As I tried to shake off the body pain from walking 7,000 steps, I decided to have dinner in front of my laptop, wondering what to do next. A thought crossed my mind—I barely visit YouTube, so why not search for some Kara David documentaries? I suddenly remembered how much I admired her as a kid on GMA.

At the top of the suggested videos was a catchy title: "baklas Pako," with a thumbnail showing a censored image of a child harvesting wood nails. I clicked on it, recalling that I had done the same thing out of curiosity when I was a child. Once the film started, I couldn’t look away.

It was heartbreaking to see a 10-year-old child shouldering the responsibilities of an adult. I’d heard similar stories from my parents or elders, saying that at his age, they were already "nagbabanat ng buto" (working hard), but I was lucky never to experience it myself.

A day of labor for like what? 60 pesos? Even peeling sacks of garlic, or worse, carrying those heavy sacks. He's just a child, with an undeveloped body, and shouldn't be doing such mabigat na work. I could hear him express a desire to return to school, but the harsh reality is that, even with free education, they still can't afford it.

Tangina, it broke my heart. I couldn’t help but bawl my eyes out, not just weeping, but crying as if I’d just gone through a painful breakup.

I don’t know who to blame. I feel bad, I feel worse, and somehow, I feel responsible for all the suffering these children have to endure.

What can I do in this country but wish for a better economy tskk tskk. Wish, not hope. Wish, not hope.