ANGELES CITY -- The City Government here has denied reports that it has been rounding up street children because of the ongoing Asia Pacific Economic Conference (Apec) meeting inside the Clark Freeport.
Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan described the report as "wrong and malicious."
"We have been doing this years before. It is our policy to rescue street children roaming the streets in line with the country's compliance to the Millennium Development Goals, the Local Government Code which explicitly states that 'it shall be a policy to protect and rehabilitate children gravely threatened or endangered by circumstances which affect or will affect their survival and normal development and over which they have no control', and other pertinent laws like the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse Act and the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act," said Pamintuan.
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/2015/01/27/pamintuan-street-kids-rescue-not-apec-388860
The mayor said that the children roam the streets because they are hungry and some of them have resorted to begging to buy and sniff "rugby" or addictive solvent.
"This enabled them to forget hunger. We feed them, give them shelter and return them to their respective families. We also educate them and their parents. In some cases, we even file formal complaints against the parents in line with the Juvenile Welfare Act," he added.
The problem is nationwide with around 45,000 to 50,000 highly visible children on the streets, according to the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) in their article titled "Proliferation of street children: a threat to the MDGs," said the mayor.
"We did this in 2011 when we noted hordes of Badjaos were roaming our streets who put up shanties along our river banks. After negotiating with them, they agreed to voluntarily demolish their makeshift houses built on the riverbed of Abacan in exchange for cash assistance to go back to their province. We will do it again and again and again for the welfare of our children and the people of the City of Angeles," he said.
He also lamented that after receiving financial assistance from the local government, many of the relocated Badjaos returned to the streets.
The City Government received complaints about street children who become aggressive and hostile if they were not given alms; resorting to spitting at people, snatching and other petty crimes.
In order to address this concern, the local government has partnered with NGOs, including the different Rotary Clubs in Angeles City, Kuliat Foundation and concerned business establishments to come up with a long-term and sustainable solution to rehabilitate and educate these children.
Pamintuan admitted that this is a complicated problem and there is no easy fix for it.
"There must be a concerted effort among all stakeholders to put available resources together, in order to assure that our children are not out in the street begging and being introduced to a life of criminality. They should be in school learning or with their fellow children playing and studying in a safe and secured environment," he said.//
