Press Release
November 7, 2007

POVERTY-MOTIVATED SUICIDE ALARMS REVILLA

Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. appealed to government leaders to exercise "political ceasefire" and exert efforts instead on the indigence problem in the country as he expressed alarm over the reported poverty-motivated suicide of a minor in Davao City .

According to the senator, the recent suicide of Marianette Amper should serve as a distress signal to government leaders that there are more things that must be done to address poverty incidence in the country, rather than exhausting cheesy means just to be in the political spotlight.

"The unending bickering of elected leaders and politicians does not help. We should be sources of hope, not prophets of hopelessness. It's very sad that Marianette decided to end her life because of feeling hopeless. Let's not wait for another tragic incident like this to happen," Revilla said.

DZBB reports said 11-year old Marianette ended her life last November 2 by hanging herself inside their house in Barangay Maa, Davao City after losing hope on her family's miserable situation.

Found atop her bed is a diary which revealed her prayer for her parents to have a job and for her siblings to be enrolled in school. The diary also narrates her crying because of her family's way of living which includes begging for "kaning-lamig" for their meals.

A letter addressed to the "Wish ko lang" program was also found and it bared Marianette's desire to have a dress, shoes and bicycle which she will use on going to school.

It was learned that Marianette's father irregularly works as a carpenter and she often fails to go to school because of their financial difficulties.

Revilla pointed out that Marianette's death reflects how most Filipinos feel about their state of living as indicated by the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that showed more Filipino families, about nine million of them, consider themselves "mahirap" or poor.

"This should be a wake-up call to our country's leaders to stop political bickering once and for all. What our countrymen need is less talk but more action. As I previously said, we now have an opportunity to unite after former President Joseph Estrada sought presidential clemency. Let's not waste this opportunity, "Revilla stressed.

Revilla asks aspirants for the 2010 elections to focus their energies and channel their resources to uplift the plight of every Filipino rather than engaging in publicity battles and propaganda wars. He added that it would be more meaningful and worthwhile to land in the headlines because of actual and concrete programs that benefit the poor, instead of theatricals and sensational statements that have no substance.

Based on the SWS survey, the self-rated poverty incidence of 52% for September was up from June's 47% but still far from all-time highs. Self-rated poverty fell in the Visayas but the numbers increased in the rest of the nation, and the SWS noted further belt-tightening among poor families.

The survey results also found that 43%, or about 7.5 million Filipino families, considered themselves poor in terms of food. This self-rated food poverty was up from the 37-39% in the first two quarters of 2007. Again, a drop was noted in the Visayas but the numbers increased elsewhere.

The third quarter survey was conducted over September 2-5, 2007 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao . The sampling error margins were 3% for national percentages and 6% for area percentages.

"The economy is growing but hardly felt at the moment by the ordinary citizens. Too much politicking worsens the situation. Let's have a political ceasefire," Revilla ended.

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