Can we finally say goodbye to the streetchildren along Madrigal Ave.?
Alabang Bulletin got an email from a concerned resident regarding the beggars in the intersection of Madrigal Ave./Alabang-Zapote Road recently. Here is her email:
I would also like to ask what the Ayala Alabang village head or local government is doing about the street children and beggars in front of Ayala Alabang and along Madrigal Avenue.
First of all, it is not safe for these people to be there. Considering there are small kids which you can hardly see, it is like an accident waiting to happen.
Secondly, these people eat on the streets and throw their garbage on the sidewalk. I am hoping that the Ayala Alabang village will have some kind of program to help these people so that they do not succumb to begging and loitering near the village entrance.
We were lucky enough to have Barangay Ayala Alabang chairman Ruben Baes (through the kindness of Jol Espiritu-Cruel) to address the matter.
Here is his reply:
“I am not aware of the position of Ayala Alabang Village Association. However, the city orders the apprehension of these street children and that their parents are to be penalized for allowing them to roam the streets. Barangay Ayala will strengthen its efforts to immediately apprehend street children along Madrigal Ave starting today.
Sadly, there is no concrete program in place to deal with these children. As we have discovered in the past, those we have apprehended aren’t really ‘street children’ in the sense that they all do permanently live in our neighboring areas but are simply placed along Madrigal Ave by ‘professional’ groups. Apprehending them will simply take them away from the area for a while, only for them to return soon after.
But rest assured that we will continue to consult and coordinate with the Muntinlupa DSWD on how to handle this matter better. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.”
Again, we would like to thank barangay chairman Ruben Baes for his prompt reply and action and hopefully the streetchildren in the area as well as those in the surrounding areas can be removed from the streets and placed where they should be–in their homes, at school or anywhere far away from danger.
yes, we have even noticed even in front of pacific village, a little village/squatter area has developed with over 15 kids and their mothers roaming the corners of madrigal, alabang hills, pacific village and even the jollibee entrances are manned by these children..it must stop…i see most folks ignore the kids but their excuse is they are selling sampaguita and towels, but all they want is piso piso!!! i even overheard a mother tell her kid to get in front of a car so it will stop and they should then beg for money “para maka uwi na” con todo crying etc….oh my, what are we teaching these children??!!!!
I wish the government would have some kind of program that wouldn’t just get these kids out of the street for some time, but rescue them from “the sindikato” and parents who force them to beg, and teach them to live… although they really can be annoying, i feel for them too because they are still human…they are still children…
The city government of MUntinlupa through our city social devt office, had made many rescue operations on this streetkids and street families, most of them are from nearby barangay of Las pinas (Factor cmpd, TS Cruz, Saint Mary ..etc.)we rescued those streetkids from danger of staying in the street many times, give them some hotmeals,some clothings, counseling and lectures to keep-off the streets, etc,, and then , turned over them to DSWD Las Pinas of which they will responsible now for those kids,(for values formations and many other forms of interventions usual on social works as what we are also doing) but it’s our biggest headache because it became a cycle,after we turn over them to Las Pinas, they return again the following day…we again rescue(gather) them and return to dswd las pinas, the following day they are there again.,,the reason is LIVELIHOOD, this areas MADRIGAL & ACACIA ave.,alabang-zapote rd, near yellow cab is their source of livelohood,because many passersby give money and alms (some are those verykindhearted citizen riding on a comfortable cars are giving them, milk for the baby, baby dress, pizza pie,buy their sampaguita, buy their towels,give money as big as 500 crisp bill, etc.. so they keep coming and invited others from their community, that’s why they come and increased the numbers… with their mothers standingby in the corner collecting all the money, alms,etc, coming from their streetchild,then when they are full, they went home happy, then return again)
We are doing our part as best as we can (Muntinlupa CSWDO) to address the problem, I appeal to the residents of these areas: DON’T patronage them, DON’T give money , DON’T buy their sampaguita & ,towel, DON’T give food, babydress, pizza pie…I suggest/recommend : 24 hrs duty of barangay police in the area, to prevent them from coming AND on a given time and place ( say, every Tuesday & Thursday afternoon), let’s do together the kindhearted acts:, distribution of babydress, milk, clothes, food , pizza pie, buying their sampaguita , towel etc..(maybe it should be a comprehensive and a planned activities, in cooperation with the barangay alabang, city CSWDO, concern citizens etc)
We will get in touch ( again ) to the concerned officials for these matter, I cannot promise but we will work on it, please bear with us, we are really trying our best to address the problem, I hope and pray, that together, we will have a working/doable strategies on these particular street childrens, and I beg your pardon to understand us, hope that I give SOME explanation on this topic…..thank you ALABANG BULLETIN, more power and God bless.
Thank you very much for responding to this, Mr. Oculto. i agree with you, we should teach the “educated” not to give alms or anything for that matter to these kids. We understand that yes they have to eat and it is our moral obligation (not really actually, we think) to give to those in need. But yeah, Mr. Oculto of the Muntinlupa City Social Welfare and Development Department made a very good suggestion of holding a one time thing or an outreach program to where these kids actually live.
As for their parents, Barangay Ayala Alabang and the Muntinlupa City government are doing the right thing in penalizing them. They are the ones who drive their children to beg, as heard by Ms. Marlies. They should know the repercussions of what they are doing.
I also agree with Pj. Find out who these “sindikato’s” are and get rid of them. We don’t live in a mafia kind of world in the south. Or do we?
Let’s rescue these kids from the hands of these people.
As a chamber, we took this up with Mayor Aldrin, and even included this in the 100 days Agenda for Action. The children are rugby sniffers that hides inside the police/tanod outpost in the corner of Madrigal.
Though this is a difficult task for our local enforcers considering they are easy prey to the “pana” gang in nearby squatters area, I wish that there is a strong campaign to get rid of these children that are often cause of traffic and accidents in the area.
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Thank you for taking action on this too, Ms. Mariselle.
Please do let your members know also that they can advertise their businesses here if they want to:) Shameless plugging, we’re sorry:)
Dear Mr. Gregorio Oculto, thank you for posting that info. I must admit I’ve been guilty of giving food and alms to these children at one time or the other. I was ignorant of the trouble these “acts of kindness” cost… Having said this, I ask for your permission to copy paste what you posted on facebook and forward it on email for my friends and family to be “educated” about this matter as well.
It must be really frustrating for you guys. I commend you for the effort.
please have barangay tanods or police men stay in their outpost at night. as there have been kids in there sniffing rugby, someone even told me he caught a couple doing the nasty inside which is horrible!!!!!