Servant of God Darwin Ramos

Darwin Ramos (December 17, 1994 – September 23, 2012) was a Filipino street child and waste picker. His cause for canonization was opened in August 2019 in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cubao in the Philippines. He is a Servant of God. Darwin Ramos was born on December 17, 1994, in Doña Marta Maternity Hospital, in Pasay. Darwin spent his early years with his family along P. Villanueva St., Pasay. Their house was in a slum between EDSA and Libertad LRT stations. Darwin was the second child of nine children of a very poor family. His mother worked as a laundrywoman to earn some money to provide for her family while his father was an alcoholic. In order to help his family, Darwin became a waste picker in the street, with his sister Marimar who was two years younger. They spent their day going through garbage to recover plastic waste which they sold. The children did not go to school because of grave financial situation. At 7 years old, he was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic disease characterized by muscle weakness. This began as weakness in the legs. Then, his mother noticed that Darwin was stumbling increasingly. Progressively, Darwin could no longer stand as his muscles weakened further. Poverty pushed the family to live on the street. His father took advantage of Darwin's illness and he would position Darwin every morning at the Libertad station to beg from passers-by. Although he felt terrible shame, there was no other way to earn money to feed his family. His father frequently took a large portion of the money to buy alcohol. Darwin would not complain as long as a sufficient portion was left to feed his brothers and sisters. In 2006, a group of street educators of the Tulay ng Kabataan Foundation ("A Bridge for Children Foundation"), came into contact with Darwin while he was panhandling at the Libertad station, and offered to take him in. Darwin agreed as he no longer could stand up straight.