The Palace has denied it is shelling out money to hide away street children in time for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to be held later this month.
This was in response to the claim of Manila Archbishop Broderick Pabillo that the government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development, was distributing P4,000 to homeless people so that they could rent temporary homes between Nov. 15 and 20.
By sheer coincidence, these are the dates when 21 heads of state and their staff would fly in to the Philippines for the summit that would talk about economic development and poverty alleviation, among others.
According to a Palace spokesman, the P4,000 is not meant to keep the homeless out of sight of the world leaders. It is, instead, part of the modified conditional cash transfer program.
This is nothing new. In January, when Pope Francis was here, the same DSWD sent street children and their families to a Nasugbu, Batangas resort for a workshop. The Palace claimed that such activities were conducted all the time, with or without VIPs coming to visit.
DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman also said the children were sent away so they would not be vulnerable to the influx of people coming to witness the pope.
This time around, however, there will be no crowds congregating on streets to catch a glimpse of the world leaders. In fact, students and workers are getting additional holidays, whether they like it or not, to give the illusion that driving through Metro Manila is a breeze.
To which, then, will the homeless be vulnerable?
We are aghast that the Palace still has the gall to invent excuses for such obvious acts of cover-up. Then again, despite its much-vaunted straight-path policy, it has never been big enough to admit its weaknesses and failures. After five years, we have become used to this pattern.
For an administration that prides itself in its supposed transparency, this one seems to have a lot to hide.