Street beggars in Boracay under watch

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

The Department of Tourism (DoT)-Boracay and other agencies are closely monitoring the growing number of street children and mendicants in the island.

DoT-Boracay officer-in-charge Artemio Ticar said some child beggars were seen targeting tourists in the restaurants and begging to feed their hungry stomach with leftovers.

But despite the efforts of DoT-Boracay, the local government of Malay and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to rid them off the streets, the child beggars continue to roam the beach front and hovering outside the tourists’ favorite hang-outs, restaurants and resorts. 

“These minor children, despite DSWD’s campaign to round them up and being provided with intervention programs, still go back in the streets begging for food,” Ticar said.

Some are actually collecting the leftovers and scraps that the tourists or travelers have left on their plates. These street children in shaggy clothes have become an everyday scene in the island.

Ticar also observed that the number of beggars from Boracay or mainland Malay and transient mendicants also increased during peak season and holidays. 

Worst, these minor children, out in the heat, begging, dependent on restaurant leftovers and who cannot afford a proper meal are also committing petty crimes against tourists such as snatching and theft.