‘Bangkang papel’ boy passes away

One of the three “bangkang papel” boys during the time of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo passed away on Thursday, according to a report by radio dzMM.

The report said 24-year-old Erwin Dolera died at San Lazaro Hospital after two weeks of battling pneumonia and complications due to tuberculosis.

Dolera was only 8 years old when he, together with two other boys Jomar Pabalan and Jayson Vann Banogon, wrote their dreams and wishes on a paper boat which they let sail into the Pasig River, directed at Malacañang Palace.

In her first State of the Nation Address in 2001, Arroyo told the stories of the three, who have since become symbols of her administration’s antipoverty efforts.

Dolera, Pabalan, and Banogan were victims of the Payatas landfill tragedy in July 2000 that buried alive hundreds of people. YG