EDITORIAL - Heightened drive against beggars, street dwellers

Street dwellers, beggars and street Christmas carolers, beware! You will soon have no place in Mandaue City now that the City Council finally approved a resolution heightening the city’s campaign against people dwelling on the streets.

The resolution called on the City Legal Office’s enforcement unit and the City Social Welfare Services (CSWS) to round up beggars, carolers and all those living on the streets, especially along A.S. Fortuna Street, U.N. Avenue, M.C. Briones and other major thoroughfares in the city.

“To showcase the economic rise of the city and to create a civilized and sound environment, it is but fitting and proper to uproot this illegal activity that tarnish the city’s good image,” the resolution reads. “The City Government of Mandaue is committed to strictly implement the Anti-Mendicancy Law and exercise diligence in launching this campaign in order to build up a harmonious, civilized and sound urban environment.”

With the resolution, many hope that Mandaue City will begin to be religious in its drives against those mendicants and street dwellers if it wants to project a clean image as it races to make its presence felt as an ideal investment site.

 Like Cebu City, Mandaue is undeniably home to a large portion of homeless people roaming around the streets of Metro Cebu. This problem has been going on for years but has largely been ignored by the local government.

Now, let us see whether or not the move of the City Council will greatly help in the campaign. Yes, the city has another valid ground, aside from the existing Anti-Mendicancy Law or Presidential Decree 1563, to finally act and solve the problem once and for all.

However, the city cannot solve the problem without strictly imposing political will. That is because, without political will, the problem will always recur, just like what other local government units are experiencing.