Mother claims poverty drove her to throw kids into river

A 40-year-old scavenger claimed poverty drove her to throw her two daughters into the Pasig River in Manila, and to try to take her own life last Tuesday. But the woman, identified as Mimi Abila, was eventually saved from drowning. Now she is facing charges of parricide to be filed by the Manila Police District’s homicide investigators. "Ang sabi niya inaapi-api raw siya sa kahirapan kaya gusto niyang magpakamatay kasama ang kanyang mga anak. Yan ang madalas niyang sinasabi sa imbestigasyon (She repeatedly claimed she was hounded by poverty, so she wanted to commit suicide and take her children's lives, too)," investigator-on-case SPO2 Dennis Javier said in an interview on dzXL radio on Thursday. But Javier said they would file only one case of parricide against Abila for now, as they have confirmed the death of only one of her daughters. Confirmed dead was Jocelyn, 5. Search operation is ongoing for Jovelyn, 8. "Pag nakita natin si Jovelyn, double parricide na iyan (Once we recover Jovelyn's remains, we will charge the mother for double parricide)," Javier said. He also discounted the possibility Abila was mentally deranged, saying she was lucid when homicide investigators interviewed her. "Pag kausap namin siya, matino (She seemed lucid when we were interviewing her)," he said. Meanwhile, the Social Welfare Department said it will help Abila find work. "We hope panandaliang problema yan (We hope poverty will be a temporary problem)," DSWD Secretary Celia Yangco said in a separate interview on dzXL. Poverty perennial problem Poverty is a perennial problem in the Philippines. A recent survey by pollster Social Weather Stations showed hunger at a new record-high last December. [See: SWS survey: 1 in 4 Filipino families claims to be hungry] The SWS said its survey last December showed some 4.4 million families, or nearly one out of four Filipino families, experienced involuntary hunger in the last three months. It said the latest Hunger rate surpassed the previous record-high incidence of 23.7 percent in December 2008. Also, SWS said the Self-Rated Poverty Threshold, or the monthly budget that poor households need to consider themselves poor in general, remain sluggish for several years despite considerable inflation. “This indicates that poor families have been lowering their living standards, i.e., belt-tightening," it said. As it blamed last year’s killer cyclones for the record-high hunger, the government said it is aiming to ease the situation before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s term ends June 30. - LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV