Prevalence,
Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first decade of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/Philippines.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in Philippines. Some of
these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated
or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity
or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspect(s) of street life are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got there, how they survive, and how
some manage to leave the street.
Perhaps your paper could focus on how some street children abuse the
public and how they are abused by the public … and how they abuse each
other. Would you like to write about
market children? homeless children? Sexual and labor exploitation? begging? violence? addiction? hunger? neglect? etc. There is a lot to the subject of Street
Children. Scan other countries as well
as this one. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Stairway away from
Hell Signe Damkjaer, ScandAsia - Denmark
News, 02 January 2008 www.scandasia.com/viewNews.php?coun_code=dk&news_id=4009 [accessed 7 July
2011] streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/stairway-away-from-hell/ [accessed 28
December 2016] VICTIMS OF POVERTY - The boys who are
staying at Stairway are between 13 and 18 years old and from Manila. They
have been living on the street either because they do not have a family or
have run away from home. “Most of the
children are victims of poverty and the consequences of poverty which are
broken families, violence, drugs, alcoholism, and in many cases sexual
abuse,” Lars explains. “It is a great decision for a child at the age of 10
to decide to run away from home. They will take a lot of beating before that.
I think the sexual abuse is what really makes then run away,” he says. Death squads roam
Davao–UN, monitors Agence France-Presse AFP, Davao, February 13, 2008 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July
2011] All the young Davao
victims lived on the street, had joined gangs, and many had police records
for petty crime or were drug couriers, local rights monitors say. “The death squads
are actually copying Brazil,” he said, referring to the wave of vigilante
killings of street children in the South American country in the 1990s. “They said that
this is a good thing for Davao. This is good for business because people feel
safe, that the DDS [Davao death squads] is doing a service to the
community—that they’re trying to get rid of the garbage,” he said. Rescue or ruin in
Manila? The Australian
National University ANU News, Autumn 2008 news.anu.edu.au/?p=457 [accessed 7 July
2011] streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/rescue-or-ruin-in-manila/ [accessed 28
December 2016] WHY ARE STREET
CHILDREN TREATED SO POORLY IN THE PHILIPPINES? - Generally, street children have
refused to remain in neglected, hidden away areas of the city. We found that
the majority of street children had staked out the most beautified areas of
the city – squares, major highways, outside shopping centres,
markets, fountains, tourist attractions, and near restaurants. These are
areas of the city that are rich in resources: people to beg from, tourists to
sell small items to, restaurants that hand out free food, grass to sleep on,
fountains to wash in, and plenty of areas to play. But they are also areas of
the city that the wealthier residents of the city would prefer to claim as
their own – and to keep ‘beautiful’. This situation has
given rise to many uncomfortable encounters between the rich and poor. While
walking along the streets or sitting in a restaurant, you’re often approached
by snotty-nosed, barefooted, half-naked street children asking for food.
Others can be seen tapping on tinted car windows, asking for money. Walking
down the steps to the train station, you see mothers holding out malnourished
babies. And in the parks or outside the local 7/11, street children can be
found sniffing rugby (a brand of glue). This seems to have incubated a lot of
distrust, frustration, and hostility among the general public towards street
children. Street children are often called ‘yagit’
by the general public – which translates as ‘rubbish on the street’. The Filipino kids
still behind bars Father Shay Cullen, Preda Foundation, 27-Jul-2007 www.preda.org/main/archives/2007/r07072701.html [accessed 7 July
2011] www.columban.org.au/archives/features/2008/children-behind-bars [accessed 28
December 2016] There has been progress
in saving and releasing hundreds of small children and youth from the stench
filled cells across the Philippines. President Macapagal-Arroyo
ordered last 16 July 2007 that all children be released from the prisons,
police jails and so-called reception centers, a euphemism for child prisons.
The Preda children's home in Olongapo
is almost full but ready to receive more children and is building a new home
for some of those to be released. Cradle a child prison in Metro Manila is to
be closed. The president heard the cries of the children echoed by the
charities helping them survive. There could yet be
an estimated 20,000 waiting for freedom. The new Juvenile Justice and Welfare
law says they must be released, the presidential executive order 633 made only
this July, says it must be implemented without delay but bureaucracy is
moribund and there is no ready homes for the many children behind bars. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of
Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor U.S. Dept of Labor
Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2005 www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/philippines.htm [accessed 16
December 2010] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children living on the streets engage in informal
labor activities such as scavenging or begging. Children are also
engaged in domestic service and are involved in the commercial sex industry,
including the use of children in the production of pornography and the
exploitation of children by sex tourists. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61624.htm [accessed 29 March
2020] CHILDREN
- The government
estimated that there were at least 22 thousand street children nationwide.
UNICEF estimated that there were approximately 250 thousand street children.
Welfare officials believed that the number increased as a result of
widespread unemployment in rural areas. Many street children appeared to be
abandoned and engaged in scavenging or begging. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 3 June 2005 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/philippines2005.html [accessed 16
December 2010] [82] The Committee
reiterates its grave concern at the high number of children living in the
streets and their special vulnerability to various forms of violence and
abuse, including sexual abuse and exploitation, economic exploitation and
substance abuse. The Committee notes the lack of a systematic and
comprehensive strategy to address the situation and protect children living
in the streets. The Committee emphasizes that unlawful arrests and detentions
of street children are serious violations of the provisions and principles of
the Convention. Notwithstanding the efforts taken by the State party and, in
particular many non-governmental organizations working with and for street
children, e.g. ChildHope Asia Philippines, the
Committee is concerned about street children’s limited access to adequate
nutrition, clothing, housing, social and health services and education.
