Monday, December 04, 2006 City to round up children, stray dogs
LAST-MINUTE efforts to clear Cebu City’s streets of vagrants and street children before the Asean summit will start today, when foreign delegates start to arrive.
Not even the dogs will be spared.
Cebu City public information officer Nagiel Banacia said psychotic vagrants, street children and families, carolers and stray dogs will be rounded up starting today, as part of “finishing touches” to the City’s beautification project.
The city should be clean, he said, for the arrival of senior officials and directors-general of Asean-member countries in Cebu this morning.
Street children who were abandoned by their parents will be taken to a Christmas camp where they will be given food and asked to undergo reorientation programs.
City Councilor Gerardo Carillo said the children will also be given Christmas goodies and gifts in the camp, which will be organized by the Cebu City Task Force on Street Children.
The task force will reorient the children with the goal of sending them back to school, if their parents cannot be located.
“Those whom we will see in the streets, we will rescue them and try to identify them. If we find out they have been neglected, then we will file a petition for involuntary commitment so the City Government can take custody of these children,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
During the general assembly of the Association of Barangay Councils last Saturday, Banacia informed the barangay captains of the changes in the garbage collection schedule during the summit.
From Dec. 10 to 14 when the ceremonial routes are closed to vehicular traffic on certain hours of the day, garbage trucks in the north district will only collect trash from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Also during the summit, City Hall will leave it to the barangay officials to respond to emergency situations within their area of responsibility since the City’s resources and manpower will be focused on the summit.
The Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council has so far trained 100 volunteers in 20 barangays, who will serve as the frontliners in case of emergency.
“During the summit, the police force and rescue personnel will focus on the summit activities and the barangays will be left to fend for themselves. The volunteers will be the first line of defense,” Carillo said. (LCR)
