Teaching with Poverty in Mind. Retrieved from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109074/chapters/Understanding-the-
Nature-of-Poverty.aspx
Borgen Project (n.d.) Inability to afford housing. The Extreme Effects of Poverty
in the Philippines. Retrieved from https://borgenproject.org/effects-of-poverty-in-
the-philippines/
Buddha’s Smile School (2015) Living under the bridge. Dikshit Shiksha.
Retrieved from https://buddhas-smile-school.org/2016/02/living-under-a-bridge/
Creswell, J.(n.d.). Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and

qualitative research (Third Ed.). Pearson.
Creswell, J.W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design. Sage, Thousand
Oaks (CA)
Daily Pedia (2018) Student living under the bride to graduate as a valedictorian.
Retrieved from https://www.dailypedia.net/2015/03/girl-living-under-the-bridge-
is-valedictorian/
eSchooltoday (2017). Types of poverty. World of Poverty. Retrieved from

http://www.eschooltoday.com/poverty-in-the-world/types-of-poverty.html
GMA Public Affairs (2016). Living in the world down under. GMA News Online.
Retrieved from
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/publicaffairs/gma7specials/551711/in-
photos-filipinos-living-under-a-bridge-talk-about-what-they-want-from-the-
country-s-leaders/story/
Groenewald, T. (2007). A phenomenological research design illustrated.

International Journal on Qualitatives Methods 3(1) Article 4. Retrieval (July 6,
2015) from http.// www. Aultaberta.ca//
Meyer, D. (2014). Life under the bridge. Together in Dignity : Reflections on the
World without Poverty. Retrieved from
https://togetherindignity.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/life-under-the-bridge/
Nowhereman, M. (2015) A family living under the bridge. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=943XNuQ6sOo
Oppurtunity International (2018) Facts about poverty in the Philippines. Retrieved

from https://opportunity.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/philippines-facts-about-
poverty?
Shahani, L. R. (2016). Housing informal settlers in the coming years. Philstar

Global. Retrieved from
https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2016/04/24/1576417/housing-informal-settlers-
coming-years
Tee, S (2015) Home sweet home. The Impact of Poor Housing. Retrieved from
https://www.rappler.com/move-ph/issues/hunger/58982-families-living-under-quirino-
bridge-survive
Townsend, P. (2017). Definition of poverty. Deprivation and Poverty. Poverty

and Social Exclusion. Retrieved from http://www.poverty.ac.uk/definitions-
poverty/deprivation-and-poverty
World Bank Organization (n.d.). What is poverty?. Economic And Social

Inclusion Corporation. Retrieved from
https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/esic/overview/content/what_is_
poverty.html
UNESCO (2017). Types of poverty. Social and Human Sciences: International

Migration. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-
sciences/themes/international-migration/glossary/poverty/
APPENDICES
COLLEGE OF ST. CATHERINE QUEZON CITY
362 Quirino Hi-way, Sangandaan, Quezon City 1116 ∙ Telephone
330.48.83/330.36.20
Informed consent Form for: _______________________________
Name of Researcher: Daniel B. Cepillo

Cell no. 09066255189
Email Address: cepidani28@yahoo.com
Jhomar M. Beltran
Cell no. 09564180758
Email Address: jhomarbeltran@gmail.com
Jerome B. Benitez
Cell no. 09062319916
Email Address: jerben15@yahoo.com
Jacob Justin Coquia

Cell no. 09751053009
Email Address: Kobejacob92@gmail.com
Name of Research:THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS LIVING

UNDER THE BRIDGE
Thankyou for agreeing to participate in this study, which will take place
from ___________________ to _______________. This form details the purpose
of this study, description of the involvement required and your rights as
participant.
The goals of this study are:

• To explore the lived experiences of Filipino expatriate teachers.
• To gain insights from the lived experiences of Filipino expatriate teachers.
The benefits of the research will be:
• Better understanting of the lived experiences of Filipino expatriate
teachers
• Hearing the voices of the Filipino expatriate teachers through their own
perspective.
The methods that will be used to meet this purpose include:
• One –on-one interviews
You are encouraged to ask question or raise concerns at any time about
the nature of the study or the methods I am using. Please contact me at anytime at
the e-mail address ot telephone number listed above.
Our discussion will be audio taped/recorded to help me accurately capture
your insights in your own words. The tapes/ records will only be heard by me for
the purpose of this study. If you feel uncomfortable with the recorder, you may
ask that it be turned off at any time.
You also have the right to withdraw from the study at anytime. In the
event you choose to withdraw from the study, all information you provide
(including tapes/ recording) will be destroyed and omitted from the final paper.
Insights gathered by you and other participants will be used in writing a
qualitative research report, which will be read by our adviser and presented to the
Faculty of College of St. Catherine Quezon City. Though direct quotes from you
may be used in the paper, your name and other identifying information will be
kept anonymous.
By signing this consent form, I Certify that I ___________________ agree to
the terms of this agreement.
_________________ ______________________
(signature) (Date)
Interview Protocol
Project: The Lived Experiences of Filipino Expatriate Teachers
Name:Co Researher No._____
Age: ________
Please write a short essay about the topic below.
Interviewer : ____________________________________________
Interviewer :___________________________________________
This study aims to explore the lived experiences of students living
under the bridge. The data that will be gathered from this interview will be kept
with utmost confidentiality to protect your privacy and will only used on the
purpose of this research. This interview might take an hour and half.
Questions:
1. How long have you been living under the bridge?
2. What is the worst experience that you’ve had while living under the bridge?
3. What is your family's main source of living?
4. How do you feel living under the bridge?
5. For you, how important education is?
6. What are the achievements and special awards that you received in school?
7. What is your ambition in life?

