（菲行記錄3）無錢葬亡母 窮婦嘆：求助無門

（菲行記錄16-3）

【藍天採訪組／馬尼拉．菲律賓報導】

No Money to Bury Her Mom. Poor Woman Cried: Nowhere to Turn

菲律賓國家經濟蕭條，國內許多窮人一直沒辦法改善生活，甚至家人過世都無力安葬，尋求政府協助卻互踢皮球。

Due to the Philippine economic depression,
many poor people are unable to improve their standard of living, to the extent
that when family members died, they cannot afford a burial. They are seeking
help from the government who keep on refering them to other agency or
department.

在馬尼拉街頭訪問路邊小販，有位帶著小男孩的婦人靠過來觀看，直到訪問結束後這位婦人要求我們訪問她，我們告訴她，我們來自臺灣，怕不能幫上忙，她說只想把心事說出來，因此決定接受她的要求。

When we are interviewing those sidewalk vendors, a woman holding a little boy came over and they waited silently until the end of our interview. She requsted to be interview. We told her that we came from taiwan and we can do nothing to help. She said, she has something important to say and we decided to accept her request.

拿出一疊文件，婦人說，她住在通多區（SQUATTER AREA OF DON
BOSCO, TONDO MANILA） 因為沒有錢安葬過世的媽媽，需要P6500，還不足P3000，找政府單位協助卻互踢皮球不肯幫忙。

The woman showed us her documents and she
said, I don’t have enough money to bury my dead mother. I went to government
agencies for help but they keep on pushing me away.

（訪問 ）

Maritess Laplano：我需要三千元幫助安葬我的母親，因為錢不夠，SOL（殯儀公司名稱）不願意幫忙，所以我只好去找市政府，市政府叫我去找DSWD（社會福利發展部），DSWD審查沒有通過，DSWD叫我拿三張文件給SOL，可是SOL不接受DSWD給的這三張張文件，所以我請求幫助安葬我的母親。

(Interview) Maritess Laplano says:

I’m in urgent need of P3000 to bury my dead
mother.

SOL refused to help, because my money is
not enough to pay for the funeral, I have no other choice but to go to the city
hall for their assistance, they told me to go to the DSWD instead. DSWD did not
approve my application, they gave me 3 documents and asked me to return to SOL.
But SOL won’t accept these 3 documents.

I hope someone can help me so that I can
bury my mother.

記者：媽媽什麼原因過世的？

Maritess Laplano：媽媽46歲，因為腸胃癌過世，在醫院化療時我們要求醫院給媽媽氧氣，媽媽無法進食，因為沒錢給醫院，只好把媽媽接回家，在家裡過世了。

Maritess Laplano says:

My 46 years old mother died of intestine
cancer.

When she’s having chemo, I requested to put
oxygen on her but she still can’t eat at all. I cannot afford hospital bills
anymore, so I decided to bring her home. She died at home.

婦人36歲，平時撿資源回收變賣或向人討錢維生，記者問她的丈夫在做什麼？她說跑掉了。

The woman is 36 years old and for a living,
she usually picks up recycled goods for sell or beg money (ask for alms). 

We asked her, where is your husband? She
replied, he abandoned me.

因為時間有限，單憑幾張模糊的影印文件，我們無法求證它的真實性，不管如何，菲律賓政府應該認真調查這件事並且妥善處理。

With only a few blurred photocopies of
documents, we cannot verify whether this incident is true or not, because we
need to catch up the plane, but no matter what, the Philippine government
should look into this matter seriously and settle this problem properly. 

(2012-07-26)