Ed Billones, who donated the pushcart to Abawag, said people without homes were often viewed as "lazy and addicts".
In reality, many have come from the provinces in search of work that did not materialise or were forced from their homes by domestic abuse or the loss of the family breadwinner.
Scavenger Boyet Torres, 59, said he fled a violent father decades ago.
He has lost count of the number of pushcarts that have been confiscated by local officials during street-clearing operations.
"If I don't have one, I'm unable to earn," said Torres, who collects plastic bottles and cardboard.
"I'll only earn 30 pesos (54 cents) a day (using sacks) and that's just enough for food. If I have a kariton, I can earn up to 150 pesos."
Every night, Abawag and her now four-year-old son sleep inside their pushcart parked under a tree on the footpath of a busy street.
The cart is 1.6 metres (5.2 feet) long and 31 centimetres (about one foot) wide and contains all their worldly goods like a torch, radio, soap, pillows, blankets and toys.
When it rains, Abawag pulls a clear plastic sheet over the top to keep them dry.
Metres away, people eat at restaurants that Abawag will likely never be able to afford.
After losing a precious bag of clothes to a thief, Abawag now locks the pushcart and secures it to the tree before she sets out on foot every day to sell rags.
"If I sell enough rags, I buy food. If I don't have any sales then I wait for people to give us food," she said.
Abawag said she was embarrassed when she began living on the streets. But her religious faith helped her adjust.
"I'm not afraid to live on the street because I pray to God to not abandon us," she said.