Furthermore, the Committee is concerned about health risks faced by street
children, including environmental health risks, such as toxic and hazardous
wastes and air pollution. Tough justice: On
the trail of Philippine death squads David McNeill, The
Independent, Davao, 1 June 2009 [accessed 7 July 2011] They came to kill
her children one by one. First was Richard in 2001, then his brother
Christopher. Bobby was taken from her the following year, and Fernando in
2007. Now Clarita Alia lives in fear that Arnold, her remaining son, is next.
And far from protecting her shattered family, it is the police who are behind
the killings, she says. “The police
said, ‘We will take your sons one by one’,” recalls the 54-year-old
grandmother at the graveside of her murdered brood in the southern Philippine
city of Davao. “They may kill me too, but I am not afraid to die. I’m already
old.” The mayor of the
country’s second-biggest city says they all deserved to die. “What I want to
do it so instil fear,” he told reporters earlier
this year. “If you are doing an illegal activity in my city, if you are a
criminal or part of a syndicate that preys on the innocent people of the
city, for as long as I am the mayor, you are a legitimate target of
assassination.” Philippines Aids
Death Squads, Group Says The Associated Press
AP, April 7, 2009 www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/07/world/main4924960.shtml [accessed 7 July
2011] Police and
government officials abetted the killings and provided training and weapons
to squads responsible for more than 800 deaths in the southern Philippines,
including those of suspected criminals and street children as young as 14, an
international human rights group said Tuesday. New York-based Human Rights Watch said its
investigation showed 814 suspected drug dealers, petty criminals and street
children allegedly involved in gangs were gunned down as a crime deterrent
between 1998 and February 2009 in Davao city. Thirty-three killings were
reported in the southern city in January alone. "The hundreds
of targeted killings in Davao city in recent years are clearly not random
events but the result of planned hits by a 'death squad' that involves police
officers and local officials," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of
Human Rights Watch. "The police
consistently fail to bring the perpetrators to justice, while the local
government cheers from the sidelines," said Roth. Roth said evidence
so far showed low-level police involvement and did not directly link Duterte or senior police officials to the killings. But
he said the mayor has given active blessing to murder as a solution to
criminality, giving tacit signal to death squads to continue their work. Police officers or
ex-police officers provided the death squads with training, weapons and
ammunition, motorcycles, and information on the targets, Human Rights Watch
said Gov’t ‘rescue’ of
street kids useless Veronica Uy, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila, 02/26/2009 newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20090226-191178/Govt-rescue-of-street-kids-useless [accessed 7 July
2011] Scerri said
government rescue operations see the children as eyesores that need to be
kept off the streets. With batons, handcuffs, and guns sometimes used in
these operations, the children therefore see them as arrests and not
rescues. “About 30 percent of those
who were rescued were sleeping, so the children wake up in the shelters
thinking they were kidnapped,” she said. Scerri told of a
street child who has been “rescued” 59 times and has kept going back to the
streets. This, she pointed out, only shows that the program “is not
working.” “It’s not effective and
it’s happening for the wrong reasons,” she said. These children and their
families need in-city, low-cost housing; alternative education; and
affordable health services, she said.
“Their families must be economically stable, because if not, the
children will go out to the streets,” she said. Scerri said street children cannot be
forced to live in shelters. She said many of them live in the streets and
have learned to survive there; their sense of identity is connected to the
streets. These children may not be
able to survive in a residential setting, she said. “They are free spirits. They have learned
to fend for themselves since they were four or five. They have a different
way of life,” she said. “Any solution
must involve knowing the kids. It’s better to let them find their own
solution than telling them this is the solution,” she added. Half of our 1.5-M
population of street children inhale glue Armando F. de Jesus,
Ph. D., The Manila Times, Feb 8, 2009 archives.manilatimes.net/national/2009/feb/08/yehey/top_stories/20090208top1.html dutch-phforum.com/index.php?topic=7357.0;wap2 [accessed 14 October
2012] STREET LIFE - Most of the kids
are unable to tell when their life in the street began. It is as if they had
been born into it and that for as long as they could remember the street had
always been part of their lives. Earning a living is
a daily preoccupation and it is in the street where they find the opportunity
to do so. Having earned some money,
food comes naturally as the next important preoccupation. Their typical meal
is a kind of porridge that they call “kabaw”—or “kanin at sabaw.” When there is no money, they resort to
begging for food scraps. One meal a
day is perhaps what a street child can most realistically expect. Having more
is a bonus. The other consuming
preoccupation is household glue. It has become part of the daily routine and
sniffing it comes almost as naturally as eating and sleeping. It has become,
in a sense, part of their survival mechanism in the city jungle. Sleep marks the end of the day. As with
waking up, there is no regular place for sleeping. For many, sleep takes
place where nightfall overtakes them or wherever their drugged body finds it
convenient to rest. The next day the
cycle begins again. Cops nab man who
forces children into begging Nestor Etolle, The Philippine Star, February 07, 2009 www.philstar.com/metro/437757/cops-nab-man-who-forces-children-begging [accessed 11
Aug 2013] A man who allegedly
abducted a five-year-old child and forced him to beg in the streets was
arrested by the police during a rescue operation in Tondo,
Manila on Thursday. During his arrest, Aleo was recognised by Espino
as the same man he had previously arrested on October 7 for abducting at
least eight street children, then turning them into beggars. The boy’s mother,
Rowena Pacis, reported to police her missing child
on Monday, and according to witnesses the boy was forcibly taken away by Aleo. Rowena
