For the rich, P1,000 is just peanuts. For the poor, it is a huge amount as in the case of a 9-year old boy who was forced to solicit money from pedestrians along Congressional Avenue in Project 6, Quezon City so that his six-month-old brother, who died in a freak accident would have a decent burial.
The author chanced upon nine-year old Uric dela Cruz, together with a friend, Heide Era Mata Rabano, 11, asking passengers to chip in coins to raise P1,000 so he could help defray the burial expenses of his younger brother, Prince Angelo delaz Cruz, 6-month old who died after falling into a creek along Mindanao Avenue last March 30.
In a chance interview, dela Cruz said his parents are so poor that they do not have P1,000 to pay the funeral parlor so his brother could be buried.
“My parents don’t have that amount,” Juric said in Tagalog.
“We live in a make-shift shelter under the bridge along Mindanao Avenue in Project 6, Quezon City.
Hounding the family’s predicament is that Juric’s father, Ricky is languishing in jail in Lingayen, Pangasinan for a crime he (Juric) could not say what.
Recalling how the fatal accident happened, Juric said that his mother went out from their make-shift shelter for a while as his 6-month old younger brother was asleep.
“But when my mother came back the baby was gone, my brother fell over to a creek down below,” a tearful Juric said.
“My mother was shouting for help as she hurriedly went down toward the creek but my younger brother was already dead,” he added.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Juric was able to raise about P200—P800 short of his P1,000 target.
Still Juric was thankful for the kind-hearted donors who chipped in for the burial of his younger brother.
He brought with him a printed copy of the death certificate issued by the barangay captain of Project 6 to support his claim that indeed his younger baby brother is dead.