The Department of Social Welfare and Development – National Capital Region launched the Oplan Balik Bahay Sagip Buhay (OBBSB) project which aims to comprehensively address the prevalence of children, unattached individuals and families at-risk on the streets, during the press briefing held on May 7, 2015 in Pasay City.
“DSWD-NCR is targeting a total of 3, 500 street families to be removed from the streets who shall receive a package of educational, health, shelter and livelihood assistance in preparation for their community reintegration,” Regional Director Ma. Alicia S. Bonoan shared during the activity.
The pilot areas for the OBBSB implementation in Metro Manila are the cities of Manila and Quezon where high incidence of street dwellings were recorded in the April 2013 rapid appraisal conducted by DSWD-NCR.
Meanwhile, DSWD-NCR admits the fact that addressing the concern of street dwellings cannot be handled solely by the Department, thus, ongoing coordination with multi-stakeholders was being conducted to solidify convergence effort in the implementation of the project.
“We acknowledge the participation of Local Government Units (LGUs), BLGUs, National Government Agencies (NGAs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Business Organizations, Private Sectors, Academe and Faith-Based Organizations who expressed commitment and support in implementing this comprehensive project for the street dweller,” Dir. Bonoan emphasized.
Further, Director Bonoan calls the participation of the public especially the netizens, to report street dweller incidence through the @savestreetkids twitter account, to intensify the reach-out operation mechanism of the project.
As a sign of support, Manila City Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada signed the Manila City’s Executive Order No. 10 Series of 2015 or an order creating the Manila Task Force on street dwellers wherein Manila Department of Social Welfare headed by Dr. Maria Sheilah H. Lacuna – Pangan will be the secretariat in crafting a detailed plan for the management of street dwellers in the said city.
Among the target recipients of this project are the beneficiaries of Modified Conditional Cash Transfer for Homeless Street Families (MCCT-HSF) to sustain the assistance of the Department in the education and health of the families and eventually mainstream them to the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) also known as Pantawid Pamilya program.
Sanevith Sanelila, MCCT-HSF beneficiary from Tondo, Manila City shared during the activity on how the program brought impressive changes to her family as she said with teary eyes:
“Dati, nakatira kame sa bangketa katabi ng estro, walang bahay, hinuhuli kame ng MMDA kaya aalis kame sa papag na higaan namin. Lagi ring nabu-bully sa school ang mga anak ko dahil wala kameng bahay… napakababa ng tingin sa amin at wala kameng respetong nakukuha kahit kanino man… ngayong MCCT-HSF beneficiary na kame, ‘di na pala absent ang anak ko at napapacheck up ko na sila sa health center. Hindi na rin sila binu-bully at natuto akong humarap sa tao dahil may bahay na kame, hindi na ako nanliliit kapag tinitignan kame ng tao.”###