In the thick foliage of the Negros mountains, far from the bustling cities and even further from stable electricity or clean water, lives a young boy—abandoned, yet resilient.

DENR officials were not expecting to find anything beyond flora and fauna that day. But hidden behind trees and tall grass, they noticed smoke rising from a tiny kubo (nipa hut). Cautiously, they approached—and found him. A boy, frail yet smiling, boiling water in a rusty pot.

His name remains protected for privacy. But his story? It deserves to be told.

“Wala po akong kasama. Ako lang po talaga,” he said, eyes wide but calm.
“Matagal na pong wala si Mama at Papa. Iniwan lang po nila ako rito.”

The child explained that his parents separated when he was very young. One day, they both left. He doesn’t remember how old he was then—but he remembers that they never came back.

Alone, But Not Broken

Without adult supervision, the boy learned to survive. He collects firewood. He cooks rice when he has some, gathers fruits and edible plants when there’s none. He walks several kilometers to attend a small public school—barefoot.

And despite all of this, he continues to dream.

“Gusto ko pong makapagtapos. Para hindi na ako ganito habang buhay.”

His resilience stunned the DENR team. Officials immediately contacted local social services, and a plan is now underway to bring him to safety, assess his situation, and enroll him in proper care.

But the question remains: Why did no one help sooner? Where were the relatives? The neighbors? The community?

Some say it’s because of the remote location. Others whisper of deeper family issues—of abandonment too painful to explain.

Hope for Tomorrow

This boy, barely 10, teaches us something many adults have forgotten: hope is a choice.
Every day, he wakes up with no guarantee of food, no assurance of warmth or love. And yet, he still chooses to go to school, to keep learning, to keep fighting.

If he can do that—with nothing—what excuse do we have?

Let his story remind us to look beyond our own lives and notice the forgotten ones who suffer in silence. And if this child can hold on to hope… maybe, just maybe, we can help turn that hope into a future.