Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada has directed the city government’s social welfare unit to double its efforts in removing vagrants and homeless children from the streets where they are susceptible to road accidents and crimes.
Estrada said the city government is not about to relax its anti-street dwelling policies, not because he considers those street people eyesores but because he wants to give them a better chance in life.
“Instead of seeking alms and getting involved in crimes, those homeless people, especially the streetchildren, need care and guidance. We’re taking them out of the streets to protect them,” the mayor said, citing several instances where street-children were either hurt or killed while loitering in the streets.
Last month, Estrada issued Executive Order No. 10, directing all concerned city departments to conduct operations to achieve the city government’s goal of “zero street dwellers in the City of Manila.”
The Manila Department of Social Welfare has formed Task Force Reach-Out to carry out these sustained rescue operations, the latest of which was conducted last week in Binondo where 121 street people were taken into custody.
Of these individuals, 86 were adults, 26 were minors, and eight were elderly. An infant was also among those that were taken care of, per task force chief Laure Clemente, head of the Reception and Action Center of the MDSW.
Clemente said some of them have been released to their families after an extensive verification process.
“Many of the minors we rescued were ‘solvent’ users while others, especially the adults, were those so-called vagrants, with no houses. We have to take them out of the streets because it’s dangerous for them,” the MDSW official pointed out.
The street people have been turned over to the city-run Manila Boys Town Complex in Marikina City for temporary safekeeping, where the children will be enrolled in the Fugoso Integrated School that offers Alternative Learning System for free, according to Clemente.
At the facility, Clemente said the street children will have decent shelters, clothes, foods, medicines, and proper healthcare; as for the adults, they will undergo development activities such as skills and livelihood trainings and basic business management courses.
Upon their release, the adults may also be referred to the Public Employment Service Office for job referrals, she added.