Lola Lourdes

Even the sugarcoated cells of Yuyu Hakusho didn't wash away the bitter aftertaste. It got stuck, like your worst nightmare after waking up at the wrong side of bed.

The image is that of an old woman inside a cage.  Her spot is in a shaded storage area with plywood serving as her bed. My skin could almost feel the dampness of the ground. Seeing her paper thin hands shaking the iron grills, begging, in her muted voice, to be let out tells the bestiality of those who put her there. 

Her name is Lola Lourdes and her story was featured in XXX last night. I was about to go to sleep when I checked my mom to make sure a blanket covered her body. Then I caught glimpse of the TV showing the footage of the old lady's being beaten by her own children.

In one of the scenes, a man in his mid-fifties swung open the cage . Because the poor octogenarian staggered to get out, the man grew impatient. Instead of helping Lola Lourdes, the man cussed her. The relentless shouting gave way to violence and viewers had to endure the horror of seeing the poor woman being hit with the captor's bare hands.

Just hours before the rescue operation took place, another surveillance footage revealed a mid-fifties lady, this time, shoving and then slapping Lola Lourdes. We learn that this was her own daughter. The guy in the earlier footage was the old lady's son-in-law.

Police and social workers stormed the house immediately. But instead of admitting to the crime, the daughter's husband strongly defended their actions.  He said that Nanay Lourdes roamed the streets at night. The couple incarcerated her out of fear that she might get run over by passing vehicles.

Defiance of the son-in-law resulted in heated verbal exchanges, as Anthony Taverna tried to make the couple realize what was wrong about the whole thing.  Mr.Taverna was the Kapamilya correspondent who led the rescue of the poor woman.

"Kaya mo bang tumira sa kulungan na yan buong araw?"

"Okay lang na gawin sa iyo yan ng sarili mong anak?"  At any minute I was expecting a fist to hit the good-for-nothing, ingrate son-in-law.

Viewers who were sharing their thoughts on Twitter can't help but express their rage as they try  to understand the reason for putting your mother in  a cage. The couple appears well-off and having a mother, who nurtured you, see you grow and have a family, took you in her arms, but is now suffering from Alzheimer's was never an excuse for such inhuman treatment.

"Subukan kaya nung nagsumbong na siya ang mag-alaga?"  They should have consulted with their barangay officials or at least the parish church for assistance.

"Wala kaming katulong eh, paano namin aalagaan yan?"  I wonder if Nanay Lourdes ever thought of saying the same excuse when she raised her daughter.

It was a successful rescue mission and Lola Lourdes is now in the care of Golden Acres.  The brief relief gave way to a night-long trauma as I try not to judge the couple, whose way of life would forever be shaken now that their story is out in the open.

"They must have grown tired of taking care of her."  The psychologist from St. Luke's explained.

"They said the DSWD didn't come to their aid.  They had no choice but to put her there." It was my mind speaking.

"She defecated all over the place," her daughter reasoned out. "How could we afford to put her in a much comfortable spot?"

Despite these face-saving excuses, all  forms of  understanding was drowned by two scenes that will forever scar my sensibilities:

First was the video taken from the camera phone of the tipster with Mang Eddie caning his mother-in-law.  Lola Lourdes was seen in the short clip being hit repeatedly with a stick. She was heard saying "aray!!" after the solid object made contact with her brittle bones.

Second was when Lola Lourdes said she still loves her daughter despite her treatment at the end of the segment.

No. 8 Pulog St.