Intensified rescue operations, surveillance, and public awareness campaigns are underway across Davao City as the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSDWO) ramps up the fight against mendicancy and child exploitation on the streets this Christmas.
Part of the CSWDO’s amplified efforts include the recent relaunch of the Kean Gabriel Hotline on July 18, which also covers the city’s anti-mendicancy campaign.
The CSWDO’s strategy is comprehensive, involving profiling, community intervention, and inter-agency collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), and its own district offices.
“Naa ang atoang district offices nga nagapadayon sa ilahang rescue and surveillance for our children in street situation and ang atoang mendicants sa kadalanan. 24/7 pud ang atoang mga street educators nga nagaprofile sa ilaha (Our district offices continue to conduct surveillance and rescue operations for our children in street situation, and the mendicants. CSWDO’s street educators also continue to profile these individuals),” Sharlene Blas Villaluz, Focal Person of the Children Needing Special Protection of the Child and Youth Welfare Division of the CSWDO, said during the ISpeak Media Forum.
Villaluz also highlighted efforts to support Indigenous Peoples (IPs), noting that the city government now proactively delivers aid and services to remote communities. This strategy ensures that members of IP groups no longer need to descend into the urban center to carol on the streets—a practice long discouraged due to the dangers, especially for children.
The CSWDO is also actively tracing a disturbing trend: the exploitation of children by adults who provide them with notes pleading for alms inside jeepneys.
“Naningkamot g’yud mi nga matrace kung kinsa na sila kay it is a way of exploitation of our children (We are trying hard to trace who they are and the people behind it as it is a way of exploiting children),” Villaluz said.
Street educators and the Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD) are working in partnership to locate the individuals behind the scheme, though the investigation is ongoing.
The CSWDO is also urging other Local Government Units (LGUs) to replicate the programs of the city.
“We have our stakeholders meeting where gina-awhag gyud namo ang uba’ng LGU to replicate the program of the city nga para pud matagaan og pagtagad ang ilahang constituents (During stakeholders meetings, we urge other LGUs to adopt the city’s programs to ensure that their constituents are being catered to),” Villaluz said.
This call to action is based on profiling data showing that a majority of those in street situations come from neighboring cities and provinces.
For those who are profiled and found to be from outside Davao, the CSWDO, together with its partner the DSWD, works diligently to facilitate their return home.
The CSWDO also continues its community capacity-building initiatives, reminding residents not to give alms to mendicants and to report cases of child abuse and exploitation to the proper authorities. CIO
