Badjaos return to their homes?

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

Some Badjaos returned to their homes on their own outside Aklan after Task Force Badjao started to ‘clean up’ the street dwellers in the town of Kalibo. 

But the alarming news during the Task Force Badjao meeting last week revealed the Badjaos were reportedly used by certain individuals to become beggars on the streets.

                                                                           PHOTO   KALIBO MDRRMC

Task Force Badjao is formed by Kalibo mayor William Lachica by virtue of an executive order to address the sanitation and health risks to residents and tourists of Kalibo posed by nomadic Badjaos.

“May ga dispatch kanda kada agahon kun siin sanda nga lugar mag-pakalimos. Sa adlaw adlaw do pinakamanaba nga ginapadaea nanda sa mga ginabayluhan nanda hay P3,000 hasta P6,000,” a member of Task Force Badjao said.

“Aamat amat sanda nag-panaw, may mga nabilin pa nga sangkiri nga Badjaos iya,” he added.

Badjaos or sea dwellers are natives of Mindanao. Many were forced to flock to the cities and urban areas to stay away from insurgency and sea pirates in their homeland. 

                                                                              PHOTO KALIBO MDRRMC

Last week, the Kalibo Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC) and the Philippine National Police also collected data on the growing number of Badjaos in areas frequented by them.

Many Badjaos were sleeping in cardboard boxes on the busy corners of Roxas Avenue, Luis Barrios and Goding Ramos Streets during the monitoring of MDRRMC personnel last June 10.   

Barefooted Badjaos also spend their nights cooking in the sidewalks and roaming around Kalibo with their children to fend their hunger. 

Lately, the Office of the Mayor received complaints of unruly behavior of Badjaos such as spitting and pinching of motorists and pedestrians while they are begging.