brings along her child and fend on his own while vending vegetables in Tondo market. The boy told police
he had seen the suspect ordering other street children to beg in exchange for
solvents. MMDA warns public
on ‘wealthy’ vagrants Jefferson Antiporda, The Manila Times, December 9, 2008 archives.manilatimes.net/national/2008/dec/09/yehey/top_stories/20081209top8.html [accessed 7 July
2011] The government is
advising the public to stop giving alms to vagrants who would be flooding the
major thoroughfares in Metro Manila this yuletide season. The reason: chances
are these vagrants are wealthier than the average resident of Metro Manila. SYNDICATES BEHIND
VAGRANTS
- At the same time, Nacianceno said the MMDA is now
monitoring the group responsible for transporting Igorots
from the Mount Province, Aetas from Pampanga and
even Bajao from Mindanao to Manila to become
vagrants. Naciaceno
they got information about the syndicates from the natives they earlier
rounded up and turned over to the Social Welfare department. He warned the
syndicates bringing vagrants from the provinces that the MMDA knows who they
are, and that they would be prosecuted if they continue with their criminal
activities. Zamboanga traffic
enforcers linked to execution of street boy GMANews.TV,
Zamboanga City, 12/03/2008 www.gmanews.tv/story/137217/Zamboanga-traffic-enforcers-linked-to-execution-of-street-boy [accessed 7 July
2011] A Filipino boy,
whose twin brother was found murdered, has accused traffic enforcers in this
southern city Zamboanga City for the grisly killing. The victim, Benjamin Mariga,
was stabbed 17 times and his body had been recovered on a mountain village
called Abong-Abong on Oct. 31. He was 14 years
old. The boy, his brother Paul Mariga, and four other street children were arrested late
last month by five traffic enforcers after accusing them of being thieves,
the victim's mother, Flor Mariga, said. Paul Mariga said the officers herded them into a mini-van and
brought to a place where they had been ordered to clean. Except for him and
his brother, the rest of the children either escaped or were freed by the
officers. He said they were brought to Abong-Abong
village onboard a van, but Paul Mariga claimed that
he jumped out from the vehicle and escaped after the officers tied the hands
of his brother. Paul Mariga said his brother screamed for help and told him to
run and to tell their mother about what happened. "It was the last time
I saw my brother alive. And it pains me so much after I saw his body. He was
stabbed 17 times," Paul Mariga said. Life on the Streets
of Ermita Still Beats Life Back Home: Philippine
Human Rights Reporting Project Claire Delfin, Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project, GMANews, Manila, September 25, 2008 www.mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20080924225339 [accessed 7 July
2011] [accessed 28
December 2016] Mary Grace Pulido,
17, is from Ermita. She was born there, grew up
there, and lives there. She even found her man there. Her life is on the
street. She and her family often move
from one corner to another but Mary Grace has known no other home except the
sidewalks of this tourist district of Manila, a stone’s throw from the US
Embassy. Her parents came to
the Philippine capital in the 1980s from Baguio City, 240 kilometers north of
Manila, with hopes of finding a better life. But like so many others before
and after them, all they found instead were the realities of a harsh life and
tried to survive in a city without work. Within days and with no money or
prospects for returning home they ended up on the streets, begging, living
and bringing up a family as best they could.
Their belongings comprise some folded cardboard they use as sleeping
mats, pots, pans and plate for cooking, and some clothes. When the rains
come, it is very easy to gather everything up together and run into a nearby
church for shelter. When they feel
nature’s calling, they use a nearby public toilet costing PhP
10 (US cents 22) a visit. They also use the showers here while many other
street families make do simply with the monsoon rains in the wet season and a
hosepipe and soap in the dry months.
Perhaps because they always keep together and are always moving
around, they have never been victims of violence nor recruited by criminal
gangs. Mary Grace claims she made it
to Grade 3 in school, but was forced to quit because her parents could not
afford to keep her in class. Back to the Dark
Ages, Still Jailing Children Fr. Shay Cullen,
PREDA Foundation, 19 September 2008 www.pinoypress.net/2008/09/19/back-to-the-dark-ages-still-jailing-children/ [accessed 7 July
2011] asianjournalusa.com/back-to-the-dark-ages-still-jailing-children-p5639-119.htm [accessed 28
December 2016] When I asked 13
year old Jonathan to draw a picture of himself in
jail he drew a stick like figure of a small boy hanging half way up the bars
of a prison cell. Behind him a bigger figure was hitting him with a stick.
That was his punishment every time he fell asleep when ordered by the cell
boss to guard his cell phone and stash of drugs at night in the overcrowded
cell. He was too ashamed to draw a picture of himself as a “girly-boy”. He
was sexually molested by the older prisoners. Many street
children are arrested on a pretext so the police can meet a weekly arrest
quota. Other police claim that the children are used by criminal syndicates.
Unfortunately the police are unable to catch and jail the real criminals just
the innocent children and claim “Mission accomplished”. The children behind bars in filthy
over-crowded, mosquito ridden cells are filled with bewilderment, pain and
hunger. They are the throwaway children, lost lives, wasted human beings.
They will be corrupted in the colleges of crime with other hardened
criminals. Besides they will be exposed
to malnutrition, abandonment, abuse, torture and exploitation. The evidence
of this is seen in the drawings and testimonies of the children rescued and
released from jails and detention centers. It is damming evidence of abuse
and torture and the daily violation of their human rights. A pile of rubbish
was home to baby twins Giles Hattersley,
The Sunday Times, September 7, 2008 www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4690905.ece [accessed 7 July
2011] www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/world_news/article234281.ece [accessed 28
December 2016] “One night we went out and it was pitch
black, the thunder and lightning started, then the
torrential rain came in. I squinted to try to see what was concrete, what was
rubbish, what were homes, what were people, what were limbs, what were rats.
I looked down and saw a pile of rubbish, then realised
it was a house with two baby girl twins sitting naked at the door.” Homelessness is an
epidemic in the Philippines, with people driven to the cities on the promise
of work but finding little or no support structure when they can’t make enough
to live on. Parents, who often don’t have even a basic education, struggle to
look after themselves let alone their children, so the kids run wild. And
they’re the lucky ones. Many of the children are runaways or – even sadder –
have simply been lost. The attendant
problems are as predictable as they are devastating. The majority of kids are
addicted to glue (they call it “Rug-by” after a brand of cheap glue), crime
and human trafficking are rife and both girls and boys fall into
prostitution. It’s worse at
night, says Deeley. “I met a boy called Alturo, who was 14 but looked 10, the cutest little chap
you could ever encounter. But as dusk fell it’s like the dark gets them. In
the day he was a normal, gorgeous, fun-loving boy – then at night it all changed.
He was glue-sniffing, stealing, his eyes hardened over. When it gets dark,
the older lads take over and it gets very scary. He went into survival mode. “Most of them have
rotten teeth, and loads have respiratory problems, skin diseases and eye infections
because of Manila’s huge pollution problem. They all swim in the river, which
has pipes every few hundred feet dumping in raw sewage. “The kids can’t
wash regularly, so one day we followed them to a fire station where they were
hoping to wash, but the firemen had locked the hydrants because water is so
expensive. I watched as seven of them all tried to clean themselves in a
filthy puddle behind a parked car. Suspected
pickpockets, 10 of them youngsters, nabbed Marlon Ramos,
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila, 03/19/2008 newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20080319-125728/Suspected-pickpockets-10-of-them-youngsters-nabbed [accessed 7 July
2011] “We believe those
children were members of a syndicate whose modus is to get the attention of their
would-be victims by mobbing them while pretending to be vendors selling
different items,” Trago told the Inquirer. Unfortunately, he said, some parents of
street children were the ones “encouraging” them to engage in criminal
acts. According to Trago,
the victim, his Filipina wife Wilma and two other companions had just stepped
out of the Zirkoh Comedy Bar in Timog
Avenue, in the village of South Triangle at around 2:45 a.m. when more than
12 street kids suddenly mobbed them.
Wilma said some of the children begged for money from her husband
while others asked them to buy sampaguita
flowers. “My husband got irked when
some of the kids put their hands inside the side pockets of his pants,” Wilma
narrated. She said her husband only
noticed that his wallet was missing when they boarded their vehicle. ‘Selective
vigilantism’ in Davao Nikko Dizon, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila, 04/05/2009 globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20090405-198055/%91Selective_vigilantism%92_in_Davao_%96_CHR_chief [accessed 20
September 2011] One study showed
that almost all the minors killed since 1998 were "street children or
urban living and working children."
"A significant number of young adults were former street children
and gang members," added the study provided by the Asian Human Rights
Commission (AHRC) to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. In an interview after the CHR's public
inquiry last week, De Lima told the Inquirer that it appeared the
"targets were poor, helpless D-E class." No Merry Christmas
for street children Sherryl Anne G.
Quito, The Sunday Times, December 16, 2007 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 7 July
2011] streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/12/16/no-merry-christmas-for-street-children/ [accessed 28
December 2016] While children of
well-off families enjoy suffering from Noche Buena
overindulgence, street children suffer from hunger or food shortage. For
Filipinos, Christmas is a season for family reunions and gatherings. Parents
have their children in tow and are confronted with a heavy plate of pasta,
ham, morcon, fruit salad. Street children are
forced to beg for alms while singing Christmas carols or scavenge for food
just to bring home something for the family to share on Christmas Eve.
Some are young criminals—with a gang boss. Instead of family
reunions, these children are reunited with their comrades in juvenile prison.
SPO1 Alfred Tenorio of the Manila Police District
said their records show that the number of children put in jail increases as
the holiday season approaches. The most common offense committed by these
children are bag-snatching and pick pocketing, especially in the Divisoria, Binondo and Quiapo districts areas flooded with shoppers. SPO1 Tenorio reveals that most children they take in for
questioning say they really don’t want to commit crimes. Most of them
are forced by their parents, bullied by older kids or instructed by syndicate
bosses. Street ‘carolers’
will be rounded up--MMDA Julie M. Aurelio,
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila, December 08, 2007 services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20071208-105687 [accessed 7 July
2011] www.philstar.com/metro/32203/mmda-round-street-carolers [accessed 31
December 2016] The Metropolitan
Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said it will be rounding up street
children caught caroling on busy streets beginning next week. The idea is not a kill-joy move but
intended to keep the children out of the way of speeding cars and trucks, said
general manager Robert Nacianceno. "Kids who want
to have fun can still sing songs from house to house in their neighborhoods,
in front of houses where there are no speeding cars. They can still go
caroling," the MMDA official explained.
