Where Are The Women? Where Are The Street Children of Manila!

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Our grandparents would remember the days when the previous governments would build walls to hide the poor communities and their almost dilapidated shanties especially the ones lined up along the railroads. Our government would always find ways to make the Philippines look good whenever there's an event that would have visitors from other countries.

However, this latest deplorable act of the government is far more insulting as they not only "dressed-up" the areas where the Pope will be passing and staying, they also hid the people whom the Pope should have seen in the first place.

Who else needs more prayers of but our countrymen who belong to the poorest of the poor, the street children who litter our streets because their families have no means to send them to school and feed them at least three times a day, the indigents of Metro Manila who left their provinces thinking they would have a better life here in the city.

When the Pope asked where are the women? He should have also asked where are the street children - if only he knew they were swept out of the streets and taken to a resort somewhere away from his sight.

I pray for "Mercy and Compassion" for the people who thought that hiding the street children of Manila was a great idea. Now maybe the same people are behind what happened during the recent APEC. Is this deceitful short-term strategy our only way to make our country look good in the eyes of foreign visitors?

Below is a repost from the official Facebook page of Lito Atienza. Not that I totally support the man, but I sort of agree to what he and his group are fighting for.

"Buhay Partylist Representative Lito Atienza lambasted Secretary Dinky Soliman for continuously misleading the public on the way the DSWD swept under the rug the street children and the street dwellers of Manila.

“Hayagang nagsisinungaling si Secretary Soliman sa simula’t simula sa issue ng pag tago ng mga street families ng Maynila. Ang una ay sinabi nya na hindi totoo ang isyu na ito, ngunit nang mabisto, ito raw ay isang regular na programa ng DSWD,” Atienza said, referring to the disappearance of street children and the homeless during the five day pastoral visit of Pope Francis.

Atienza considers this a big insult to the papal visit since the Pope travelled thousands of miles precisely to meet and comfort the poor.

During his interpellation of Gabriela Partylist Representative Emmy De Jesus’ privilege speech denouncing what she termed as “human rights violations” committed by the DSWD, Atienza said that instead of hiding these families in a beach resort, they should be given long term livelihood opportunities considering the almost P70-billion CCT budget the DSWD has.

“I cannot imagine why the DSWD did such a thing. This is an insult to the dignity of these streetchildren and homeless people. Hindi dapat abusuhin ang kalagayan ng maralita kundi dapat ay tulungan silang makaahon sa kahirapan,” Atienza added.

Atienza likewise reiterated his call for a congressional probe into this very serious matter.

“Buhay Partylist stands solidly behind the position of Congresswoman De Jesus. Dapat papanagutin kung sino ang may sala para lahat tayo ay matutong gumalang sa batas at karapatan ng bawat isa."

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