THE Baguio City Social Welfare and Development Office (OCSWADO) reminded residents to refrain from giving alms to beggars particularly during the “ber” months.

Betty Fangasan, City Social Welfare and Development Officer discouraged the public from giving alms to mendicants roaming the city’s central business district.

“Residents and visitors should refrain from giving alms to mendicants as this will just encourage them to continue the bad practice of earning money. Giving them money will just worsen the situation of the beggars by making them lazy to look for better source of living,” Fangasan said.

Giving alms is against the law and begging on the streets endangers their lives, citing Presidential Decree 1563 signed by the late Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in 1978, “establishing an integrated system for the control and eradication of mendicancy, providing penalties, appropriating funds there for and for other purposes.”

Fangasan advised the public to inform their office of the presence of mendicants for them to undergo the necessary process of either undergoing livelihood trainings or for them to brought back to their places of origin.

“Livelihood and skills training provided for mendicants are often refused as they have discovered that begging is a very profitable means of livelihood. What we are proposing to these individuals who want to be of help to these mendicants is to try and be foster parents to them,” Fangasan added.