Clark Freeport—The number of “fatherless” children have reached to an alarming level and might eventually be part of the social problem should the local government fail to address the situation.
“’Fatherless’ children is now occurring and most of these kids are offspring of different nationalities who have visited the entertainment district of Angeles City. This is the social cost we have to face and address with haste specially with the current development of the Clark International Airport,” said Barangay Balibago, Angeles City Chairman Rodelio “Tony” Mamac.
At present, Mamac said there are more than 800 to 900 fatherless children in Angeles City and nearby areas of Pampanga who were born out of wedlock with foreigner fathers. “This is the social cost we failed to notice but it is being addressed now.”
“Some of these “fatherless” children have been loitering the entertainment district obviously neglected by guardians. Some have been involved in criminal activities as young as ten years old, they are now children at risk or child-in-conflict-of-the-law” said Mamac.
Mamac said 30 percent of passengers arriving at CRK are tourists from Korea, China, Japan, India and other Asia countries not to mention United States and Australia. He said these visitors frequented the entertainment district of Angeles City (Fields Avenue) to have fun and meet new girls and eventually have intimate relationships.
“When tourists leave, they also left their girlfriends with babies,” said Mamac.
The local government including Barangay Balibago, Mamac added should be knowledgeable of the problem and must innovate an intervention, education and awareness program to arrest the growing number of fatherless kids.
“So that after three to five years when CRK is fully developed and with the increasing number of tourist arrivals, we are already prepared for such situation,” Mamac pointed out.
Mamac said the awareness campaign is not solely confine to bargirls but includes young women [students and even professionals] who are residents of Angeles City who have foreigner boyfriends whom they met through social media.
“This is part of our Barangay Council for the Protection of Children intensified efforts to strengthen our education drive among women,” said Mamac.
Mamac categorized the fatherless children roaming the streets as abandoned and neglected. He said abandoned kids are those who have no parents at all while those neglected are those with parents who left their kids to beg alms and stay on the streets.