'PATAWAD'

I was riding my scooter along EDSA highway when traffic had been so slow that even riding a motorbike wont let you arrive on time with your appointments. I was so grumpy when suddenly a beggar got near me and had his palm open in front of me. I was trying to find any money I could find in my pockets and found nothing. My bag was in the compartment and it was hard to get it in the middle of the road... so had to tell the beggar.. "patawad" which means forgive me for not being able to give. The beggar seemed upset cussing as he scampered away while the traffic had slowly crawled along the highway.

While i was riding away to my destination, I was thinking about the beggar. I am always wanting to help anyone when i can but it seemed not right. This beggar was a man who wasn't disabled and was able to penetrate through the traffic dangerously and knock on car doors and motorcycles begging... and cussed at me when i wasn't able to give and to think i had asked him patawad was rude. Something is wrong... he should be at work and not begging.

Few weeks ago, while i was in a rush preparing to leave for work.. someone knocked at my door and when i opened it, it was a man asking for a donation with a death certificate in his hand. I then tried to read it and found that it was not authentic. Just a xerox copy tampered and being used for asking donations. Being one of the officers of our community .. i then ask him to pay a visit first at our barangay office and ask for a permit to get donations from the neighborhood. At this gesture, the man shouted at me and said.. 'if you don't want to give, don't talk too much.' .. and he call me names and cussed me.

That really shocked me. These kind of people need to be arrested to stop extorting money in any form. What saddened me is that others use kids some even their own to do the work of begging using innocent kids to work for them and some are syndicates and being protected by sick people.

I hope the government will give attention to these people. They need to be rehabilitated and taught livelihood programs to help them earn their living. I'm sure it will take more will and good heart in the part of the government to do this. Most government officials aren't concerned about the sick society that we have today. The rampant corruption and politics of most government officials makes it hard for us to move forward as a united country.

As a good citizen in your community... is there anything you can do to help your country move forward? Does the effort usually should come from the government? mmmmm?