28 street kids “rescued”

CEBU, Philippines - At least 28 street children were rescued during an “Operation Gugma” roundup Wednesday night by the police, volunteers and social workers from the Cebu City government.

The personnel did simultaneous roundup in different areas of the city, particularly V. Gullas Street, Carbon Public Market, Fuente Osmeña, Redemptorist Church, Colon Street, General Arcadio Maxilom Avenue, and the North Reclamation Area near SM mall, where there is a concentration of street children.

Of the 28, the youngest was three years old while the oldest was 15 years old. Following their “rescue” four of the street children four stayed with the Parian Drop-in Center while five left the center and then went back after a day. The rest were “claimed” by their parents.

Commission for the Welfare and Protection of Children executive director Redentor Betito said they would provide the parents of the street children livelihood so their children would not go back to the streets.

As the commission is now in-charge of the remaining balance of P2.8 million allotted for the implementation of a Comprehensive Strategic Program for Street Children, Betito said they offered employment to 10 parents as park attendants.

This was in line with efforts to strengthen the city’s after-care program for street children, considering that the city has been doing this for almost 30 years already yet little development has been observed.

Despite this, however, City Councilor Magarita Osmeña, designated deputy mayor for social services, said it would not stop them from employing the same methods they used.

“I admit that we were weak there. I will admit that we are weak in the after-care (program). Don’t count your failures all the time because you’re gonna stop. How do you think we’ve been doing this for 30 years if we would always be discouraged?  We would have stopped long time ago,” she said.  (FREEMAN)