Lola Paz

JUST BE By Bernadette Sembrano
The Philippine Star 07/02/2006
 

Lola Paz Pejoro cried when I handed her the bouquet of flowers when we visited her in a convalescent hospital in San Francisco last August for our program Nagmamahal Kapamilya. She misses her children dearly.

Lola Paz raised her 14 children all by herself when her husband passed away. Wanting to give her children a better future, she strived to bring all of them to the US by selling goods from the Philippines. She even approached a priest to adopt her children!

With merit she was accorded the Ulirang Ina Award by Malacañang in 1997.

Unfortunately, her children could not take care of her because of their busy careers, and Lola Paz needed more medical attention after suffering from poor health conditions. The children thought it was best to put her in a home.

Lola Paz shares her quarters with three Caucasians who are bedridden. Unlike her housemates, she converted her small area into a gallery of some sort, with pictures of her children and grandchildren on the walls, and mementos on her dresser.

She gets sentimental when she talks about her family. Growing old without her children is something she never expected.

Though often lonely nowadays, she finds comfort in having Filipinos around her. Garbed in pink hospital scrubs, a number of the caregivers in the hospital are also Filipinos, and they take care of Lola Paz like family.

Senior citizens comprise six percent of our population, (2000 Census) equivalent to 5.1 million older persons. While Asian countries like the Philippines traditionally have families taking care of the elderly, this is starting to become a problem because of economic pressures on the Filipino family.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) figures show that older persons are prone to neglect. In 1970, there were 11 working people in a household to support an elderly person. However, by 2020, there will only be six.

The government, on the other hand, still has to address health care, housing and income security concerns.

While putting Lola Paz in an institution goes against our Filipino values, she may in fact be better off than her counterparts in the Philippines who experience neglect.

Watch out for the story of Lola Paz Pejoro on Nagmamahal Kapamilya. It’s one of my favorites and it will surely make you appreciate your parents more.

Nagmamahal Kapamilya, Ang programang tagpuan ng Pilipino Saan man sa Mundo, will move to a new timeslot, Saturdays after Close-Up to Fame 2