'Octomom' gets support from Fil-Ams in California

LOS ANGELES — Giving birth to octuplets is news enough. But since a team of 46 physicians and other staff members at the Kaiser Permanente hospital in Bellflower helped an unemployed single mother deliver her eight kids last January 26, the human interest news has evolved into a public debate on reproductive ethics, moral aptitude, and practical reasoning. Nadya Suleman, 33, who is already burdened with raising her six other children, could be forced out of her three-bedroom house in Whittier unless an outstanding balance of $23,224, according to newspaper reports, is paid off soon. The house is owned by Nadya’s mother, Angela Victoria Suleman, 69, a retired teacher. Angela and husband Edward Doud, 67, filed for bankruptcy in 2008, claiming nearly $1 million in liabilities, and abandoned another home in late 2007. The issue ignited heated exchange of views and opinions in California, the nation’s most religious state—where a predominantly Roman Catholic population, including Filipinos, maintain conservative reproductive rights stance. More than half of the four million Filipinos in the US live in California. “Why are some people upset about the octuplets?" asks schoolteacher and mother of four college students Maria Lourdes Valle, 54, of Orange. “Wouldn’t it be a good idea to support people like this poor mother who is brave enough to raise children in a loving home. Let’s respect and help this lady." Grandmother Claudia Garcia-Finnegan, 72, owner of a day care in Fullerton, is furious but level-headed. “She is jobless and already has six kids, por dios por santo! And then bring an additional eight more children? What will happen to these poor kids? If she wanted eight more children, why not work in my day care? I’ll hire her." “I believe that this was a poor choice on the woman’s part to bring in more babies. She can’t physically and financially be responsible to them. Like any other citizen of this country, this woman should be required to pay back every cent that she owes and not to rely on taxpayers’ money," counters Rose Joson, 32, a mother of 2 who has just been laid off of her Wal-Mart job. Helen Kintanar, 28, a physical therapist in Newport Beach suspects “bad motives from a desperate woman." She says, “Maybe that’s her only way to earn money. I don’t know what’s on her mind—maybe put the kids up for adoption, maybe write a book later? It’s just insane why a lady whose hands are already full with six kids, would want eight more." Mary Rose Diaz, a paralegal based in Downey, has an interesting view of the matter. “I don’t favor abortion or contraception. [Whatever the Lord gives], let’s accept it. If your kids are conceived out of love, no matter sandosena ito, we are duty-bound to support them. But Nadya’s kids are conceived by science, they were induced beyond the act of God and deep love." On her NBC interview with Ann Curry on February 5, Suleyman complained that society is unfairly judging her. Nadya, who has no source of income, said in a TV interview that she would be able to afford child care once she finished school, though she owes $50,000 in school loans. Meanwhile, even before she gave birth to the octuplets, Suleman was receiving $490 in monthly food stamps, and three of her children were receiving federal supplemental security income because they are disabled. “All I can say is, there are parents these days who kill their kids and commit suicide because they lose hope in supporting their children," said Rihanna Tabios, 32, a pediatric nurse,"This mother, although she could also be as desperate as the others, has chosen to give more life than surrender. I can’t judge her, I just hope that the kids live longer to enjoy life." - Philippine News