the poor of the Phils.......

In the UK you here people say that there are so many people under the poverty line, as if they are really struggling, I know that it is all relative, but the people that I have seen in the UK that put themselves into that category usually makes those comments with a cigarette in their mouth and sometimes a bottle of beer at their side.

I really don't think that they have any understanding of real poverty, below is an article that I have pinched from another website just to give some indication of the level of poverty here in the Phils, believe it or not there is at least another level below them. People that live in some areas where there is no power, clean water and any sort of way for them to earn money to eat.

The couple that I met yesterday live near one of those areas, they try and help by sometimes cooking more than they need and sharing it with them. The wife whom is a midwife told me that many times she has delivered a child and she was paid in.... fish !! They simply don't have money.


I actually passed this cementary to day.


(Taken From the website) 10,000 Filipino families live in this massive graveyard in Manila. I recently spent five days walking among its residents taking photos and hearing stories of struggle and survival. Some families ended up here almost accidentally. Some inherited the mausoleums that they now live in from their great-grandparents. Others came from the provinces and couldn't make enough money to live in the big city. In all cases, they're basically families with nowhere else to go. The people who live here manage to extract livelihoods from the dead.Teenagers carry coffins for 50 Filipino pesos—about 50 American cents.Children collect scrap metal, plastic, and other garbage to sell. Their fathers are employed to repair and maintain tombs while their mothers maintain the house, which could be the family mausoleum or the mausoleum of their employers. Rent-free shanties are wedged between or on top of crypts. Unlike many of my countrymen, I don't see these folks as the destitute bottom-rung of society. I see them as living embodiments of the raw spirit of the Filipino people, a nation so tough it can and has survived under any sort of hardship.




Unidentified bones found around the Manila North Cemetery. Somefamilies default on the leases on their tombs and the administrationhas no choice but to remove the bones.

EmmarieBernardino is a 57-year-old dressmaker. Due to financial hardship, herfamily chose to sell their house and live inside their mausoleum.

Imelda Domingo owns a small food store inside the cemetery. She is also a part-time mausoleum caretaker.

Thisis Jenelyn Guiwanon,19, with her 1-year-old daughter. She works for hermother-in-law (top right) taking care of the cemetery's mini grocerystore.

Carolina S. Ameglio is a 67-year-old caretaker. She lives in the mausoleum where her husband is buried.

A typical small mausoleum home inside the Manila North Cemetery. Here a mother stays at home watching TV with her children.

A vacant mausoleum can be a place for relaxation or entertainment.Residents in this area can come to this one and drop five pesos to sing karaoke.

A Filipino custom says that children must carry coffins. It is thoughtthat this will keep the children safe from any ghost or vengeful spirit.

Ricky Bernardino is a 39-year-old manicurist/beautician who lives and works in the cemetery.

RolanFlores, 18, lives with his wife and daughter. His job is to clean andrepair the tombs, and, for extra cash, he combs the area for plasticsand metals to sell for five pesos a pound.

Maria Wico is a 56-year-old caretaker. She moved to the cemetery when she was 17.

Florielyn Flores, an 18-year-old mother and wife of Rolan (above), poses with her 2-year-old son in front of their home.

Sheryl Ann M. Muros volunteers as a schoolteacher. The classes are held inside the veterans' mausoleum.

Catherine de Ocampo is a 17-year-old housewife. She moved to the cemetery last year.

Playing cards or bingo on top of tombs is a favorite pastime.


This spirit that the Filipinos have is a trait that I really admire, they just deal with whatever situation that they find themselves in. They find ways around adversity and come up smiling where most of us would just give up. I see it every day in so many situations, they have to deal with it as it always comes back to this.............you have to find a way to survive each day... forget about next week or next year just make sure that we eat today....... there is no welfare to save you. You work or you don't eat.....simple isn't it !!!!

I then think of some "poor" people that I've seen on TV in the UK, with their fags and beer in their hand saying yes mate we're poor, can't get a job and we can't feed the 6 kids that we have had while we are on the dole..... yes my pet hate is showing through.... just ignore me...... but when you see real poverty in other countries it sort of makes you feel annoyed with the scroungers in society.

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