EDITORIAL - The invisible ones

Just before the campaign season rose to fever pitch last month, a Cebu City barangay called attention to the plight of a sector that doesn’t’ show up in the radar of many; the homeless and the street dwellers.

San Nicolas Proper Barangay Captain Rey Niñal said that in the past months he has observed a growing number of street dwellers returning to his barangay.

Not only that, many of them are in poor health. In fact, a street dweller died recently and they had trouble processing the burial because she was not registered in Cebu City.

He said efforts to take care of the homeless were actually implemented during the term of former mayor Michael Rama, but after Rama was suspended in May 2024 this initiative seems to have been shelved.

Making sure the homeless and street dwellers have somewhere safe to stay will be good for them in more ways than one; it’s good for them because they will be safe from the dangers of vehicular traffic and the elements, and they will also be protected from those who want to harm or exploit them.

It’s also good for them because, let’s be honest here, the more they stay on the streets the more they are exposed to the kind of life that will lead them to crime.

All those reasons taken together, helping those who are homeless or who live in the streets will also be good for those who aren’t homeless and who don’t live in the streets.

This is an issue that gets passed on from one administration to another. We hope the incoming Cebu City administration can finally address this issue.

It’s tempting for many of us to immediately dismiss the homeless and the street dwellers as people who don’t contribute to the betterment of society, but who are we to say someone’s lot can no longer improve? History has no shortage of stories of successful people who later became a positive influence on society who came from humble if not destitute beginnings.

Helping those who are homeless or who live in the streets is already a good thing. And who knows? Some of them whose lives are changed just might become driving forces that reshape our city or even our country for the better someday.