BALLESTEROS, Cagayan – When P/Major Marlou Del Castillo, chief of the Ballesteros Police, saw an aeta mother and her daughter pass by the police station, selling vegetables that they carry on their heads, he and his men invited them in for coffee and bread.
And it was at the precinct that Del Castillo learned that the aeta mother and her daughter had to walk long distances to sell their vegetable just to sustain their family’s daily needs.
Del Castillo later learned that the aeta mother was Maylin Corpuz, and that she and her three children had to work after her husband was incarcerated.
It was while he was talking to them that Del Castillo got the idea of how he and the Ballesteros police could help the Corpuz family.
After buying all their vegetables for sale for the day, Del Castillo asked Corpuz and her daughter to come back.
That was last Feb. 8, 2022.
And on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, Del Castillo welcomed Corpuz and her kids back to the Ballesteros police office with a surprise.
Del Castillo and his men chipped in whatever they could to buy a bicycle and a side car for Corpuz’s family. And the trike was already loaded with vegetables, ready for the Corpuz family to sell.
Maylin couldn’t but hold back her tears as she tried out the trike for the first time, and thanked the Del Castillo and the Ballesteros police for the chance at enhancing their livelihood.
“Listen to others, even the dull and ignorant. They too have their story, and let us be thankful to God that we are not the ones who experience something like them,” Del Castillo said.