Through the Project Out of School Youth Servicing Towards Economic Recovery (OYSTER), Project "Balik Nayon," and Project "Rugby Boys," the NCRPO gave street urchins an option to veer away from a life of drug dependency and the lure of easy money through crime.
NCRPO chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco said the five police districts in Metro Manila spearheaded in educating the 3,600 OSY in welding, hair-cutting, manicure, food processing, electronics repair, dressmaking and tailoring and baking.
The Western and Central Police Districts were responsible for educating 800 OSY each, the Southern Police District (SPD) with 750, the Northern Police District (NPD) 650 and Eastern Police District (EPD) 600.
"With their new-found talents they now can start a new life and veer away from drug dependency and criminality," said Velasco, adding that the graduates were also given equipment to practice their new profession. To showcase the OYSTER graduates’ products like slippers and bags, the NCRPO held recently a successful exhibit at Camp Bagong, Diwa in Taguig.
According to Velasco, the projects were made possible through the P1 million per police district donation of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, who has been in the forefront of a campaign to try to stab right at the heart of poverty in the country.
The First Gentleman’s generosity complements President Arroyo’s directive of an all-out war against criminality towards a strong republic since poverty has been responsible for leading some Filipinos to a life of crime.
Velasco said that the objective of the programs is to minimize the base of criminality by making idle members of society productively occupied.
Meanwhile, the NCRPO, jointly with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) have rounded up some 1,464 vagrants, particularly streetchildren, who have been living dangerously in main thoroughfares of Metro Manila.
Those rounded up were either turned over or referred to the DSWD offices, the rehabilitation center in Camp Bagong Diwa, institutions or hospitals. Others have gone back to their families.