In a press conference in Makati this morning, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) officials said that more comprehensive and united efforts should and will be implemented to address the problem of increasing number of street children and families staying on the streets.

From Dec. 19-20, the DSWD led a consultation workshop on the enhancement of programs and services for children families and indigenous peoples at-risk on the streets.

DSWD Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo said that it was very important to assess the existing programs for street children and to determine if they are effective and responsive to the needs of the children and their families who should also be assisted.

“We cannot always be just rescuing children from the streets and then returning them to their families again and again and again. So long as the conditions of their families and their communities do not change, children from impoverished families will continue to go to the streets of cities and municipalities to beg for change or food, and in the process endanger their own safety and lives,” said Sec. Taguiwalo.

“It will take national economic reforms to solve the problems of unemployment, landlessness, lack of government social services which in turn contribute to massive poverty and homelessness. It will also take sincere and strong political will for all our government officials from the barangay level upwards to give priority to the welfare issues of the poor, and to help street children and their families so they can improve their economic status and very lives,” she said.

The welfare secretary said that the DSWD and its partners will work together to build and maintain a credible database on street children and street families, as well as a system of monitoring and evaluation on their status and conditions.

“We need to improve the capacity of LGUs when it comes to their response to the needs of street children and families. Hindi tama na patay-sindi ang mga hakbang natin – dapat tuloy-tuloy at laging umuunlad,” she said.

Sec. Taguiwalo said that an appropriate and sufficient budget is needed to implement these programs.

“We need funds for these measures. We will not have these funds in 2017, but we will not allow these limitations to stop our actions.”

Sec. Taguiwalo cited the results of a two-day outreach program the DSWD in the National Capital Region wherein staff from DSWD-NCR consulted with a total 153 families from Dec. 10-11 in Luneta, Roxas Boulevard, and the inside streets of Ermita, Malate. The activity was meant to put together sample data on the status of street children and families.

Of the 153 families consulted, 82 families were living in Luneta and surrounding areas; while 71 had made their homes in Roxas Blvd and the inside streets of Ermita. Four of the families were members of the DSWD’s Pantawid Program; 1 was a member of the MCCT-HSF; 1 was a former MCCT-HSF, and the rest, 147, were neither members of Pantawid or MCCT.

It was discovered that 35% of the interviewed families were originally from Mindanao; 29% were from the Visayas; 30% from Luzon; and 6% from Metro Manila.

Disaggregated data by sex show that 262 of the 505 individuals were female or 52%, and 243 or 48% were male.

When it comes to age, 26% of the children or 72 of them were aged 1-4 years old; 62 or 22% were aged 9-12 years old; 51 or 18% were 13-16 years old; 20 or 7% were one year old or less; and 16 or 6% were 17 years old and below.

Among the adults, 73 or 31% were 41 to 59 years old; 44 or 19% were 26-30 years old; 43 or 18% were 18-25 years old; 39 or 17% were 31-35 years old; 29 or 12% were 36-40 years old; and 6 or 3% were 60 years old and above.

When it comes to marital status, 107 individuals or 49% were co-habitating; 45 or 21% were married; 18 or 8% were separated; and 43 or 20% were single.

Regarding their educational levels, 142 or 50% of the respondents reached elementary school level; 83 or 29% reached high school; and 47 or 16% did not receive any formal schooling at all. Only 9 individuals or 3% reached college level.

It was also discovered that 165 of 68% of the families stayed on the streets every day. Thirty-three or 14% stayed there 5-6 days a week; 26 or 11% stayed 3-5 days a week; and 19 or 8% stayed 1-2 days a week.

Regarding their reasons for staying on the streets, 87 individuals or 61% said that they were trying to find means of livelihood; 20 or 14% have no means to pay rent; 7 or 5% were there to beg or look for food; and 7 or 5% were there to ask for alms.

DSWD-NCR Regional Director Vincent Andrew Leyson said that the DSWD field office was very serious and sincere in their efforts to reach out to and help street children and their families, but it cannot do the work alone.

“We want to open the other services and programs of the DSWD to the street children and their families so they can stop taking to the streets, but our programs are not enough. We are asking for the assistance and support of other government agencies, civil society organizations, and local government units so we can help street families help themselves. We have to improve their capabilities to find work and to provide for the children in particular safe places to stay. We will be improving our activity centers for the children and determining what livelihood opportunities we can give to the families,” he said.

DSWD Assistant Sec. for the Office of the DSWD Secretary Aleli Bawagan said that community and public awareness regarding the problems of street children should also be improved. “This is a problem Philippine society has to address as a whole; we need collective efforts to help our vulnerable and impoverished families. We must look at this whole issue with compassion and with understanding, with the end goal to assist the families and alleviate their poverty. We shouldn’t keep pointing fingers at who should help street children and their families because it is our duty, all of us, as a supposedly civilized society to help our vulnerable members,” she said.

For her part, DSWD-Social Technology Bureau Director Thelsa Biolena said, “It is high time that we   enhance our existing programs for street children and street families to make them in tune with and responsive to their constantly evolving needs. This 2017, we will work harder and coordinate more closely with our  partners in the LGUs and CSOs to improve the lives of our impoverished kababayans and help them stand on their feet and stop living on the streets once and for all,”  she said.#