But children who dart to and from across major roads like EDSA,
knocking on windshields and car windows for alms will definitely be taken
into custody, Nacianceno added. Fr. Shay Cullen »
Why Children Die Fr. Shay Cullen, Preda Foundation, 29 November 2007 www.pinoypress.net/2007/11/29/fr-shay-cullen-%C2%BB-why-children-die/ [accessed 7 July
2011] In the Philippines
elementary and high school education is supposed to be provided free to the
students by the government as their human right. But it’s not free. The
children can’t enroll and that’s why there are hundreds of thousands of
street children, working children and abused children begging on the streets
and living in slums and unbelievable poverty surrounded by the sumptuous
wealth of the few rich that have it all. That’s the reason they unknowingly
take food from pimps and pedophiles and are trafficked with promises of food
and money into the sex business. Manila gov’t
rescues children addicted to solvents GMANews.TV,
10/16/2007 www.gmanews.tv/story/64679/Manila-govt-rescues-children-addicted-to-solvents [accessed 7 July
2011] It has become a
common sight in Manila: street urchins with dingy eyes, inhaling compact
solvents in plastic bags, even near the city’s police stations. On Monday
night, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim ordered massive rescue operations for these
children addicted to inhalants. Temporary home
provides shelter to street children DJ Yap, Philippine
Daily Inquirer, Manila, September 29, 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/09/29/temporary-home-provides-shelter-to-street-children/ [accessed 18 January
2017] Karen never knew
the meaning of home until she set foot in the Open Day Center (ODC) run by
the Virlanie Foundation. Having known only life in the streets and
under the bridges of Manila, the strong willed 5-year-old girl was unprepared
for this welcome environment in the heart of Quiapo
and unwilling to leave the sanctuary it suddenly offered her. But the center is
open only from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., after which the center’s staff of six
retires from the task of providing street children like Karen a place to eat,
bathe, and perhaps escape momentarily, the scary world outside. Thus when the clock struck five, Karen
would not budge from her seat. She
shook her head twice and squared her shoulders, determined not to leave what
had served as her home for eight hours that day. “Can I stay?” she asked,
leaving the social worker on duty not a little heartbroken. Finally, her big brother grabbed Karen’s
arm and together, as the sun set, they strolled toward whatever nook or
cranny of Quezon Bridge was available to spend the night. We can always come
back tomorrow, he told her. When justice begins
the pain ends Fr. Shay Cullen, Preda Foundation, 6 August 2007 www.pinoypress.net/2007/08/06/when-justice-begins-the-pain-ends/ [accessed 7 July
2011] The story of Jose
began when he was hungry and he fell into temptation. He stole a cheap
necklace not worth three dollars. But the owner, a street seller, was an unforgiving
person. He had no understanding and he insisted on calling the police and
having young Jose arrested and brought to the police station. Jose’s mother
is a vegetable seller, his father is dead and he has three brothers and two
sisters. Jose is small for
his age and underweight and has large appealing eyes. The necklace seller was
shouting and cursing Jose. He was shamed and humiliated. The police brought
him inside the jail and roughly pushed and shoved him, they twisted his arms
behind his back to hurt him and he was bashed on the back of his head with a
gun. It raised a huge lump and intense pain. The police shouted at him and
began to beat him. He could not hold
back the tears as the pain pierced his head and brain. He cried held his head
and slumped on the floor of a tiny cell packed with a dozen other street kids
in ragged dirty T-shirts and shorts emaciated and starving. Their hunger and
thirst was intense in the overpowering heat of the jail cell. There was no food
for Jose or the street kids because the police holding station does not feed
the prisoners that is the responsibility of their family, if they have any.
They didn't send for Jose's parents either although that's the law but the
law also says they kids must not be put in jail. But the police do it anyway. GenSan's ex-rugby boys
become bakers www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=84643 [Last access date
unavailable] eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/viewFile/2167/2052 [accessed 31
December 2016] Former "rugby
boys" in General Santos City now have a bright future ahead of them
after they were taught to become bakers. Now, instead of sniffing bottles of the
addictive substance, the boys hone their skills in the art of making breads
and pastries. Aldrin Ano-os, one of those trained to become a baker, said life
is much better now compared to two years ago when he struggled to survive in
the streets. 25 - Iloilo street
children receive additional housing Philippines News
Agency PNA, June 25 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/06/25/25-iloilo-street-children-receive-additional-housing/ [accessed 31
December 2016] The local
government unit here has turned over 20 housing units for street children and
their families in the Gawad Kalinga (GK) Village in
Barangay So-oc, Arevalo district here. To date, a total of
36 housing units have been built within the GK Village. Turnover for the
first 16 units was done in November last year. Livelihood programs have likewise been put
in place, such as dress making and terracota
pottery for the women and youth The GK Village in
Iloilo is the sixth that the PLDT group has adopted nationwide. It serves the
specific purpose of providing street children and their families with
permanent homes. FUTURE FIRST:
Investing in (street)children Ma. Glaiza Lee, Manilla Bulletin, June 24, 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/06/23/future-first-investing-in-streetchildren/ [accessed 31
December 2016] You see them begging on the streets or rapping on car windows for alms.
Their clothes are dirty and smelly because they rummage trash bins for food
scraps. Some huddle in street corners, sniffing rugby. Children
sell cigarettes or sampaguita leis while others
resort to stealing, prostitution, and other petty crimes. According to the 1998 report,
entitled "Situation of the Youth in the Philippines," there are
about 1.5 milllion street children in the
Philippines, and 75,000 of them are found in Metro Manila alone. Children in jail
still need saving Father Shay Cullen, Preda Foundation, 09-May-07 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 10 July
2011] Bengie is a 14 year old,
picked up by police on the streets of Manila accused for stealing food from a
vendor's stall and held for weeks in local police station mixed in with thieves,
accused rapists and even child abusers. The Preda
social workers found Bengie and negotiated his
release and transfer to the Preda Boys Home under
