Batang Mansisibak
When I watched the documentary "Batang Mansisibak" by Cesar Apolinario, I was filled w/ pity towards the children who earn their living by scavenging in the garbage of Manila bay, these children are called "mansisibak" or garbage collectors. I can't really imagine how they can swim in a pool of trash just to gather plastic or "sibak" that can be sold in the junk shop.
I really pity their situation because in such a young age, they are already exposed in to this dirty work, they are forced to do such a thing in order for them to help their parents. These children are willing to wake up early, dive into dirty water (and there's even instances that they accidentally drink the water) and collect junk that can be sold. They don't care if they need to go naked just to get the trash they need, they don't mind if people look at them. Although they get wounded because they don't have any protection against the sharp objects that hit their feet and their body, they have no choice because it's the only way for them to easily move in the water.
Because the children are exposed to different kind of waste, no wonder that the the doctor who checked them found a lot of complications in them. Because of their activity that their body weakens and their health gets poor. There is a saying: "May pera sa basura" but if health and life is at stake, money earned from garbage would be useless because it will just have to go to treatments and medications to treat the illnesses and diseases that they got from swimming in garbage.
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Batang Kalabaw
I felt the same piteous feeling in "Batang Kalabaw" by Jay Taruc. it also features children who do hard labor just to earn money. These children carry heavy loads of logs down the mountains of Agusan Del Sur, their job is the same as and as difficult as the job of a carabao, hence the title, Batang Kalabaw.
These children join illegal loggers go up a steep mountain and after getting the lumber, they have to carry the logs and go down the mountain. It's really not an easy task because they have to walk for hours just to go down the mountain, carrying heavy lumber on their back, shoulder or head. Plus, the mountain is very wet and slippery and there is a tendency for them to slip, fall and drop the logs (the cameraman even slipped while going down the mountain and nearly broke the camera).
It's really a pitiful situation they have there, I can't believe how these children do this kind of hard labor, even a 6-year old boy is already involved in this kind of work. It's really hard to carry logs down a slippery mountain without damaging or even scratching the logs because if any faults were found in the logs that they brought, it would be deducted from their wages. I really pity the 6-year boy Randy because as we all know, he is to young and he can't properly handle the wood because his body is not capable enough. It's not surprising that a fault would be found in the logs that he brought and it would be deducted to his pay.
I also pity the 14-year old Cherilyn, the eldest of the group who also acts as mother, father and breadwinner of their family. Her father was imprisoned and her mother suffers from a mental illness that's why she is left to take care of her 5 younger siblings. There's some people who want to help her or even adopt her but she refuses because she can't leave her siblings.
