From Begging in the Streets to Graduating With Honors: The Remarkable Journey of Eugene Dela Cruz

What happens when a young boy is thrown out of the house for taking the courage to come out as gay to his family, and ends up begging on the streets of Manila with nothing but grit and a dream?

That was the experience of Eugene Dela Cruz when he was 12 years old. His recent Facebook post tugged the nation’s heart and became viral. It was a powerful testimony of survival, resilience, and grit. Here it is:

I wasn’t supposed to make it here.

Not to Ateneo.

Not to any graduation.

Not even to this very day.

At twelve, I ceased to be a child. I became a ghost in the city—roaming Metro Manila’s unforgiving streets, not from bravery, but because I had nowhere else to go. I begged for coins, rationed a single stale bread across three desperate meals, and found refuge wherever night fell, drenched beneath tricycles when it poured, curled up in dark alleyways when it didn’t.  Public restrooms became my sanctuary: where I washed my body, my clothes, and tried, vainly, to scrub away the shame.

No one noticed when I vanished from school.

No one asked where I had gone.

And for the longest time, I stopped asking, too.

Four years of my youth vanished, never to return. As the world raced on, I became invisible.

Survival wasn’t about dreaming; it was a daily battle to simply breathe.

When a lifeline came, a chance to return to school, I almost turned away. I was behind, underprepared, haunted by memories I couldn’t name. “Who am I,” I wondered, “to hope for a future?”

Then, by some miracle, Ateneo saw beyond my tattered story and took a chance on someone like me.

They didn’t see empty forms, just a child desperate for a second chance. They didn’t ask for polished essays or connections. They offered me something far more precious: belief.

From that moment, I clung to hope with all I had.

I choreographed festival dances to earn my next meal.

I tutored strangers to afford rent.

I walked into classrooms, weighed down by notebooks in one hand, invisible scars in the other.

Some days, I trembled, convinced I didn’t belong beside my blockmates and coursemates who were nothing short of amazing. I worried my poverty would echo too loudly in those hallowed halls. But I stayed because, at the very least, the people that I have encountered throughout my Ateneo journey made me feel that I belong and said, “You matter.”

I may not have a relative cheering from the stands. I may not have a home waiting at journey’s end. But I discovered a new family:

The Office of Admission and Aid, who saw my potential when I could only see failure.

The Ateneo Alumni Scholars Association, who held my hand through the darkest doubts.

Scholars United, who reminded me I was never truly alone.

Mentors. Friends. Classmates. Kind strangers. People who didn’t have to care but did.

And most of all, a God who didn’t dwell in distant pews but knelt beside me in every flooded street, every cold restroom stall, every tear I couldn’t stifle.

You might not have a roaring stadium behind you. You might feel abandoned. But I hope you know this:

You are seen by the ones who choose to stay.

You are carried by love that never falters.

You possess a strength no hardship can steal.

Because that strength carried me past broken dreams, past every “no,” past every night I thought I couldn’t survive, straight to this very moment.

I wasn’t meant to make it here, but by some grace, I did.

And if you are still fighting, still breathing, still daring to hope…

Then perhaps, so will you.

Eugene Dela Cruz

Bachelor of Arts in Economics (Honors Program)

Specialization in Financial Economics, Minor in Decision Science

Honorable Mention

Third Best Undergraduate Thesis in Economics

Ateneo de Manila University, Class of 2025

Last Saturday, I had the privilege to sit down and have a meal with Eugene Dela Cruz. We talked about the truth behind this viral post and his media coverage—the silent battles of being disowned by family, the pain of rejection, hunger, uncertainty, the mental and physical toll of living on the streets. And most importantly, we talked about the emotional, financial, and intellectual courage it took him to climb out of despair and into one of the most prestigious programs in one of the country’s top universities.

His story is not just about hardship. It’s about agency—the power to choose education over hopelessness, to ask for help, to pursue dignity in the most undignified circumstances.

Whether you’re a student, a parent, an employee, or anyone navigating your own storms, Eugene’s story will move you and challenge you to rethink what hardships and success really mean.

I’m inviting you to join our conversation. You will walk away inspired, and perhaps, with a bit more gratitude and optimism to face your own journey.

Click here https://youtu.be/MnRBTNrLF8I

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Take the FQ Test to know where you are in your FQ journey. click here.

2. Get your copies of the final installment of the FQ Trilogy, Click here.

3. If you want to donate to the SAGE Scholarship Fund, please message me at [email protected] or [email protected].

This article is also published in PhilStar.