EDITORIAL — The case against street caroling

It’s that time of year again when carolers go from house to house singing and hoping for a few coins. While there are fewer and fewer people who do this over the years, this practice has never really died out.

However, those who still want to earn from their singing are finding new ways to get to people; instead of walking far and going house to house they just go on board public transportation where they can target many people at the same time, hoping some of them become sympathetic.

And this is what many mendicants are doing; clambering on board vehicles, assuring passengers they mean no harm, then singing for their captive audience.

And this is why the Cebu City government has warned the public against giving money or goods to street carolers in accordance with City Ordinance 1361.

“Walay mangayo ug walay manghatag, so mao na’ng akong number 1 nga iingon, that was the campaign sa atong anti-mendicancy labi na karon nga Christmas season,” said Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia. Violators can end up paying a P1,000 fine or rendering community service.

Yes, we shouldn’t be giving money to street carolers.

We understand that many of us mean well when giving money to carolers in public vehicles, however, this will only encourage them to continue doing so. If this goes on many of them will come to see caroling then begging as the only way they can make money, the only way they can make a livelihood, which should not be the case.

We also hate to say this but sometimes some mendicants become belligerent or threatening when not given what they are asking for. So it’s better to stop them from becoming dependent on alms in the first place.

Don’t get us wrong, this isn’t saying we shouldn’t be kind to them. But we can be charitable to them without encouraging bad behavior and pushing them to become unnecessarily dependent on us.