A 13-year-old boy in Trece Martires, Cavite who lives with his three younger brothers – ages 2, 4, and 5 years old was featured in a recent episode of Mission Impossible.
At a very young age, Manuel Olivares carries the full weight of responsibility over his three siblings’ welfare after his mother passed away due to an illness a year ago and his stepfather abandoned them afterward.
The young boy had to adjust and fill the role of a guardian and live in a rented dilapidated house, where the owner allowed them to stay even if they could not pay the amount.
At night, Manuel and his siblings sleep on the floor with a thin mat as their mattress. In the morning, Manuel would wake up early to prepare food for his younger siblings, where they often have rice and soy sauce for viand.
There are times that his neighbors will allow him to get mangoes to sell at the market for Php100 a sack. He will use this money to buy rice and budgets the remaining amount for other food. But if he’s not allowed to get mangoes, Manuel would just scavenge for trash just to earn even a small amount of money.
Many times, Manuel would not be able to provide food for his sibling and would go to sleep hungry.
A concerned neighbor named Neptuno “Nick” Jabonita took action as he often hears the kids crying because of hunger. He would sometimes give them food, but he later decided to share the kids’ plight with his riders’ group, Team Predator Riders.
The four boys were able to go to school and they had some grocery items and school supplies to last for a couple of weeks with the help of these good Samaritans. In their hope to receive more help for the kids, Michael Abucayan wrote to Julius Babao’s program Mission Impossible.
Through the help of ABS-CBN’s public service program, Manuel and his siblings received pillows, foam mattresses, cabinet, table and chairs, stove, school supplies, clothes, shoes, and a livelihood package, all.
Watch video here:
