DSWD: Don't give alms to beggars this Christmas

While Christmas is a season of giving, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) urged the public to resist the impulse to give alms, in cash or in kind, to street dwellers, according to a "24 Oras" report by Maki Pulido.

“We discourage them po sa alms giving, sa paglilimos kasi encourage lang natin ating mga kababayan na manatili sa kalsada,” DSWD Assistant Secretary Romel Lopez said. 

(We discourage alms giving as this would encourage some people to remain in the streets.)

Presidential Decree 1563 under former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., penalizes persons caught giving alms with fines and jail time of up to four years.

DSWD said it has programs for street dwellers such as Oplan Abot, which provides temporary shelter, educational plan or enrolment to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

“Hindi po kayo basta hinihila, nilalagay sa sasakyan, ilalagay sa facility. Hindi po. Dayalogo po ang nangyayari hanggang kayo ay kusa sumama sa amin at mabigyan kayo ng interventions,” Lopez said.

(We don’t just pull the street dwellers, place them in a car, and bring them to a facility. We don’t do that. Dialogue is what happens until they  willingly come with us, and we provide them with interventions.)

Alma, a street dweller, said she has yet to receive the DSWD assistance.

She shared that she had to beg for alms as her income from picking trash was not enough to pay for rent and their other expenses.

“Mahina na po talaga kita sa kalakal e. Kagaya po ng plastic, kinse dati. Ngayon, sampu na lang. Kalahati po binaba ng kalakal,” she said.

(The income from picking trash is small. Like for plastics, it was P15 before. Now, it’s only P10.)

She said she would no longer ask for money or food from strangers if only she was earning enough.—Jiselle Anne Casucian/LDF, GMA Integrated News