**The Fruit of Poverty**

“BUTO’T BALAT”
(bones and skins)

Poverty is one of the biggest problems our country is facing today. And one indication that poverty rate here in the Philippines is the increasing in the malnutrition rate. And based on the documentary film that I watch, Bicol area is one of the places where malnutrition is at its biggest rate.There was one family, the father works at a fish port so if you think about it, the father will be able to earn enough but the truth is that the father can't even afford to buy one fish.He just buy fish from stores which sells rejected fish and seafoods.These kind of foods can also cause food poisoning which is very dangerous to our health.

There was one woman, who is severely malnourished.She was just in her late twenties, I think. She is so skinny that she looks older than her mother. She would just lie down because she cannot move her body as the way she does before she bbecame malnourished.She was only taking a cup of coffee as her breakfast and the situation at their place was really unpredictable. They cannot tell when to have their next meal. And the only way they were fighting malnutrition is through their quack doctors or “albularyos”.On the documentary she was telling the reporter that her only wish was to be well again. And 4 days later, after the film was documented, she died.

There is also a family in Malabon where the father is a trisikad driver. He is only earning around 100 pesos a day and that is being budgeted for the whole day's allowance. But more than that, they have 9 children so it’s really sad to think that a family of 11 will share on 100 pesos a day for meal.
It is said that “instant noodle” is now the poor people's diet. But if you think about it, there no much to get from an instant noodle except for salts and preservatives.They are processed foods.But since its the only food that is cheap and can feed 4-5 people because of its "sabaw".

In these documentary we can see that poverty is really growing rapidly here in our country. There are a lot of effects that it gives us including malnutrition and death. And the government are deaf to these kind of problems.They just waist their money on political propaganda or unneccesary things.But then the blame is not sole to the government accounts but also to the people. Because to think that we are aware of their situation but some parents still keep on having a lot of children. If you think about it, those who are well-off have 2-3 children but those who are suffering are the ones who have a lot of children.We should think before wantin to have children if we can support them financially,emotionally,physically.When others would just take on a diet or spoil their meal they should realize and visualize the impact of these actions to other people,especially to those who can't afford to eat three meals a day.