Street children’s favorite hangouts identified

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has identified 10 areas in Metro Manila where street children usually hang out—either to beg for alms or sniff solvent.

“There are 10 places in Metro Manila where they converge. There are two kinds [of street kids]. [One of these] is those whose parents are just around. They try to make [a] little money by boarding jeepneys and wiping passengers’ shoes. [Then there] are those who sniff rugby,” Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman told reporters in a recent briefing at the Philippine Information Agency.

According to her, the 10 areas where street children can commonly be found include the corner of Quezon Avenue and Agham Road in Quezon City, Rizal Avenue in Manila, the corner of Edsa and Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City and Monumento in Caloocan City.

“These are areas that are first of all crowded. They [street children] have a lot [of people] to ask money from. Or, for those kids who are used by syndicates, they have a lot of potential victims,” Soliman said.

At the same time, she stressed that the government was continuously working on taking children off the streets and getting them away from drugs and criminal gangs.

Soliman said this was being done in coordination with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and barangay (village) officials.

“We call it reaching out because based on a study, when we call the operations ‘rescue,’ the children think we are arresting them. So we had to take a new approach and [we] called it reaching out, extending our hands to children to give them help,” Soliman added.

Soliman noted that while some children refuse to be taken to social welfare centers, most of them are only too glad to do so.

“In our experience, they go with the social workers because they are hungry, especially the rugby boys and girls,” Soliman said.