A Bicol special

Episode airs on Jan. 30, 2007 Many mining sites are found in Bicol but the region remains one of the country’s poorest. Reporter’s Notebook features the different facets of poverty in Bicol and tries to find out what the future has in store for people in the region. At a far-flung town in Camarines Norte province, reporter Jiggy Manicad finds young children who boldly explore mining tunnels. The “tunnel kids" support themselves with meager earnings from risky small-time gold mining. Despite the dangers, the children don’t seem to have a choice but to embrace their only source of livelihood. Reporter’s Notebook also asks if there programs that will help pull the children out of extreme poverty. As the sun sets, several mining communities in Panganiban, Camarines Norte come to life, as one-by-one, the nearby nightclubs start opening for business. Later at night, the places transform itself into prostitution dens where even minors sell pleasure to the miners. Some of the children have been rescued by authorities but there are still others out there, some of whom don’t seem to plan on quitting. Find out in Iris Cruz’s report why this problem has seemed unsolvable. Each year, Bicol is devastated by typhoons, which recently included “Milenyo" and “Reming". The government allocated a billion-peso calamity fund and other countries pledged donations as well. But after a couple of months, it seems nothing much has changed in the ravaged provinces of Bicol. Schools and hospitals remain are in utter disrepair; a large number of Bicolanos are still homeless. In his report, Ralph Guzman investigates the complex money trail and tries to figure out where the rehabilitation funds went.