the provisions of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Law (Republic Act 9344)
enacted in 2006. Unless the social workers go look in every police station
and neighborhood substation the children will not be helped by the law. Mean Streets Juan Mercado,
Inquirer, Manila, 04/19/2007 globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/opinion/view/20070419-61241/Mean_streets [accessed 10 July
2011] crosstalk.kinja.com/on-the-subject-of-poverty-1499974551/1572606383 [accessed 31
December 2016] The street offers skimpy
income for the family’s short rations.. It’s the
only alternative to a desolate crowded home, abuse or violence. They “leave
home” to escape from their families and ply sidewalks, hang around malls,
begging, selling cigarettes, “sometimes even their little bodies". Less
visible, street girls “are clearly an understudied reality. And they’re
particularly stigmatized as they are perceived to be prostitutes". They craft survival
strategies to meet daily needs, interviews reveal. They appropriate niches where
they cadge a few pesos, feel safe and find enjoyment. “They create
alternative communities which substitute for families they can not rely
on," the study notes. Their pride is “a defiant one born out of the lack
of choice.” And all disappear from welfare agendas when they are not children
anymore. Mercado: Deaf to
whimpers Sun Star, April
21,.2007 www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2007/04/22/oped/juan.l..mercado.sidebar.html [accessed 10 July
2011] In Cebu, a phletora of agencies of varying effectiveness work for
street kids, writes Judith Pomm of Germany’s Rhur University Bochum. But many citizens turn deaf ears
to whimpers from the growing number of kids who take to the streets to beat
poverty and hunger. Indifference “appears the most common reaction.” Officials milk the
kids for publicity, shove them into “houses of safety,” stressing their
criminal potential, e.g. “they scratch parked cars.” “Homelesness
gets confused with delinquency.” Two justifications are offered: vagrancy and
mendicancy. “We don’t arrest children. We protect them,” says an official. Home for homeless
kids in GenSan opens MindaNews, General Santos
City, 28 March 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/03/28/home-for-homeless-kids-in-gensan-opens/ [accessed 18 January
2017] Homeless street
children now have their own place in the growing metropolis following the
completion of an P8.3 million drop-in and social
development training facility right at the heart of the city. City launches 'Oplan Kalayaan' Sun Star, 12
February 2007 www.sunstar.com.ph/static/zam/2007/02/12/news/city.launches.oplan.kalayaan..html [accessed 10 July
2011] manilajournal.com/2007/02/12/city-launches-oplan-kalayaan/ [accessed 19 January
2017] Last Thursday, Barredo's group rescued over a hundred beggars,
mendicants, rugby-sniffing kids, and mentally deranged individuals roaming
the streets. As part of the intensified
campaign, the rescued street urchins underwent a three-day seminar during
which they were assessed to determine if they should be sent to the Care
centers, sent back to their places of origin, or provided with livelihood
opportunities and other interventions. Street children get
assistance Chrysee Samillano,
Visayan Daily Star, Bacolod City, February 6, 2007 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 10 July
2011] Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday
distributed cash assistance amounting to P28,500 to
57 street children from the different barangays in Bacolod City. The children are part of the total 110
beneficiaries identified by the Department of Social Services and
Development. DSSD head Sally Abelarde said a number of these street children engage in
mendicancy and one of the programs of the Leonardia
administration is to provide them education assistance of P500 each annually
to augment their needs in school. From begging to
scrap collecting, street kids make modest living Roel Pareño,
The Philippine Star, Zamboanga City, December 18, 2006 [accessed 18 January
2017] Street children
here have shifted and reinvented themselves to cope with the trying times
from street begging to scrap collecting, which officials described as gauge
of a competing economy even between the less privileged sector. 36 street kids
rounded up Marna H. Dagumboy, Sun Star, CAMP OLIVAS, January 10, 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/01/09/36-street-kids-rounded-up/ [accessed 18 January
2017] At least 36 street
children, mostly vendors, were apprehended in Angeles City to prevent them
from being exploited by suspected pedophiles hounding the entertainment area,
a police official said. Angeles Police
Chief Sonny Cunanan also said the move was part of the City Government's
anti-vagrancy campaign. She said the
children, aged six to 17 years old, were roaming the Fields Avenue area as
flower vendors, beggars, and scavengers. She said they called the attention
of the children's parents and educated them of the law about exploitation on
children. "Once we see these
children back on the streets, we will file cases against their parents,"
she said. City to round up
children, stray dogs Sun Star, December
4, 2006 www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/12/04/news/city.to.round.up.children.stray.dogs.html [accessed 10 July
2011] The task force will
reorient the children with the goal of sending them back to school, if their
parents cannot be located. Those whom
we will see in the streets, we will rescue them and try to identify them. If
we find out they have been neglected, then we will file a petition for
involuntary commitment so the City Government can take custody of these
children. The Street Children
of Manila BootsnAll Travel Network blogs.bootsnall.com/rob/the-street-children-of-manila.html [accessed 10 July
2011] One day I am taken
on a tour of a cemetery where some of the street children live
? a place which appears not so far from hell on earth ? drugged up
nine year olds sniff brain-frying glues, feverish dehydrated babies lie on
concrete tombstones, adolescents sleep in the unused grave chambers. The
reasons why children end up on the streets like this are varied, but very
often they are running away from families where they are horrendously
neglected, abused, or plain abandoned. Street Children of
the Philippines Lucille Talusan and Charlene Israel, Christian Broadcasting
Network CBN News, MANILA, November 17, 2006 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 10 July
2011] Maritess, her older sister,
says that Elsha May was barely two when she started
begging money from Jeepney passengers. The Jeepney is a
local means of transportation in the Philippines. As soon as the stoplight
turns red, Elsha may runs to the Jeepney, wipes the shoes of the passengers, and looks
into their eyes until she gets the equivalent of two cents. At night, Elsha May is at the train station, begging once more for
money and food. When the train station closes at 10 in the evening, her
oldest sister, Maricris, picks her up and brings
her home. Elsha
May gives all her earnings to her family.
