Work with NGOs to rescue streetkids, Margot says
Margot Osmena (CDN FILE PHOTO)
There should be collaboration between the Cebu City government and non-government organizations in dealing with street children, Cebu City Councilor Margot Osmeña said yesterday.
Osmeña, a child welfare advocate and member of Cebu City Hall’s Task Force on Street children, said the rescue of 45 minors caught sniffing rugby last Friday evening was good but inadequate.
“What happens when they’re rescued? They’re just released. And then next week, you’ll catch them again?
We can’t continue doing that. We’ve learned that. We learned it the hard way before already.” Osmeña said.
The minors caught last week under two bridges in barangays Mabolo and Banilad were already released since laws prohibit the city from detaining these minors, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella said.
Osmeña said rescue operations should be coordinated with the city’s Task Force on Street Children and the Cebu City Commission for the Welfare and Protection of Children.
She said the task force has connections with over 20 non-government organizations which specialize in handling and dealing with children including those minors who may be in conflict with the law.
Coordination
“It should always be in coordination with each other. There is already a protocol when you deal with minors and when you rescue them. These NGO’s have experts,” she said.
Labella, who led the operation together with the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS), City Environment and Sanitation Enforcement Team (CESET), police and barangay officials, said they had to release the minors last Saturday afternoon.
“Based on the profiling by the DSWS, only 36 of the minors are from Cebu City. The rest are from Mandaue City, Consolacion and other LGUs,” he said.
Labella said relatives of some of the minors visited the areas where they were kept to fetch them while the others were released.
Facility
Labella said the city will contact the parents of those minors and remind them that they should not neglect their children since it’s considered a criminal offense based on Republic Act No. 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.
He said it’s important that the city put up a facility where these rescued minors can stay in compliance with RA 9344.
One of the rescued girls said she tends to stay in the North Reclamation Area with some friends since her stepfather works as a jeepney dispatcher near a mall in the area.
They live in barangay Capitol Site. At first denying that she sniffs rugby or solvent, the girl eventually admitted when others also said so.
“Mogamit lang ko panagsa kanang wala koy klase kay dugay ko mauli sa amoa (I use it sometimes whenever there are no classes because it takes a long time for me to go home),” she told Cebu Daily News.
Upgrade
She said she contributes P5 to her friends. But if she doesn’t have any extra money, she said her friends will just give here some.
Labella said he asked the city’s Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification and Enhancement (PROBE) team to demolish the shanties built by the minors under the Mahiga bridges. Police and barangay tanods will also be deployed in the area.
But Osmeña said building another facility is not the answer.
She said the city should just look at upgrading existing facilities like those manned by NGOs with experts and the city’s Operation Second Chance Center, which caters to minors with pending court cases.
“If you work with centers and NGOs, some of them may have already known these minors. So at least, the NGOs already have their background because they come and they leave,” she said.
She said these NGOs also have diversion programs to help these minors with issues to get a second chance at life.
Osmeña chairs the Children of Cebu Foundation which runs the Parian Drop-in Center.
There should be collaboration between the Cebu City government and non-government organizations in dealing with street children, Cebu City Councilor Margot Osmeña said yesterday.
Osmeña, a child welfare advocate and member of Cebu City Hall’s Task Force on Street children, said the rescue of 45 minors caught sniffing rugby last Friday evening was good but inadequate.
“What happens when they’re rescued? They’re just released. And then next week, you’ll catch them again?
We can’t continue doing that. We’ve learned that. We learned it the hard way before already.” Osmeña said.
The minors caught last week under two bridges in barangays Mabolo and Banilad were already released since laws prohibit the city from detaining these minors, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella said.
Osmeña said rescue operations should be coordinated with the city’s Task Force on Street Children and the Cebu City Commission for the Welfare and Protection of Children.
She said the task force has connections with over 20 non-government organizations which specialize in handling and dealing with children including those minors who may be in conflict with the law.
Coordination
“It should always be in coordination with each other. There is already a protocol when you deal with minors and when you rescue them. These NGO’s have experts,” she said.
Labella, who led the operation together with the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS), City Environment and Sanitation Enforcement Team (CESET), police and barangay officials, said they had to release the minors last Saturday afternoon.
“Based on the profiling by the DSWS, only 36 of the minors are from Cebu City. The rest are from Mandaue City, Consolacion and other LGUs,” he said.
Labella said relatives of some of the minors visited the areas where they were kept to fetch them while the others were released.
Facility
Labella said the city will contact the parents of those minors and remind them that they should not neglect their children since it’s considered a criminal offense based on Republic Act No. 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.
He said it’s important that the city put up a facility where these rescued minors can stay in compliance with RA 9344.
One of the rescued girls said she tends to stay in the North Reclamation Area with some friends since her stepfather works as a jeepney dispatcher near a mall in the area.
They live in barangay Capitol Site. At first denying that she sniffs rugby or solvent, the girl eventually admitted when others also said so.
“Mogamit lang ko panagsa kanang wala koy klase kay dugay ko mauli sa amoa (I use it sometimes whenever there are no classes because it takes a long time for me to go home),” she told Cebu Daily News.
Upgrade
She said she contributes P5 to her friends. But if she doesn’t have any extra money, she said her friends will just give here some.
Labella said he asked the city’s Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification and Enhancement (PROBE) team to demolish the shanties built by the minors under the Mahiga bridges. Police and barangay tanods will also be deployed in the area.
But Osmeña said building another facility is not the answer.
She said the city should just look at upgrading existing facilities like those manned by NGOs with experts and the city’s Operation Second Chance Center, which caters to minors with pending court cases.
“If you work with centers and NGOs, some of them may have already known these minors. So at least, the NGOs already have their background because they come and they leave,” she said.
She said these NGOs also have diversion programs to help these minors with issues to get a second chance at life.
Osmeña chairs the Children of Cebu Foundation which runs the Parian Drop-in Center.
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