All she wanted was to go to school

Poverty drives girl to commit suicide
By Edith Regalado, The Philippine Star
Thursday, November 8, 2007

DAVAO CITY – Extreme poverty apparently drove a 12-year-old girl to commit suicide here last Nov. 2.

Marianeth Amper, second to the youngest of seven children of Isabelo and Magdalena Amper of Yniguez Subdivision in Sitio Bugac, Barangay Ma-a this city, used a rope to hang herself inside their shanty. Amper, a Grade 5 pupil of the Ma-a Elementary School, expressed her depression through entries in her diary, lamenting how she wanted to continue with her studies but her parents could not afford to send her to school.

Her classmates said Amper had been depressed in the past months and was said to have also told everyone in class that she was looking forward to the coming All Saints’ Day. She even wrote in her diary on Oct. 21: “Thank you, malapit na ang araw ng mga patay.” Her teachers described the victim as an intelligent pupil who could share her thoughts and input on various subjects, including religion.

She however sometimes did not go to school for days, weeks and even a month, because she did not have money for fare and school allowance.

The victim also wanted to work at the undong and pancit factory in the neighborhood where her mother works but children were not allowed to work there.

The young Amper also noted in her diary her plan to write a letter to the popular program “Wish Ko Lang” of GMA Channel 7. She also wanted to request the program’s host to visit their house and witness the poverty that her family is suffering from. She also planned to ask Wish Ko Lang to give her a new pair of shoes, toys and a bicycle that she could use to go to school.

Wish Ko Lang producers usually give away cash or kind to lucky letter senders.
Amper’s classmates said that in the past days, the victim was always crying in a corner in school, and she told her classmates not to come near her as she had a very big problem that they would never understand.