Mendicants roam around as Christmas holidays start
TACLOBAN CITY- As the holiday season starts, one does not only see the glitter of Christmas decors and items for sale at the downtown area but also an increasing number of beggars and mendicants begging for alms and money.
Jaime Eclavea, DSWD OIC-assistant regional director, said that the beggars roaming around at the downtown area is the concern of the city government. Intervention responsibility of the DSWD regional office comes when the City Social Welfare Development Office calls for help.
On the part of the city police office, they said that they have no facility for unfortunate children and beggars.
“Tacloban City police office has no facility for unfortunate children,” a police officer, who asked not to be named, said.
Eclavea said that the DSWD just lacks time to attend to mendicants at the downtown area but assured that they will act on the situation based on the recommendation of the city social welfare officer.
“We will provide a copy to the city mayor regarding the programs of the DSWD,” he said.
During Yuletide Seasons, beggars have fashioned their skills to attract sympathy of people. Gone are the days when blind persons playing a guitar will just be contented with a few coins dropped by some kind hearted souls.
Many of them now resort to numerous techniques and some even use infants to win sympathy. There are those who pretend to be mute while others hand out pieces of paper purportedly signed by government officials.
Some tell stories that they need to buy medicine for hospitalized relatives. Also common are children suddenly appearing in between traffic stops to quickly clean the windshields of vehicles or climb inside public utility jeepneys and wipe the shoes of passengers as a pretext for asking money.
In Metro Manila, among the common ethnic tribes are the Aetas and Igorots who used to roam around. With crude instruments such as home made drums, they would go from house to house entertaining people with their traditional dance in the hope that people would be kind enough to give them money. (SYLVIA ALVERO ABADINGO)
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