Touching ang isang full-page public service ad na lumabas kahapon tungkol sa mga foundling. Isang foundling si Senator Grace Poe dahil hindi matukoy kung sino ang kanyang mga magulang at bilang napulot siya sa loob ng simbahan noong sanggol pa lamang.
Hindi lamang si Mama Grace ang naalala ko nang mabasa ko ang panawagan ng iba’t-ibang mga pinuno ng mga cause-oriented group. Pumasok din sa isip ko ang ibang mga inosenteng bata na foundling at kagaya ni Mama Grace na inaalisan ng karapatan na maibahagi sa bayan ang kanyang kakayahan dahil sa sitwasyon niya.
Ang ganda-ganda ng mensahe na nais iparating ng mga nakapirma sa ad na may title na In Defense of the Foundling.
“When you hear the word foundling, imagine the faces of the infants found in toilets and trash cans every day.
“When you hear the word foundling, think of the poor babies found in doorsteps and alleyways who cannot be adopted if they are not considered Filipinos.
“When you hear the word foundling, picture the countless children who are found in convents and empty fields who can never aspire to become lawyers and doctors if they are not considered Filipinos.
“When you hear the word foundling, feel for all the children who have been abandoned in toilets and trash cans, doorsteps and alleyways, convents and empty fields, churches and elsewhere-who can never aspire to be congressmen, senators or even President if they are not considered natural-born Filipinos.
“God forbid, the current doctors, lawyers, accountants and architects, who happen to be foundlings at birth, be stripped of their licenses, because of the short-sightedness of a narrow-minded few.
“Those who seek to marginalize foundlings would violate the foundlings’ right against discrimination under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and their fundamental constitutional right to equal protection.
“All children born in our country should enjoy this right of aspiration to help the nation. It is their blessed birthright, after all. In all justice and fairness, let us help them claim this right, honor and privilege.”
Kabilang sa mga nakapirma sa eye-opener ad ang friend ko na si Atty. Minerva “June” Ambrosio, ang presidente ng Child Justice League.
Lilinawin ko lang na hindi para sa presidential campaign ni Mama Grace ang public service ad dahil sangkot dito ang lahat ng mga foundling.
Sen. Grace, biniyayaan agad nang iwan sa simbahan
Ibang klase talaga ang bansa natin dahil nawawalan ng karapatan ang mga bata dahil sa batas na ewan kaya nakakabilib ang mga Hollywood celebrity na kagaya nina Mia Farrow, Angelina Jolie, at Madonna na may mga malasakit sa mga bagets na walang magulang.