00:00 [Music]
00:27 [Music]
00:56 [Music]
01:06 [Music]
01:25 [Music]
01:54 [Music]
02:02 [Music]
02:05 It's almost night, but the day of Jenmar will start now.
02:09 [Music]
02:11 She's with her younger brother, Pakong, who is only 8 years old.
02:15 [Music]
02:18 Even though Chan is not here yet, they will now go around the streets of Divisoria.
02:23 [Music]
02:38 [Speaking in Tagalog]
03:07 [Speaking in Tagalog]
03:14 They also sell their vegetables.
03:19 [Speaking in Tagalog]
03:36 [Speaking in Tagalog]
03:43 [Speaking in Tagalog]
03:52 [Speaking in Tagalog]
03:59 [Speaking in Tagalog]
04:15 It's important for them to have something to pick.
04:18 This is also what they will eat for the whole day.
04:23 [Speaking in Tagalog]
04:36 [Speaking in Tagalog]
04:47 [Speaking in Tagalog]
05:09 While we were walking around, Jenmar and Pakong passed by a piece of carrot.
05:16 [Speaking in Tagalog]
05:34 [Speaking in Tagalog]
06:03 [Speaking in Tagalog]
06:27 [Music]
06:30 At 2 in the morning, some vegetables are starting to be harvested here in Divisoria.
06:35 This is the time that Jenmar and Pakong are waiting for.
06:41 [Music]
06:45 That's why they will go around to look for rejects that are about to be thrown away.
06:50 A few moments later, a box full of lettuce was picked up by Jenmar.
06:59 [Music]
07:17 [Speaking in Tagalog]
07:29 [Music]
07:35 This is where Jenmar will pick up the vegetables to clean and sell.
07:40 [Speaking in Tagalog]
07:46 [Music]
07:50 For more people, Jenmar will go to a garbage dump to fill up the garbage.
07:56 [Speaking in Tagalog]
08:11 Because Jenmar was able to pick up the vegetables from the garbage, he immediately returned to his place to continue selling.
08:18 [Speaking in Tagalog]
08:27 [Music]
08:29 It's already 4 in the morning when someone went to buy from their store.
08:34 A mom picked up the lettuce that Jenmar had saved for 300 pesos.
08:41 [Speaking in Tagalog]
08:46 Later on, the heavy rain suddenly poured.
08:51 [Music]
08:53 Jenmar did not stop selling.
08:57 [Music]
09:01 They needed to save 1,500 pesos to pay for their rented house.
09:06 Because if they don't pay, they might be kicked out.
09:10 [Music]
09:15 But the kid couldn't take the cold.
09:19 [Music]
09:21 Meanwhile, Jenmar went to the market.
09:24 They earned only 300 pesos in total.
09:30 Every day, Jenmar's life goes around like this.
09:34 [Speaking in Tagalog]
09:50 Because of work, Jenmar had to stop studying.
09:56 [Speaking in Tagalog]
10:13 But while we were talking to Jenmar, there was a deeper reason why he was insisting on helping his family.
10:20 [Speaking in Tagalog]
10:24 It was his siblings who he gave his life to.
10:27 [Speaking in Tagalog]
10:52 I talked to Jenmar's mother and her husband.
10:54 [Speaking in Tagalog]
11:11 [Speaking in Tagalog]
11:24 [Music]
11:26 It was already 10 in the morning when Jenmar got home.
11:29 The remaining water spinach from their market is what they will eat for lunch.
11:35 [Speaking in Tagalog]
11:57 [Sizzling]
11:59 This is how their family will eat.
12:04 [Sizzling]
12:05 [Music]
12:13 I'm almost there, Mama.
12:15 Wait for me, Kuya.
12:17 Jenmar's family is just one of the million Filipinos who are considered food poor.
12:22 Or the Filipino families who earn less than 8,379 pesos per month.
12:30 SWS released a data showing that 8.7 million families are considered food poor in the first quarter of 2023.
12:40 According to the new study of OCTA Research in the second quarter of 2023,
12:46 11.3 million families are considered food poor.
12:51 This is involuntary hunger.
12:53 They are looking for food but they can't find food.
12:57 They can't eat three meals a day.
12:59 It's hard to see statistics, it's like numbers.
13:02 But there are real lives behind these numbers.
13:06 It's important to see the government, the private sector, and the society
13:11 that needs initiatives towards poverty alleviation.
13:16 According to the United Nations,
13:18 the Philippines is the leading country in Southeast Asia
13:21 in terms of food insecure individuals or those who don't have enough access to food.
13:27 This number reached 50.9 million individuals.
13:31 Recently, the government launched a food stamp program
13:35 that will give away 3,000 pesos food subsidies to one of the million poorest families in the country.
13:42 Well, our system in DSWD is a social media.
13:49 We will provide assistance, we will provide innovation to our programs to address the plight of our food poor.
13:58 Not only to give help but also to empower them to get rid of poverty,
14:05 to get rid of our food poor status.
14:08 That's what our program does.
14:11 After the dark, the brothers return to the fight.
14:18 But for the brothers, Jenmar and Pakong, to not work,
14:22 we left a simple gift for their family.
14:25 Two bags of rice, enough groceries for a month.
14:29 I have a gift for my baby so that he won't be hungry.
14:34 I'm hungry.
14:36 Thank you for giving us help.
14:40 Because we can eat now, my siblings are now healthy.
14:43 I can rest now because my siblings will eat tomorrow.
14:47 We also gave them a supply of vitamins to help them stay healthy.
14:52 We have a benefit now, we are now fat and we are healthy.
14:58 Until the hunger in the country is not solved,
15:02 there is no guarantee how many of them will stop throwing garbage food.
15:07 Because this is the only way they can continue to live.
15:14 I am Mackie Pulido and this is Reporters Notebook.
15:19 [Music]
15:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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