A social media post by producer Bobby Rodriguez has gone viral after he shared a moving encounter with an elderly woman withdrawing her last few pesos at an ATM in 7/11 Atria.
Rodriguez said he was lining up when he noticed the woman, accompanied by her young granddaughter, checking her balance.
“The screen showed Php 150.00. She stared at it for what felt like forever, then pressed ‘Withdraw Cash.’ She typed 100.00. My heart sank. I could tell she needed that money,” he wrote.
He recalled overhearing the woman say they would buy doughnuts on a buy-one-take-one promo so she and her grandchild could share a snack. Moved by the scene, Rodriguez decided to act. Instead of proceeding with his withdrawal, he rushed to the cashier to buy a box of assorted doughnuts and two beverages for the woman.
“My friends didn’t come, so I couldn’t finish my food. I’m in a hurry, so I’d like to give these to you.” The woman responded with a simple, “Thank you,” he said.
While the good deed was meant to inspire, Rodriguez admitted that he felt rage that the country’s broken system prevented a woman who had a P100 in her bank account to enjoy a simple pleasure with her loved one while corrupt officials flaunted their wealth openly.
“In a world this cruel, a box of doughnuts and two sodas should never have to be the highlight of someone’s day…yet for them it might have been. And that reality is what truly breaks me,” he wrote.
