DSWD to probe girl's poverty-triggered suicide

from GMA News

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has ordered an investigation into the extent of poverty in Davao City that reportedly drove an 11-year-old girl to commit suicide last weekend.

Radio dzBB reported Thursday that DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral ordered the DSWD regional office in Region 11 to check the poverty that drove Marianeth Amper to kill herself.

Cabral also ordered the DSWD regional office to extend help to Marianeth's family, despite Health Secretary Francisco Duque III's insistence Wednesday that Marianeth's was an "isolated" case.

Marianeth, daughter of a local carpenter, left behind a letter and diary where she asked God to help her parents make ends meet.

She also said she could not go to school because she always lacked money for transportation and food.

Her death saddened the city, whose residents pitched in to provide financial assistance to her family.

Before she died, the girl wrote "Wish Ko Lang," a reality-based program, "wishing" for shoes, clothes, a bag and a bicycle so she could continue going to school.