8. Are your classmates aware that you are living under the bridge?
9. Do you consider living under the bridge as a hindrance for your studies?
Why?
10. What is your motivation to keep on studying and on pursuing your goals?
Thank you so much for spending your valuable time with us. We assure you
that yout responses will be confedential. We hope that you will still have time to
see us in the near future for follow up interview as the need arises.
CURRICULUM VITAE
BELTRAN, JHOMAR M.
#200, Area 99 A., Brgy. Sauyo, Sauyo Road,
Novaliches, Quezon City
PERSONALPROFILE
Birthdate: July 22, 1994
Birthplace: Masbate
CivilStatus: Single
Religion: Roman Catholic
Height: 5 ft 5 inches
Weight: 53 kilograms
Languagespoken: English and Tagalog
EDUCATIONALBACKGROUND
ELEMENTARY
Bagbag Elementary School 2001-2007
SECONDARY
Sta. Elena High School 2008-2012
TERTIARY
College of St. Catherine Quezon City 2015-2019
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS ATTENDED
• Qualitative and Quantitative Research Seminar

February 2018- College of St. Catherine Quezon City
BENITEZ, JEROME B.
99 A Sauyo road
Novaaliches Quezon City
PERSONALPROFILE
Birthdate: October 15, 1999
Birthplace: Quezon City
CivilStatus: Single
ELEMENTARY
Blessed Redeemer Christian School 2005-2011
SECONDARY
Sauyo High School 2011-2015
TERTIARY

CEPILLO, DANIEL B.
#48-H. V-Luzon St. Brgy. Sangandaan,
Project 8, Quezon City
PERSONALPROFILE
Birthdate: December, 28, 1997
Birthplace: Quezon City
CivilStatus: Single
ELEMENTARY
Isidoro Suzara Memorial School 2001-2007
SECONDARY
Puerto Galera National High School DUL-Ex 2011-2015
TERTIARY

COQUIA, JACOB JUSTIN B.

#20 Virginia Drive Rodriguez Subd. Baesa Quezon City
PERSONALPROFILE
Birthdate: December, 17, 1996
Birthplace: Manila
CivilStatus: Single
Religion: Jehovah’s Witnessess
ELEMENTARY
Leopoldo B. Santos Elem. School 2003 - 2009
SECONDARY
Ismael Mathay Sr High school 2010 – 2013
TERTIARY


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METROPOLITAN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Grade Twelve

This thesis entitled, THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS

MR. JHOMAR M. BELTRAN, LPT

Approved by the Committee on Oral Defense with a grade of 1.25

MR. JHOMAR M. BELTRAN, LPT

MR. DANIEL SALUMBIDES, LPT MS. MARIVEL QUILBIO, LPT

Accepted as partial fulfillment of the requirement for the academic track

PETER G. YOUNG, JR, Ph.D

Architect Maribel M. Collado, President of Metropolitan Institute of

Dr. Peter G. Young, Jr., Principal of Metropolitan Institute of Arts and

Mr. Jhomar M. Beltran, chairman of research committee, for the

Mr.Daniel Salumbides, Memberof the panel, for his guidance, patience,

and for her insightful comments and suggestions;

encouragement, patience and intelligence throughout the process of their research;

and for assisting them inside the library; and

TheirRespective Families, who supported the researchers all throughout

Jacob Justin B. Coquia

I, the researcher lovingly dedicates this work to:

my Family, loved ones, friends, and professors

Who have been my inspirations and the reason

on my desire to pursue my dreams in life; and

Above all, Almighty God, the creator of all things for

All the blessings that He showers tome.

the condition they are facing.

Most of these students go to school without enough money, without eating

dream big for their own and their family's future.

there are people like them who needs help.

Table of Contents vii

1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Background of the Study 2

Statement of the Problem 4

Significance of the Study 4

Scope and Delimitation 5

2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Who Are the Poor? 11

Factors That Cause Poverty 13

Poverty in The Philippines 18

Inability to Afford Housing 21

Home Sweet Home 21

Life in The Philippines:

Family Who Lived Under the Bridge

Travel to Manila Philippines and Meet This 30

Students Who Live Under the Bridge To

Buddha’s Smile School (BSS) 34

4 PRESENTATION, INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

Researchers Experience 108

5 SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS, SYMBOLIC

REPRESENTATION, IMPLICATIONS AND

Summary of Findings 137

Symbolic Representation 140

Curriculum Vitae 153

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Poverty is not a new phenomemon that the world encounters. According to

socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. World Bank

In the Philippines, poverty is one of the biggest reasons why many

belongs to extremely poor families. Their privilege to acquire formal education is

being compromised. Despite of their condition, some of them still manage to