THE whole country has been so focused on the current administration's all-out war against illegal drugs, what with the number of fatalities rising in legitimate police operations and in vigilante killings, that it has forgotten about other pressing issues that plague our society.
Nobody's talking about water scarcity right now because the rains have come. And if Pagasa's prediction comes true, there will be more of it with the onset of La Niña, the alter ego of El Niño, at the end of the year. Lots and lots of rain.
That is, until the dry spell returns.
And not much stink has been raised about the uncollected garbage in some parts of the metro either, even though their putrescence has permeated the air. In Cebu City, it's quite apparent that the reopened Inayawan Sanitary Landfill is not viable for long-term operation but I don't think the City Government considers the situation alarming. However, I did hear that the mayor already met with Japanese investors to discuss an alternative.
So that's good to know.
Then I read about the rescue of street children last Wednesday night by police operatives, members of nongovernment organizations and personnel of the Cebu City Government.
It was such a welcome respite from all the deaths and the bickerings and the turncoatisms that I knew I had to write about it.
It was part of Operation Gugma, a program that was the brainchild of Councilor Margarita Osmeña, the mayor's wife. It was stopped for several years because rescue operations in the past did not have long-term effects. But after some tweaking, the program was revived.
This time around, the Cebu City Task Force on Street Children is no longer alone in addressing the problem. It has the help of the City Prosecutor's Office, Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS), and 24 NGOs that include the Children's Legal Bureau, Dilaab Foundation and Zonta, among others.
In last Wednesday's operation, the rescue team did not forcibly take the children off the streets. Instead the group asked them if they wanted to go to the Parian Drop-in Center where they would get some assistance.
Some 28 minors—the youngest being three years old and the oldest 15—went along.
Most of them were immediately picked up by their parents but four are still in the center because their parents are homeless or are too sick to care for them.
Before the children were released, parents were asked what they wanted from the City.
Redentor Betito, executive director of the Commission for the Welfare and Protection of Children (CWPC), said the City ended up hiring 10 of them as parking attendants., while five parents sought a capital grant so they could put up a small business or asked the CWPC to buy them a trisikad.
“Most of them have houses but they chose to be on the streets because their livelihood is there, so we made an agreement with them that if the City Government will provide another option of livelihood for them, they will refrain from using the streets as their homes,” Betito told Sun.Star Cebu's Razel V. Cuizon.
Operation Gugma, according to Insp. Arieza Otida, chief of the Women and Children Protection Desk of the Cebu City Police Office, involves three phases.
When they are brought to the drop-in center, the children undergo background profiling by the DSWS. Their needs are assessed and the proper program and shelter to put them in are chosen for them. Then they are reintegrated into the community.
Parents who continually leave their children on the streets may be charged.
Although it's too early to gauge the success of the program, it's telling that the day after the rescue five children returned to the center to seek shelter.