6/25/11
Rescued or Arrested?
On the night of June 23, 2011, a team from different government agencies namely the PNP, Brgy. Officials of East Kamias and the Social Services and Development Department of Quezon City, conducted a Rescue Operation of street families within their jurisdiction. The families were taken along with their possessions and brought to Camp Karingal, after which they were finally transported to the Fabella Center in Mandaluyong City. The following morning they were released from the center, and weathering the heavy rains, they walked all the way from Mandaluyong City back to Quezon City. The things taken from them during the operation – especially their wooden carts or karitons - were never returned to them. This kariton is usually their only material possession: they use it for scavenging in order to earn a little to survive and at night it also serves as their abode.
The Kariton Empowerment Center who journeys with these street families is concerned about this series of actions taken by the government. The rescue operation does not facilitate a real rescue but instead it intensifies the poverty and the difficulties that they are experiencing.
From the point of view of the government, this ‘rescue’ operation is meant as a form of intervention to help our sisters and brothers who are living in the streets. On the other hand, these families do not experience this as being ‘rescued’ but rather as being ‘arrested’. To rescue people from a grave situation is a very good intention and act but there should be a common orientation and understanding between the rescuer and the people being rescued. If the real intention of this operation is to really rescue these people, then every step of this operation should only bring about goodness and relief to the person(s) who is/are being rescued.
But is it really goodness and relief that these families experience from the “rescuer?” Our answer can only be ‘no!’ The way the operation among the street dwellers is conducted is really inhumane. They are being taken against their will, and their material possessions - which may not mean a lot to most of us but which for them are very valuable like a paper board which serves as their bed, some old and dirty mattresses, and a kariton which is used for their “work” and also serves as their home --, are all taken from them without proper documentation. Are they being rescued if they are treated as criminals or as garbage in the streets? Are they being rescued if the way we rescue is like impounding street dogs? With these ways, are we really performing a rescue or an arrest?
After being taken, these families will be brought to a place and asked for some personal information, and then finally, they will be brought to Fabella Center… After such… what’s next? After none or just a few hours of sleep, they will be released and will start their long walk from Mandaluyong back to Quezon City. In what way has the government helped these people? Or did they just add more burdens to their poverty?
Maybe the rescue operation would really be of help if from its very first steps on it would be respectful of the rights of these street families as human beings, if we would treat them as our brother and sisters who also have dignity, rights and freedom…. In our experience of journeying with these people, we can say that they are marginalized by our society. People have grown insensitive to their presence. They became the object of disgust and fear, and they are treated just like some waste or garbage that needs to be swept away. If the real goal of the operation is just for the good of the street families, then programs are needed that will alleviate them from this kind of poverty. They truly have little self-esteem because this is what they get from people who are supposed to offer them compassion, and from government who should be the first to respond to their needs. They may be of little value in the eyes of many, they may be looked at as if they are just trash, but they continue to strive for life as far and as long as they can.
In the poor communities where there are threats of demolitions, the residents are being consulted and series of dialogues are conducted by the government. While for our friends from the street, when the operation happens, they are just being taken without anything but discriminating words and threats. They may not have a home but they are still human persons! In our opinion the present rescue operation violates and destroys their dignity, their rights and freedom as human beings!
With the street families, we are strongly asking the Government to temporarily stop all kinds of inhumane and false rescue operation of street families until such time that a clear, just and humanitarian process and approach to rescue is enacted and until the government comes up with programs that are really responsive to the needs of these people… programs that will empower them to help themselves alleviate their condition and that will lift their dignity as human persons and Filipino people.
Reference: Jerel Tapiador Tabong - [email protected]
Kariton Empowerment Center (KEC) aims at the rehabilitation and empowerment of street families by helping them to organize into a self-help group, and enable them to address more creatively and responsibly their situation
Rescued or Arrested?
On the night of June 23, 2011, a team from different government agencies namely the PNP, Brgy. Officials of East Kamias and the Social Services and Development Department of Quezon City, conducted a Rescue Operation of street families within their jurisdiction. The families were taken along with their possessions and brought to Camp Karingal, after which they were finally transported to the Fabella Center in Mandaluyong City. The following morning they were released from the center, and weathering the heavy rains, they walked all the way from Mandaluyong City back to Quezon City. The things taken from them during the operation – especially their wooden carts or karitons - were never returned to them. This kariton is usually their only material possession: they use it for scavenging in order to earn a little to survive and at night it also serves as their abode.
The Kariton Empowerment Center who journeys with these street families is concerned about this series of actions taken by the government. The rescue operation does not facilitate a real rescue but instead it intensifies the poverty and the difficulties that they are experiencing.
From the point of view of the government, this ‘rescue’ operation is meant as a form of intervention to help our sisters and brothers who are living in the streets. On the other hand, these families do not experience this as being ‘rescued’ but rather as being ‘arrested’. To rescue people from a grave situation is a very good intention and act but there should be a common orientation and understanding between the rescuer and the people being rescued. If the real intention of this operation is to really rescue these people, then every step of this operation should only bring about goodness and relief to the person(s) who is/are being rescued.
But is it really goodness and relief that these families experience from the “rescuer?” Our answer can only be ‘no!’ The way the operation among the street dwellers is conducted is really inhumane. They are being taken against their will, and their material possessions - which may not mean a lot to most of us but which for them are very valuable like a paper board which serves as their bed, some old and dirty mattresses, and a kariton which is used for their “work” and also serves as their home --, are all taken from them without proper documentation. Are they being rescued if they are treated as criminals or as garbage in the streets? Are they being rescued if the way we rescue is like impounding street dogs? With these ways, are we really performing a rescue or an arrest?
After being taken, these families will be brought to a place and asked for some personal information, and then finally, they will be brought to Fabella Center… After such… what’s next? After none or just a few hours of sleep, they will be released and will start their long walk from Mandaluyong back to Quezon City. In what way has the government helped these people? Or did they just add more burdens to their poverty?
Maybe the rescue operation would really be of help if from its very first steps on it would be respectful of the rights of these street families as human beings, if we would treat them as our brother and sisters who also have dignity, rights and freedom…. In our experience of journeying with these people, we can say that they are marginalized by our society. People have grown insensitive to their presence. They became the object of disgust and fear, and they are treated just like some waste or garbage that needs to be swept away. If the real goal of the operation is just for the good of the street families, then programs are needed that will alleviate them from this kind of poverty. They truly have little self-esteem because this is what they get from people who are supposed to offer them compassion, and from government who should be the first to respond to their needs. They may be of little value in the eyes of many, they may be looked at as if they are just trash, but they continue to strive for life as far and as long as they can.
In the poor communities where there are threats of demolitions, the residents are being consulted and series of dialogues are conducted by the government. While for our friends from the street, when the operation happens, they are just being taken without anything but discriminating words and threats. They may not have a home but they are still human persons! In our opinion the present rescue operation violates and destroys their dignity, their rights and freedom as human beings!
With the street families, we are strongly asking the Government to temporarily stop all kinds of inhumane and false rescue operation of street families until such time that a clear, just and humanitarian process and approach to rescue is enacted and until the government comes up with programs that are really responsive to the needs of these people… programs that will empower them to help themselves alleviate their condition and that will lift their dignity as human persons and Filipino people.
Reference: Jerel Tapiador Tabong - [email protected]
Kariton Empowerment Center (KEC) aims at the rehabilitation and empowerment of street families by helping them to organize into a self-help group, and enable them to address more creatively and responsibly their situation