27 Badjaos nabbed for mendicancy

Operatives of the Iloilo City Police Office apprehended 27 Badjaos in a downtown street yesterday for violation of the Anti-Mendicancy Law.

The Badjaos who were nabbed panhandling at Yulo Street in the City Proper area were later turned over by apprehending authorities to the city government's Task Force Badjao for safe keeping.

TF Badjao member Pastor Edwin Araña, who is concurrent head of the Creative Community Foundation (CCF) said the apprehended Badjaos are now being kept at the CCF Center were they are undergoing processing.

Araña said that the foundation has given the Badjaos the option to either be shipped back to Mindanao or to allow themselves to be adopted by the foundation. Although resorting to adoption would mean the Badjaos will be given livelihood projects, Araña stressed that the ethnic minority should first manifest serious commitment to improve their lives.

Shortly after his assumption into office in 2001, Mayor Jerry P. Treñas has ordered a crackdown on the nomadic minority after complaints from metro residents reached the executive office. These complaints ranged from hygiene issues to matters of Badjaos pestering jeepney passengers for alms.

The recent operation was the latest attempt to keep Badjaos off the streets, said Araña. Recently, some Badjaos were sent back to Mindanao with the city government paying their boat fare. However, most of them have since returned and were roaming the downtown streets until their apprehension yesterday. (Adora Bandorio/PIO)