MANILA, Philippines – With Manila's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit now over, a more permanent solution to the capital's problem of street dwellers should now be discussed, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said on Monday, November 23.
This comes after various sectors criticized the government for keeping homeless families out of sight of the foreign dignitaries and international journalists flying into Manila for the key regional meeting – a claim denied by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). (READ: In hiding street children for APEC, PH gov't violating rights)
The Manila city government also "rescued" street children prior to the APEC summit, but city officials said they have been doing so regularly, and not just for the international event.
In a statement on Monday, Estrada also said the city government has a "continuing campaign" to rescue the homeless and take them off the streets.
But he added that a more permanent solution should be found.
"I firmly believe that as part of fulfilling our mandate to care for the citizens and help them have productive lives, we should implement a permanent solution to the issue on street dwelling families," Estrada said.
He added, “Anything short of that, like hiding these people during special events in our country as critics claimed, would just be a ‘band-aid solution,’ or temporarily covering the wound or the problem."
Arnold Pangan, head of the Manila Department of Social Welfare (MDSW), also said that contrary to claims that they hid street families, they were taken away to be "processed" for inclusion in assistance programs for street dwellers.
"In compliance with the directive of Mayor Estrada, the MDSW has been doing this for years now at a frequency of at least two times a week – not just during the November APEC preparation, and in all of the six districts of Manila – not just in the APEC-busy streets," he said.
But non-governmental organization Bahay Tuluyan has disputed these claims, pointing out that the same thing was done by the DSWD during the papal visit in January.
Catherine Scerri, deputy director of Bahay Tuluyan, said some street families reported feeling that they were "not given a choice" in the rescue operations. – with reports from Fritzie Rodriguez/Rappler.com