Siblings still anguish over how ‘Lola’ was abused – Tizon widow

The widow of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Alex Tizon, Melissa, spoke with GMA 7 news magazine program "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho" on Sunday, and admitted that the life of their late domestic servant Eudocia “Lola”  Pulido still haunted the Tizon family.

Lola, who was "given" to Alex's parents by his grandfather, worked for the Tizons 24-7, sleeping in whatever space in the house was given her, prevented from returning home to the Philippines, and constantly abused verbally.

Alex wrote about Lola's slave-like life, and his family's secret, in a cover story for The Atlantic.

"Lola was treated very poorly by Alex's parents and by Alex's grandfather," admitted widow Melissa. "That's the thing that Alex struggled with his whole life."

Melissa added that Alex and his brothers and sisters were very upset about how their parents treated Lola, and there was a lot of tension in the Tizon household because of it.

She also understood the condemnation the Tizons received because of the way Lola was treated, and that it was right that people should be angry about it.

"I know that Alex's brothers and sisters are very, very angry about it, in how much it had done to their whole lives."

Melissa herself was anguished that Lola went through what she had, and wished things could have turned out better than they did.

"I wish Lola could've spent more time with them (Lola's family in the Philippines)," confessed Melissa. "It's just so heartbreaking to me that she didn't get to spend more time with her family, and didn't get to support them the way that she thought, the way Alex's parents promised that she would."

"We are all very, very sorry about everything that happened," she lamented. "I mean it's tragic, very tragic." — DVM, GMA News