Life Among the Living—and the Dead: Reclaiming Dignity from the Margins

Stories of Resiliency, Hope and Restoration (ENG)

Alex is 37 years old, a father, a partner, and a survivor of extreme poverty. Before incarceration, he worked as a truck driver, earning just enough to get by. Today, he lives with his partner, Lana, and their five children inside the Manila North Cemetery, one of the most striking symbols of urban poverty in Metro Manila.

The cemetery is home to thousands of informal settler families who live among mausoleums and crypts, forming a fragile but resilient community. Here, survival depends on ingenuity: grave caretaking, small vending, construction work, and seasonal labor during All Souls’ Day. It is a life marked by constant threats of eviction, stigma, and uncertainty.

Alex does not romanticize this reality. He admits that poverty once pushed him toward poor choices and a troubled life. Meeting Lana became a turning point. With her, he tried to live “straight,” building a family despite overwhelming odds.

Incarceration disrupted that fragile stability. When Alex returned, opportunities were fewer, and needs were greater. He now earns below minimum wage as a part-time construction worker, while Lana runs a small street-food stall inside the cemetery. Their former sari-sari store—once their main source of income—closed during the pandemic and never recovered.

BANDILA entered Alex’s life not with promises, but with presence. After assessment, the program extended a microbusiness loan to expand Lana’s street-food venture, stabilizing the family’s daily income. The long-term goal is clear: to reopen their sari-sari store and help Alex regain essential legal documents, including the renewal of his driver’s license—steps critical to accessing better employment.

What makes Alex’s story powerful is its setting. Reintegration does not always happen in tidy neighborhoods or ideal conditions. Sometimes, it happens among the dead, where families fight daily for dignity, education, and hope.

BANDILA recognizes that healing and restoration must be contextual. Support for Alex’s family is not charity, it is an investment in breaking cycles of poverty, incarceration, and exclusion. With continued monitoring, livelihood support, and participation in BANDILA’s planned “Ugnayan” Circle of Support, Alex and his family are not left to struggle alone.

To support BANDILA is to affirm that even in places forgotten by society, life can be rebuilt. Alex’s journey reminds us that restoration begins when someone chooses to see worth where the world sees none.