LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu—The Lapu-Lapu City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) is asking the Philippine National Police (PNP) to look into the possible involvement of a syndicate that is forcing Badjao children to beg on the streets here.
This after Annabeth Cuizon, CSWDO head in Lapu-Lapu City said she personally saw a vehicle ferry a group of Badjaos near the Marcelo Fernan Bridge.
“There was one time in a gasoline station, a multicab stopped near them and they all hopped in. I don’t know if they paid the multicab but I just saw them walking under the second bridge and then a little later they rode the multicab that passed by,” Cuizon said.
Cuizon said that she already asked Police Colonel Clarito Baja, the chief of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LCPO), to station some policemen in this area.
Cuizon also wondered how these children from the Badjao community in Barangay Mambaling made it to Lapu-Lapu City despite strict border controls in the cities of Mandaue and Cebu.
She’s worried that these children might contract the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and spread the virus to other people.
On Tuesday, the CSWDO rescued these children, in coordination with the PNP and the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO).
Cuizon said they were able to rescue around 30 Badjaos and ferried them back to their residences in Cebu City.
Cuizon appealed to the public not to give money to the Badjaos to discourage them from begging on the streets and keep them safe from COVID-19.
/bmjo