Center for street children to rise in Cebu – Palma

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma

The Cebu Archdiocese will build a facility that will cater to the needs of the street children.

This was said the Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma yesterday.

Palma said the construction of the building called “Abtanan sa Kalooy,” which is expected to start before the year ends, will be funded by the European community.

Palma said the building will be situated inside the compound of St. Joseph Church in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.

“The main purpose of the soon to be operative Abtanan sa Kalooy is to help the street children. We know how human trafficking dragged the life of many poor children into hopelessness and a lot of inequities, so we will make it one of our key projects to tell the children that even in their poverty, there is a promise for a better tomorrow,” Palma told reporters.

The project initiated by the archdiocese will be funded through the money donated by the people in Europe. The money will be sent to the Cebu Archdiocese, through Italian Conference of Bishops.

Bishop Palma said they have received information from the Conferencia Episcopal Italiana that the Cebu archdiocese will be receiving 1.4 million euro, which is equivalent to around P70 million, for the project.

“The plan is already there, but we still have to initiate the social engagement of the people, what to expect, what to do. Sometimes we just look up the building, but what is more important is the program,” he said.

“We are happy that there are generous people from other country. The challenge is not only for the building to rise, but for us to address issues involving the street children,” he added.

“Nagkadaghan ang trafficking nga nahitabo, mao nga (Trafficking cases have increased, that’s why) both the church and the civil societies should find ways to address the issue. Ang ako lang unta magtinabangay kita, kay sayod man kita dunay uban nga siguro (For me, it is important that we should cooperate with each other, because we know that maybe there are some who) out of sheer desire to gain money, they would engage themselves in this illegal and immoral endeavors,” Palma said.

Msgr. Joseph Tan, Cebu archdiocese spokesperson, said a lot of European people who attended the International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu, January last year, asked the Archdiocese to select a project that they could help fund.

“Tungod kay natandog sila sa ilang nakit-an sa Pilipinas, sa pag-ari nila during the IEC, mao nga gipangayuan ta og programa para sa mga kabus,” Msgr. Tan told CDN.

The archdiocese submitted their ideas, including a list of more than 30 persons that will handle the different committees for the development program, which would be headed by Fr. Carmelo Diola of Dilaab Foundation.