MINDALYN’S DAUGHTER ANGELA-ENGLISH TRANSLATION

INTERVIEWEER: Good afternoon, Ma’am, thank you for allowing us to interview you and

for signing the consent letter that I have given you. So, since I have

already discussed the piece of information about our research and also the

letter was already given to you and signed, let us now start with the

interviewee. How do you do, ma’am?

INTERVIEWEE: I am ok.

INTERVIEWER: Can you introduce yourself Ma’am?

INTERVIEWEE: Yes, I am that, I am Angela from Mano San Remigio. I am the eldest of

Mindalyn's children and have two children, a girl, and a boy. Then,

ummm.... coming on August 15.

INTERVIEWER: Since you’ve witnessed that your mother was being beaten ma’am, can

you share with us when you saw that your mother was being beaten by her

sibling?

INTERVIEWEE: So, I was in grade 5 and my youngest brother, I think, was in grade 3, so

my age at that time was 13. Because I was a repeater, due to our situation,

we always transferred to another place, and then, that time we stayed in

our rented house in Mandaue last January 10, 2008, because our father

died that time, and we were very sad about it, and we didn’t like our

father's siblings because they always said that our mother was secondhand.

That is why we transferred to another place, because the siblings of my

father always wanted a conflict with my mother. So, our uncle Brendon
 arrived and asked for money. My mother explained that she didn’t have

money because it was being borrowed by her friend, but Uncle Brendon

insisted that he would charge it. Then my mother explained to him that her

friend couldn’t pay for it as of now because she was bereaved of her

father, and my uncle Brendon was very upset. That pushed him to punch

and kick my mother. Then we hugged our mother. However, Uncle

Brendon stopped beating her and my mother was just crying. That was the

starting point of my hate toward him.

INTERVIEWER: Did it happen again, ma’am?

INTERVIEWEE: Yes, when the time came when we rented a house at the Gairan Uncle

Brendon knew where we were staying on May 6, 2013, I think he was

asking for money from my mother again. Unfortunately, my mother

couldn’t give him the money, which is why he smashed a glass bottle.

When I went back, my mother's hand was bloodied. Unfortunately, uncle

Brendon was already set out, but after a few months, he came back from

Negros and stayed in our house for how many months, and my mother was

repeatedly beaten by my uncle.

INTERVIEWER: What month was it when it happened, ma'am?

INTERVIEWEE: I thought it was April 14, 2013, I guess... It’s exactly my mother's

birthday. He was asking for money again for his cockfight bet, but my

mother paid our bill in our rented house. He was angry and started

punching and kicking my mother, so we just hugged our mother and

 begged him to stop while saying “stop it uncle, please pity her”. However,

he neglected to listen and he also kick me, and I was just crying from the

pain. My uncle Brendon was so cruel!

INTERVIEWER: It did not happen again, Ma’am? And how many months did it take your

uncle Brendon to stop beating your mother?

INTERVIEWEE: Yes Ma’am, I was very thankful that Uncle Brendon had already set out at

that time. I think it has been 3 years since we were freed. However, I don’t

know why Uncle Brendon went back again on March 25, 2017. He poured

hot water on my mother, and on December 17, 2017, it happened again.

My mother’s life was in danger, so I ran away because Uncle Brendon tied

up my mother with a rope because he wanted to kill her. I reached out to

get help in our neighborhood, and as I went back, I thought my mother had

already died, but she just fainted after losing a lot of blood. My mother

tried to kill herself by attempting to drink the chemicals used to clean the

CR. It’s muriatic acid. We both started crying. Therefore, my mother

didn’t do it again. Unfortunately, the worst thing was that she was always

suffering from her illness. She would never be the same as before. She

would cry when she moved. The swelling on her left side was getting

bigger, and if it was accidentally touched or grazed, it would pus and

bleed. That is why she always gets a fever and the reason why I got

married so that I could simply help my mother. I married an untimely boy

from Maño. When my husband gave me money from fishing, I would give
 my mother even a little because she was having trouble. How I wish Uncle

Brendon hadn’t beat her.

INTERVIEWER: In that incident, Ma’am, you didn’t report it to the police since it was a

very crucial thing that he did to your mother?

INTERVIEWEE: My mother didn’t want to report it to the police because it was just

siblings.

INTERVIEWER: Was 2017 the last time your mother suffered violence from her siblings?

You didn’t see your uncle Brendon again after that?

INTERVIEWEE: No more however we knew that he was already in the prison he deserved.

Hopefully, he will never appear again to my mother because my mother is

getting older now... She has crucial experience from his hand, but if that

happens again, I will not hesitate to blot him. I will take him to jail.

INTERVIEWER: What is your mother's coping mechanism to forget the violence she

experienced from her sibling?

INTERVIEWEE: No... It's hard for her to forget that, and she even had a nightmare that she

was beaten again by Uncle Brendon, but what she did this time was have a

sideline job, doing laundry for our neighbor, home service for those who

needed it, selling viands, and BBQ. She would go with her friends to

videoke, but she didn’t drink, and she would join her friends to get

together and vibe on the beach while they grilled fish. My mother was

being entertained, and until now, that's what she did.

INTERVIEWER: To your children ma’am?

INTERVIEWEE: Yes, she takes good care of them, but my youngest brother has died. Judy

died because of fraternity gang violence. I guess it is 2018. We were very

sad and cried, but my mother doesn’t have any anger toward God because

she thinks maybe there is a reason why he got Judy... At that time, my

mother only says, "God guide Judy wherever he is now." Also, my mother

reads the bible every night and she never absent during the Sabbath Day.

Sometimes she invites me to their church and lets me read the bible, but I

refuse because I don’t want to feel tired when I read. And my mother was

always by my side when I delivered. Even though she was sick, she was

the one who took good care of me. My mother loves my children so much.

If I scolded my children, she also warns me not to.

INTERVIEWER: So, it seems to Ma'am that 2017 was the last violence your mother

experienced from her sibling, and until now she has tactics and reason to

pursue life even though her experience with her sibling was very tragic?

Then the coping mechanism that she used now and then was to continue to

live her life for you as her child, for her grandchildren, for her friends, and

for being religious.

INTERVIEWEE: Yes, it seems like her coping mechanism before was the same one she

used until now.

INTERVIEWER: Okay, ma'am, since you already answered the questions I asked, we need

to end our interview this afternoon, thank you so much, ma'am, God bless

you and your kids.