THE Covid pandemic caused great harm and the rich became richer while the poor became poorer, and an additional 4.27 million Filipinos fell into extreme poverty like Maria Mahirap, one of the poorest persons in the Philippines. There are hundreds of thousands of people like her who literally have nothing in this world, no possessions, no money, no family. We who have should count our blessings.

Maria, like hundreds of thousands of children today, was a victim of child sexual abuse. She lived on the streets and was exploited by human traffickers. Maria became a sexually abused and trafficked child and then a woman exploited by foreign and local sex tourists. With nothing more than a dirty, smelly, ragged dress,she lost hope and then her mind. She was brought to the mental hospital in Mariveles, Bataan.