Palace refutes bishop: No plan to hide street families during APEC

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang denied on Friday that the government is planning to hide Metro Manila's street families from the view of foreign leaders who will attend the forthcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said there is no truth to the allegation of Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is giving out P4,000 money to homeless families so they could rent places to stay elsewhere.

What the DSWD is implementing, Valte said, is the modified Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program for poor families.

"Hindi po 'hidden from view.' Naipaliwanag po natin na 'yung modified CCT ay isang programang matagal nang ginagawa ng DSWD," Valte said in a press briefing.

"'Yung pagtulong po nila ay hindi po limited sa tuwing mayroon pong malaking event, ngunit nakikita po natin itong pagkakataon na simulan 'yung pagtulong sa kanila para makapag-transition naman po sila from the streets into dignified living quarters," she said.

Valte said the reports on the alleged eviction of street families merely coincided with big events such as the APEC summit and the visit of Pope Francis in January.

"Noong pagkatapos po dumating ng Pope, nagkaroon pa po sila ng isang ganitong activity... Baka naitataon lang pong nai-re-report 'pag mayroon malaking event pero ang katotohanan po diyan ay ilang taon na pong ginagawa ng DSWD ang programang ito," Valte said.

During the papal visit in January, the DSWD was critized for sending street families from the cities of Pasay, Manila and Parañaque to a resort in Batangas province.

READ: Street kids treated to resort stay during papal visit – Palace

But Malacañang and the DSWD also denied back then that the activity was done so that the street families will not be seen by the pope and the international media.

The incident was reported in Time Magazine where DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman defended the activity, saying the street children had to be removed "so that they would not be vulnerable to the influx of people coming to witness the pope." - Louis Bacani