I experienced something sad and shocking last night and I wish the government redirected its attention to this more pressing problem rather than attacking other people's faith and religion, which is just a pointless exercise.
I was in a mall in central Manila, I came out from watching a movie and was surprised to see the mall stores and restos still open around 10 in the evening. So I decided to have one more meal before heading home, which is like another 40 minutes away.
So I went to this popular fastfood and since the only food left was their bestseller chicken, I decided to order that, although I don't ever eat it.
Anyway, I quietly finished my meal in about 15 minutes and I was just observing the mall and the stores as they were closing one by one.
Suddenly, this boy, about 10 years old, skinny, wearing a loose blue shirt comes near me and asks for something which I couldn't hear properly.
When he noticed that my reaction time was a bit slow, he picked up the first leftover chicken, bones and all, from my plate and rushed outside. Just as quickly, his shyer friend, who was the same size and look as him, took the other leftover chicken.
Chicken that I just ate - that barely had any more meat in them!
How's that for a lesson on Hunger 101. I felt like I was in Charles Dicken's Oliver Twist novel and a kid says to me, "More soup please, I am hungry!"
Then I remembered that TV episode on pagpag, leftover food which is still cooked again and eaten by hungry families.
It's real and it's happening right now. Hungry children scouring for leftover food just to assuage their hunger at 10PM, which is way past dinner time for most people.
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