• THERESA MAE DULMAN
Fifty-two children have been rescued off the streets of Bacolod City, as of this month, the city’s Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD) said Sept. 17.
DSSD Mendicancy Management Division coordinator Anjenette Servano said that since January, around 10 children have been placed in institutional care facilities.
During the division’s latest operation, authorities housed 19 children, three of whom were admitted to institutions for temporary and permanent shelter.
“These 19 individuals are the ones we are working on by providing interventions. When some of them see us, they no longer run away because they already know what we are doing; that they are not being arrested or imprisoned, but are being given proper intervention,” Servano said.
She added that the rescued minors include neglected, abandoned, and begging children.
Most of them were monitored lingering in high-traffic areas, particularly near the Provincial Capitol Lagoon and along La Salle Avenue.
Early this month, the team also rescued two minors sniffing volatile substances, or the so-called rugby boys, outside a convenience store along La Salle Avenue, while an adult male found in the area was issued a warning and instructed to leave. | TMD