After a hard day's work, she shares with her siblings a plate of
noodles that she bought with her earnings. City vying for ‘Most
Child-Friendly’ title Sun Star, October
31, 2006 www.sunstar.com.ph/static/bac/2006/10/31/news/city.vying.for.most.child.friendly.title.html [accessed 10 July
2011] streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2006/10/31/p144/ [accessed 19 January
2017] Abelarde said that solving
the problem on street children needs scientific approach. This appoach, Abelarde said is to first know the number of years these
street children have lived on the streets and multiply it to three years. The
result is the minimum period of successfully taking them from the streets. Parents'
non-cooperation hampers help for street kids: social welfare Sun Star, August 23,
2006 www.sunstar.com.ph/static/bag/2006/08/23/news/parents.non.cooperation.hampers.help.for.street.kids.social.welfare.html [accessed 10 July
2011] [accessed 19 January
2017] The reluctance of
parents to cooperate with agencies concerned in promoting children's welfare
is one of the reasons why the problem on street children could not fully be
addressed, a social welfare official said on Tuesday. He said some
families refuse to work with them, claiming they do not need the agency's
intervention in protecting the welfare of their children. He added that some
parents believed that their children stay on the streets to earn a living. UNICEF impressed
with projects for street children in Cebu City Cebu City, August
06, 2006 [accessed 10 July
2011] The United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) has expressed satisfaction about the various
measures taken up for street children and minor offenders in Philippine
metropolis Cebu City and has said that other countries and local governments
have a lot to learn from these projects. Beggar, Street
Children Rounded Up In Zamboanga Zamboanga Journal,
Zamboanga, 09 July 2006 zamboangajournal.wordpress.com/2006/07/09/beggar-street-children-rounded-up-in-zamboanga/ [accessed 10 July
2011] Police said the
street children are likely to be future criminals if this situation
continues. Many street children were hooked into illegal drugs and some had
resorted to robbery and snatching to sustain their vices. "That’s not
true, maybe some are into drugs, but not all of us are like that, said
Orlando Santiago, 12, a beggar. "We are forced into this kind of life because
of poverty. We don’t even have food on the table and my parents have no jobs.
People should understand our predicament and not readily condemn us." A Begging Hand,
Some Humble Pie Sylvia L. Mayuga, Inquirer, June 18, 2006 showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20060618-5341/A_Begging_Hand,_Some_Humble_Pie [accessed 20
September 2011] Depending on who’s
counting and why, estimates of the total number of Filipino street children
vary, even as they continue to rise tsunami-like in the swelling tide of this
country’s seemingly endless political and economic crisis. The figures range
from a low 100,000 to a high (but raw) figure of 250,000-300,000 nationwide. Youngblood :
Uncertainty Heidi Santos-Demaisip, Inquirer, June 15, 2006 services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20060615-4927 [accessed 10 July
2011] But I think the
real reason we want to leave is that we don’t want our two-year-old daughter
to be exposed to the kind of environment in which we are living now. We don’t
want her to see poverty and what it does to families, and how it debases the
children. We dread hearing her ask us one day why street children have to
knock on our car windows begging for money. And we dread even more the chance
that she would hear the curses being thrown at us if we refuse to open a
window and hand over a peso or two. Teeners learn to hug, love
street kids even if they smell Yolanda
Sotelo-Fuertes, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Dagupan
City Pangasinan, June 15, 2006 [accessed 18 January
2017] “We did not know how they would react to us,
if they would welcome our friendship or not. We were afraid some of our
classmates would see us and wonder why we were mingling with dirty and smelly
children,” they recalled of their first “assignment” to “socialize” with
street children. Leyte shows genuine
concern for the youth Philippine
Information Agency PIA, Tacloban City, May 26, 2006 archives.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&sec=reader&rp=6&fi=p060526.htm&no=56&date= [accessed 14 October
2012] archives.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p060526.htm&no=56 [accessed 19 January
2017] The genuine concern
of the Tacloban City government on the plight of
the street children and the Tacloban youth in
general, is commendable. Last week, the City government through the City
Social Welfare and Development Office headed by Ms. Liliosa
Baltazar inaugurated the Social Development Center
for street children of Tacloban City. Dreams Do Come
True… Catherine Janz R. Sicoy, Kimro, Tacloban City, Leyte,
May 24, 2006 www.samarnews.com/news2006/may/f661.htm [accessed 10 July
2011] www.samarnews.com/Special_report/specialreport11.htm [accessed 19 January
2017] Initially, 28
children, 5 of them girls will inhabit the Center. As part of the program,
they will be provided with psychosocial and educational assistance to help
them emerge as productive and better citizens of the society. Kid's World In
Zamboanga, The Poor's World! Zamboanga Journal,
23 May 2006 zamboangajournal.blogspot.com/2006/05/kids-world-in-zamboanga-poors-world.html [accessed 10 July
2011] At the age of
eight, Nul Jumadi is
already working to help the family, selling cigarettes and candies on
dangerous streets and sidewalks in Zamboanga City. Nul
says helping his family is the best thing he does. "I want to
study of course, but I need to help my poor family. I only finished second
grade and I don't know if I can go back to school again," he says,
biting his lips and a little shaken and nervous about the interview. We must stand
against the death squads Fr. Shay Cullen,
Alto Broadcasting System-Chronicle Broadcasting Network ABS-CBN, 6/14/2007 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 10 July
2011] Many business
people and civic leaders applaud the death squads. As many as 247
deaths by execution were recorded up to December 2005, many of them youths
and minors. Some were as young as 15. UNICEF to make Cebu
City streetkids’ program a model Linette C. Ramos, Sun.Star, April 28, 2006 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2006/04/28/p456/ [accessed 18 January
2017] Impressed with Cebu
City’s initiatives for street children and minor offenders, the United
Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) wants to make the
City’s program for children a model not only for other provinces but for
other Asian countries as well. Unicef officials found
remarkable the coordination between the City Government and a network of
nongovernment organizations working together for the cause of children in the
city. Colin Davis, Unicef senior programme officer,
said they are impressed with the achievements of the Cebu City Task Force on
Street Children (CCTFSC), particularly its non-formal education and health
services for street kids. At the Margins
