MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
Statistically, there are more widows than widowers, women being born to live longer and stronger than men. Proof of this is the sight of the throngs of elderly women of all shapes and sizes lining up for their ayuda from their local government unit. If they’re not widows, are they empty nesters living alone without a job or income? Are they simply biyuda de ayuda?
Statistically also, men are more likely to become seriously ill with COVID-19. As an AFP story puts it, “Since early in the pandemic it has been clear that men, particularly older men, are at a far higher risk of dying from the virus than women of a similar age.” DOH statistics say likewise. As disclosed by Undersecretary Dr. Rosario Vergeire, females accounted for 44 percent of infections compared to males at 56 percent last year.
For the widows whose sole hope of financial support is the
cash assistance promised by law, DSWD, and DILG, how easy is it to live on P1,000 or P2,000 or P4,000 a month? For many of them, biyuda na, no ayuda pa. As the saying goes, some people are luckier than others, just because life isn’t always fair.
A beautiful widow lives in a very nice, very comfortable two-story house in Forbes Park with garage, garden, and pool. As a long-time citizen of Makati, the city with the wealthiest barangays, Flor by no means qualifies as poor, and yet she was so excited to be given her P4,000 ayuda by Mayor Abby, the same amount that each of her helpers received! Besides the cash assistance, Flor was given her share of canned meat and sardines, rice, and other relief goods. No biyuda de ayuda, she.
When I told Flor’s story to my rich friend who owns farms in Bulacan and property here and there in Pasig and elsewhere, he proudly declared that, like Flor, he got his ayuda from his LGU, no questions asked, not even “Do you deserve financial help?” A single mother who also resides in Pasig but not behind gated walls, said that as far as she knows, “No one in my condo has received anything. Unless someone’s practicing discrimination.” Well, at least she’s not a certifiable biyuda de alegre (merry widow).