Police Round up Street Children in Tourist Belt

Published in Today

IN another move to get rid of street urchins in the city, the Manila police rounded up some 54 street children in Ermita yesterday.

Senior Supt. Gil de Castro, Manila police Station 5 commander, said that the operations against the street children were conducted following reports that beggars and street urchins have proliferated again in the tourist belt.

De Castro said Manila Mayor Lito Atienza had ordered the police to clean the streets of vagrants and urchins.

The street children were first brought to the police station where they were given food before they were brought to a rehabilitation center at the back of the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

The police rounded up the children in Rizal Park, Plaza Sulaiman, on Mabini and M.H.-del Pilar streets and on Taft Avenue.

De Castro said that the operations will be conducted regularly to see to it that city streets, particularly in the Ermita district. are cleaned of street vagrants.

“We will definitely be doing the operations, against the street urchins more frequently to discourage them from going back to the streets once they are brought to the rehabilitation center or once they are brought to the rehabilitation center or once they are released from the care of the Departmet of Social Welfare and Development,” de Castro said.

Last year, the same operations were made in the city and other parts of Metro Manila on orders of Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Jejomar Binay.

GUILLERMO DE LOS SANTOS