Orphan saves Christmas caroling money for mom’s funeral

MANILA, Philippines — An 11-year-old girl was orphaned after her mother, allegedly included in a drug watchlist, was found dead with a gunshot wound in the head in Navotas on Sunday. 

The girl Mary Ann (not her real name) had earned P390 from her Christmas caroling and intended to augment her savings to buy a pair of Barbie rubber shoes this Christmas.

Playing with her puppy during her mother’s wake yesterday, Mary Ann told The STAR how she dances to the tune of hit songs like Daddy Yankee’s “Dura” and Momoland’s “Baam” while singing Christmas carols to earn money, which her mother would set aside to buy a pair of Barbie rubber shoes that cost P800.

With her mother gone, Mary Ann plans to contribute her savings instead to the expenses for her mother’s burial  on Dec. 23.

“Yung naipon ko, ibibigay ko na lang kay (What I’ve saved, I’ll just give to) Mama,” the girl said.

Her mother Heart (not her real name), 26, was found dead with a gunshot wound along Matambaka Street in Barangay Northbay Boulevard South last Sunday. Mary Ann’s father was also found dead with strangulation marks on his neck in Navotas two years ago. 

Without her parents, Mary Ann’s grandmother Maria  said she would raise the child as her own. 

Maria said she was awakened by her husband, a barangay tanod, upon hearing news that a woman was found dead in Matambaka Street.

Maria said she went to the nearest police detachment to confirm that it was her daughter who was found dead, after recognizing the sando and black pants her daughter wore when she last saw her alive that day.

Maria admits Heart may have been involved in illegal drugs.

She showed photos of Heart when she was healthy-looking four years ago. Now her face was more gaunt, her color only brightened up by makeup.

Heart’s husband, or Mary Ann’s father, was found dead with strangulation marks on the neck and his face covered with a sack in Navotas in July 2016, just a month into the administration’s war on drugs.

When asked who was to blame, Maria minced no words, saying Mary Ann’s father was last seen alive in the custody of masked police officers in a mobile car, apparently another case of dinampot or pick up.

Maria said Heart might have been killed because she had an alias similar to that being used by a notorious drug pusher in the area.

Heart was arrested last year and was only able to post bail in March this year. According to Navotas police investigators, Heart was included in the drugs watchlist.

“She told me she was not bringing anything, not even a wallet. When she heard her name, she just glanced back at the policeman who then arrested her. She was just mistaken for another person with whom she shares an alias,” Maria said in Filipino.

Heart sports a tattoo of a butterfly and her daughter’s name on her back. On her forearm was also inked the first letter of her daughter’s name.

“No matter how bad the parent, she is still her mother, she will always have her daughter in her heart,” Maria said.

When asked if she has a photo of her mother’s tattoo, Mary Ann just shook her head and said that her mother’s cellphone, which has the photo, had been taken by the police.