28-Year-Old Mother in the Philippines Burnt Herself and her 3 Children Due to Postpartum Depression
INCIDENT (May 21, 2025 | Sta Maria, Bulacan, Philippines)
A 28-year-old mother tragically burned herself along with her three children due to postpartum depression. Prior to the incident, the mother had not only been suffering from postpartum depression but had also been physically ill for several days. The father, a policeman, was reportedly neglectful of the family and is alleged to have been having an affair. He was sending the mother only 2,500 pesos a week—just 2,500 pesos to support a new mother and her three young sons, aged 1, 3, and 6.
https://bandera.inquirer.net/416535/nanay-3-anak-patay-matapos-masunog-sa-loob-ng-bahay-sinadya-o-aksidente
This not just a tragedy—it’s a cry for help that went unanswered. Postpartum mental health issues, especially postpartum depression or psychosis, can be overwhelming and are often misunderstood or minimized, particularly in environments where support is scarce or societal pressures are high.
The fact that the husband, a police officer, was allegedly having an affair and sending only ₱2,500 weekly—barely enough to cover basic needs for four people—paints a picture of profound neglect. When a new mother feels abandoned emotionally, financially, and mentally while raising young children, especially in a vulnerable postpartum state, it can lead to desperation.
Some netizens—blaming the mother—is sadly common in tragedies like this, but it reveals a deep lack of understanding about mental illness, especially postpartum psychosis or depression.
These are not just moments of sadness or weakness; they are serious, clinical conditions that can distort a person’s perception of reality.
1. “Why bring the kids?” misunderstands the illness.
In cases of postpartum psychosis or severe depression, the mother’s thoughts can become dangerously distorted. She might believe she is saving her children from suffering or harm, or that they are better off with her in death. These are not rational decisions, but delusions brought on by an untreated, overwhelming mental health crisis.
2. This isn’t a morality issue—this is a health emergency.
Blaming her is like blaming someone who has a heart attack while driving and causes a crash. Mental illness can disable judgment, just as physical illness can disable the body. What she needed was care, not condemnation.
3. Where was the support?
Instead of asking why she did this, people should be asking:
-
Why didn’t she have access to mental health care?
-
Why was she financially abandoned with ₱2,500 a week to care for 3 kids?
-
Why wasn’t the husband held accountable?
-
Why don’t we talk more about the signs of postpartum disorders?
4. Compassion is the only useful response.
Anger and blame don’t bring the dead back—they only deepen the pain of those left behind. Compassion, education, and advocacy are the only ways to prevent future tragedies.
This mother wasn’t a monster.
She was sick, exhausted, and alone—trapped in a life that gave her no protection, no kindness, and no meaningful support. What happened in Sta. Maria, Bulacan, is not a simple case of wrongdoing; it’s a full-blown failure of family, community, and society.
🔥 Let’s be honest about what this woman was facing:
-
Postpartum mental illness: potentially postpartum depression or psychosis, both of which can severely distort reality.
-
Three very young children: ages 1, 3, and 6. Caring for them alone, with almost no money.
-
Emotional and financial abandonment: A husband who was allegedly cheating, barely sending ₱2,500 a week.
-
Toxic family dynamics: A mother-in-law who reportedly made things worse by sowing discord.
-
Prior reports: The father had already been "blattered" at the barangay—so the community knew something was wrong.
This was a woman standing in a house built from exhaustion, isolation, manipulation, and untreated illness. And then it burned—literally and figuratively.
🧠 The mistake people make is asking, “Why did she do this?”
The real question is:
“Why did no one help her when she was clearly drowning?”
She was not okay. She needed urgent help.
But instead of support, she was left with suspicion, blame, and abandonment.
💔 And now, after the worst has happened, people blame her?
That's not justice. That’s cowardice—an unwillingness to confront the systems and people who actually had the power to prevent this. It’s easier to blame the sick, the broken, the desperate… than to face the fact that we might be complicit in a culture that lets women suffer in silence.
--- Ruben Lagadan
Comments
Post a Comment