*Ann Caña

At a time when they should be in school studying or at home where they should be taught how to work, even just do some household chores, they are left to roam the streets, learning the tricks of the street at a very young age.

Christmas is giving time. There is no question or doubt about it. But there is something about this Christmas in particular that has set me into thinking long, hard and deep. It has something to do with children , being everywhere, with palms extended and open wide, asking for paskwa. You hear them knocking at the gate, scrambling in the streets during stop signs and egging commuters to give them "pamaskwa". You see them huddling on street pavements, waiting to gang up on you the moment you get out of the car. They follow you around, sometimes run after you as if you are a movie star. The proliferation of street children has been a problem hounding our city for quite sometime. Curiously, though, there was a time when our streets were practically empty of them except for a few "car boys". I even wondered if some organization was taking care of them. Now, they have come upon us like ravaging locusts.

What is ironic is that some of these children are not the usual "batang yagit" . There are those who look clean and wear presentable clothes. But they are out there in the streets, begging.

At such a young age, these kids have learned that there is an easy way to get money. Just beg. Just knock on doors. Just play on the street while waiting for the next victim. At a time when they should be in school studying or at home where they should be taught how to work, even just do some household chores, they are left to roam the streets, learning the tricks of the street at a very young age.

It is said that we become what we are taught. If these children are not discouraged from begging, what will become of them? And what are we doing to solve this problem?

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