Lunes, Agosto 27, 2012

Divorce , Separation and the Filipino Child







While the entire family was waiting for the sitcom Big Bang Theory, our third grader was telling school stuffs to her dad:

" You know daddy?...Jorge's dad and mom separated. His daddy went away with another woman..." As she was relating this information, she was neither sad, nor happy. " Now , he might not go to school anymore. They are very poor." she added.


Jorge is yanna's classmate. They have been classmates since 1st grade and they both belong to the same section FL or fast learners section since then.(So he's pretty smart.) His mom vends balut and peanuts ,but there was never any story of what jorge's daddy's work was. Sometime ago yanna mentioned that Jorge's mother sews up his clothes because they couldn't afford to buy a new one (and she sews a lot.) 

Parents separation is sad ,confusing and stressful to children. Children need to be helped and supported so they can cope up with the separation and ultimately become good members of society.

In the Philippines, there is no divorce. Legal separation is a long,expensive and tedious process and annulment is very ,very expensive. Because of these, our government and our society assumes parental separation does not occur , children like Jorge does not exist. There is no established support for children like him who is caught in the midst of parental separation.

By the present law, Jorge cannot ask his father food allowance or shelter allowance . There is no law binding his father to support him.

Today, while the government and this society are indifferent towards Jorge's situation, Jorge might not go to school tomorrow.

 

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