Street kids feasted on roast beef

MANILA, Philippines - Perhaps it was their first time to experience fine dining, but the 490 street children, beggars and poor families taken by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to Chateau Royale resort in Batulao, Batangas “truly enjoyed” their “almost endless” servings of roast beef and roast chicken at the resort’s grand ballroom during their “family camping workshop” that coincided with the five-day papal visit.

The 500-square meter grand ballroom of the 14-hectare Chateau Royale, usually booked for wedding and birthday receptions, was the venue where the street children and their parents dined for breakfast, lunch and dinner, according to a source from the resort who requested anonymity.

The ballroom was set up with fine china and cutlery but minus the table knives.

The ballroom, which can accommodate up to 800 people, was also the venue where the street children and the homeless were given lectures on “family planning, child rearing, becoming good citizens,” according to the source.

He added that about a hundred DSWD coordinators accompanied the children to the resort. The coordinators gave the children clothes and toys.

“DSWD booked through a travel agency and the booking was done almost a week before their expected arrival at Chateau Royale,” he said.

He refused to give details about the travel agency involved and how much was spent for the children’s stay at the resort.

A number of trucks and vans transported the street children and other homeless people to the resort in the evening of Jan. 14.

They stayed in Swiss chalet-type log cabins until Jan. 19, checking out at noon.

“I believe they were not taken to Chateau Royale to hide them from the pope. They really had activities done here,” the source said.

The 490 beggars and homeless people stayed in 70 log cabins. There were about seven to eight people in one cabin; each cabin measures 45 sq. m.

To get to their log cabins from the ballroom, the adults and children had to walk a short distance through landscaped grounds inside the resort.

Life-size stone sculptures depicting the stages of happiness of Buddha line the avenue leading to the innermost sanctum of the resort. A huge Buddhist goddess seems to float on a pond filled with koi. Across it, discordant with the Asian aesthetics, are Swiss chalets that gleam in a long, long line of white log cabins.

“We treated the children like our real guests because they really were guests. Hindi namin sila tinipid (There was no scrimping),” said the source, adding that many of their “young guests” came to the resort “with a different smell” that mixed with the sweet, nippy breeze courtesy of the Batulao forest that surrounds the resort.

“They were unruly many times. They fought,” he said. “But we are in the hospitality business and we are trained for all sorts of guests.”

He added that in some instances, the kids would knock on the doors of the resort’s other guests, who were attending their company’s team-building seminar at the resort on the same days the children were there.

The source noted that the children were happiest at the pool area of the resort.