AT LEAST 84 Badjaos, who were rounded up by the Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD) in Bacolod City, were sent home to Jolo, Sulu, on Wednesday evening, June 21, through the roll-on-roll-off vessel at the Bredco Port, an official of the city said Thursday, June 22.
Acting Mayor El Cid Familiaran said the 84 Badjaos, including adults and children, were convinced to return to their hometown in Mindanao.
“It’s the effort of the city government to address this problem because they were using their children for begging on the street and inside jeepneys, and it’s very dangerous for their safety,” he said.
Aside from the 84 Bandjaos, also known as “sea gypsies,” he said that some of their companions are still in Bacolod and they will be sent to their hometown soon.
Familiaran noted that the remaining Badjaos here will be temporarily sheltered at the city’s evacuation center in Abada Escay, Barangay Vista Alegre, to ensure that they will not beg on the streets.
“We will coordinate with their place of origin so that they will not go back here,” Familiaran said.
Familiaran, who held a meeting with the anti-mendicancy team yesterday at the Bacolod City Government Center, reminded the team to secure the safety of the Badjaos and to conduct an information and dissemination campaign in the downtown area as well as in the barangays not to give alms to the Badjao beggars.
“If we do not give them money, they will stop loitering around and leave the city,” Familiaran said.
The DSSD was also tasked with getting the data and educating the Badjaos so that they would stop begging on the streets.*