The Iloilo City Public Safety and Transport Management Office (PSTMO) said 60 Badjaos, commonly referred to as ‘sea gypsies’ and often seen begging at local transport terminals, were recently rounded up and sent back home.
“We rescued 60 Badjaos and they were sent home last week,” confirmed PSTMO head Jeck Conlu. “We assisted with their needs as the children were first brought to the Crisis Intervention Unit facility in [the] Molo district [and] we also educated the parents about ‘prohibitions.’”
The city official said those from the city’s Jaro district were living under the Buhang Bridge and at the rear of the Tagbak Bus Terminal.
Last December, amid a Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) and Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD) operation to rescue Badjaos, the DSSD Anti-Mendicancy Task Force revealed during a radio interview that one such individual had remitted a total P38,000 from Bacolod City to Mindanao.
According to task force coordinator Ma. Socorro Detangco, two receipts were found from one of the rescued Badjaos; each revealed local money transfers to Mindanao with the first showing P17,000 remitted and another P21,000 sent./WDJ