City social welfare officer Bernadette Santiago said rescue missions to help children-mendicants here are now being done regularly as mandated by Presidential Decree No. 1563 or the Mendicancy Law of 1978.
“We have been able to rescue 30 children in the past few days. The youngest was a threeyear-old boy while the oldest was 13. The children were rounded up only within the poblacion area,” Santiago noted.
She noted that most of the children were residents of barangays Sta. Lucia, San Pedro Cutud, San Nicolas, Quebiawan, Calulut, Malpitic and Sto. Nino.
The City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWD) headed by Santiago held recently a Parent Effectiveness Seminar attended by health workers, nutrition scholars, purok leaders and parents from the said barangays so as to promote “awareness on the control and eradication of mendicancy.”
Mayor Edwin Santiago said the activity also sought “to promote the importance of parent involvement in their children’s lives and strengthen parent-child relationships in a family.”
The city government was recently cited by the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development as Child-Friendly Local Government Unit for promoting programs aimed to uplift the living conditions of youths.
