100 vagrants rounded up in Caloocan

Caloocan City Hall rounded up some 100 vagrants, including street children and their families, following reports that they were being used by criminal elements in the flesh and drug trades.

A combined team from the city’s Social Welfare Amelioration Division and the Department of Urban Social Industrial Relations Services (DUSIRS) began rounding up families occupying sidewalks in the commercial area of Monumento and the Sangandaan Public Cemetery at around 5 a.m.

Public information officer Susan de Leon said Caloocan City Mayor Reynaldo Malonzo ordered concerned local government agencies to round up vagrants as part of the city’s anti-prostitution and anti-crime drive.

Mayor Malonzo directed city police chief Senior Superintendent Benjarde Mantele to conduct a thorough investigation into the exploitation of the vagrants.

Drug syndicates reportedly use street children as couriers while young female vagrants are being recruited to work as prostitutes.

Nepomuceno Cruz, head of DUSIRS, said that among of those rounded up, only 35 were Caloocan City residents. They were sent to Tahanang Mapagpala in Caloocan City-North where they will undergo skills training, Cruz said.

He added that the city government wants to turn street dwellers into productive members of society by teaching them basic skills which may help them avail the government’s livelihood programs.

Non-residents of Caloocan were sent to their respective localities in coordination with their respective social welfare departments.

Malonzo urged barangay leaders to strictly monitor the proliferation of vagrants in their areas so they may not fall victims to criminal elements. – Jerry Botial, Pete Laude