THE Metro Manila Development Authority has resumed its rescue operations of streetchildren, vagrants, street dwellers and mendicants in the National Capital Region.
More than 57 people, including minors, were rescued in the latest operations done by members of the MMDA Metropolitan Manila Social Services Office in Manila, Makati and Quezon City.
MMDA general manager Thomas Orbos said the agency resumed its series of rescue operations to prevent accidents as the street dwellers risk their lives approaching moving vehicles recklessly begging for alms.
The rescue operation was conducted in close coordination with local government, police and Department of Social Welfare and Development officials.
Last year, local government officials appealed to the Metro Manila Council, the MMDA’s policy making body, to find and discuss with the national government the permanent solution to the worsening street dwelling problem in NCR.
Government records showed there are more than 1,500 street families in the metropolis.
Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada is considering putting up a housing facility for street dwellers.
He said the city government was looking for available land where this planned village for street dwellers would be put up.
“They can’t stay in temporary government shelters forever. They should have a place of their own where they can start their lives again,” the mayor said.
Arnold Pangan, officer-in-charge of the Manila Social Welfare Department, said the National Housing Authority agreed to help in constructing the shelters.
He added the project was being handled by MSWD, Urban Settlement Office and City Planning Office.
Through the help of various non-government organizations, Pangan said at least 10 homeless families had been given their own houses in Nueva Ecija, with 20 to 30 more to follow.
The MSWD has been continuously rounding up street dwellers in the city, including ambulant vendors who have no permanent place to stay in, in compliance with Estrada’s “zero street dwellers” campaign.
However, unlike the previous years, Pangan said they have been rescuing fewer street dwellers nowadays, from an average of 100 a day to only 20 because of their relentless operations.
He said most of them were not even from the city.
All the rescued street dwellers are fed, bathed, and subjected to medical checkup before being turned over to the city-owned Manila Boystown Complex in Marikina City, according to Pangan.