Street and Working Children in Cebu City, Philippines Judith Pomm, European
University Degree in International Humanitarian Assistance,
Ruhr-University, Bochum, Academic Year 2004/2005 www.bata-kinderhilfe.org/files/downloads/At-the-Margins-Street-and-Working-Children.pdf [accessed 31
December 2016] It is a situation
of permanent crisis in which these children live for many years. The children
lack food, shelter, education and medical care. Estimates on their life
expectancy are low, as well as the chances for those who survive to make it
out to a decent life. Cross-cultural
research suggests that poverty alone does not give sufficient explanation for
the phenomenon of large numbers of street children in Cebu City, since cities
in many countries equally poor as the Philippines do not have this problem. In order to
understand the forces that drive children onto the street andmake
them – despite numerous projects targeted at them – stay there, this paper scrutinises the interests and interactions of the different actors
involved in the problem. Information about
Street Children - Philippines – [DOC] This report is taken
from “A Civil Society Forum for East and South East Asia on Promoting and
Protecting the Rights of Street Children”, 12-14 March 2003, Bangkok,
Thailand At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 10 July
2011] Definition and
statistics: children who either live or work on the streets, spending a
significant amount of time engaged in different occupations, with or without
the care and protection of responsible adults. Age range 5-18. They come from
families with at least 6 to 7 members. Majority live with at least one
parent. An estimated 25% of these children live on the streets. Philippines: street
children, children at risk Tantoco FG.,
Child Worldw. 1993;20(2-3):35-7 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12179307?dopt=Abstract [accessed 10 July
2011] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12179307 [accessed 31
December 2016] Almost 2 million of
Manila's 2.5 million children younger than 15 years old live on or below the
poverty line. 75,000 of these children live on the streets after having run
away from home or being abandoned. They beg, steal, scavenge for food, and
sell newspapers, cigarettes, and leis. About 20,000 of the street children
prostitute themselves. Jailed children are
the victims of world poverty Father Shay Cullen, Preda Foundation, 2005 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 10 July
2011] The street children
imprisoned around the world are the most compelling evidence of the impact of
poverty in the lives of the most vulnerable and the failure of governments to
protect and help them. There are an estimate 20,000 children in prison in the
Philippines through out a single year. They are usually falsely accused
because they are homeless, vulnerable and cannot defend themselves. Some seal
food form the market, are using forbidden solvents to ease the pains of
hunger and loneliness. They are the victims of a unjust and cruel system of
imprisonment that we are trying to change. The jailing of
children brings trauma and abuse Father Shay Cullen, Preda Foundation, 2006 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 10 July
2011] Argie was a
frightened 13 year old and his and eyes filled with anxiety and longing when
I arrived at he jail in Metro Manila. Other stretched out their arms and
begged me to take them out of the hot poorly ventilated jail cell where they are
overcrowded and only see daylight when they are taken out to their court
hearing. PREDA's Campaign
Against the Shooting of Streetchildren in
Davao City The Preda Child Advocacy Team, September 8, 1999 At one time this article
had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 10 July
2011] “Dear supporters of
children's rights, I am appealing to you to support our protest against the
murder of street children in Davao City, the Philippines by motorcycle riding
death squads.” Who are the Street
Children? ChildHope Asia www.childhope.org.ph/about-street-children.html [accessed 10 July
2011] streetchildren-philippines.org/Childhope%20Asia.pdf [accessed 31
December 2016] Street children are
generally malnourished and anemic, many of them physically stunted. Street children are
prone to street fights and bullying from bigger youth, harassment from
policemen, suspicion and arrest for petty crimes, abuse and torture from
misguided authorities. The Bahay Tuluyan and Its Junior
Educators Program [PDF] Maria. Veronica Caparas, Philippine Social Sciences Review (Vol. 55, Nos.
1-4, January-December 1998) journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/pssr/article/viewFile/2725/2547 [accessed 14 October
2012] journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/pssr/article/viewFile/2725/2547 [accessed 19 January
2017] The crowded streets
of Metro Manila are made more crowded with the presence of children who
peddle candies, flowers and newspapers, or who wipe car windshields and jeepney passengers' shoes at red traffic lights, or who
simply beg for alms. The Philippines:
Assisting street children Doctors Without
Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF) www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=996&cat=press-release&ref=tag-index [accessed 11 July
2011] www.msf.org/en/philippines-assisting-street-children [accessed 31
December 2016] MSF operates a
program targeting 200 out of an estimated 200,000 children who live on the
streets of the capital, Manila. The
program addresses the medical and psychological problems encountered by these
children, their families and their communities. Among its activities, MSF gives medical and
psychosocial care to street children who engage in commercial sex work as well
as to victims of sexual, physical and psychological abuse. MSF focuses
particularly on sexual and reproductive health, because sexually transmitted
infections are a key health problem. Virlanie Foundation -
Testimonies of Children Virlanie Foundation At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 11 July
2011] JOSEPH’S TESTIMONY - In 2001, I found
myself alone on the streets of Manila after escaping from my home in Laguna.
I was selling mineral water on the street with some friends - we managed to
scrape together some money this way. I slept so badly at night, in any
shelter I could find - I would wake up often to make sure I wasn’t about to
be robbed or hurt. This period of my life on the street forced me to grow up
and changed me completely. Street Kids Choir December 2000 www.txtmania.com/articles/kids.php [accessed 11 July
2011] Within the walls of
an obscure welfare center in Pasay City lurk the young angelic voices of
innocent children gathered from the rude streets of Metro Manila. These are
the singing voices of the Street Kids Choir Philippines to Rid
Metro Manila of Street Children COMTEX Newswire, 12
February 1997 pangaea.org/street_children/asia/metro.htm [accessed 11 July
2011] The campaign,
called "Zero Street Children for Philippines 2000", targets 5,131 street
kids and their families, and will involve not only government agencies but
non-government organizations as well. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Street Children - Philippines",
http://gvnet.com/streetchildren/Philippines.htm, [accessed <date>] |
