At least 600 people who, while they haven’t been lifted up from poverty by Aquino, directly benefited from the pope’s visit. They may have been returned to the streets, but at least they got a free vacation at an actual hotel in Batangas while Pope Francis was here. That was quite a feat pulled by Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, rounding up 600 homeless people and putting them up in a resort in Nasugbu while the pope was in the Philippines. I have never heard of the Chateau Royale Sports and Country Club, but I’m sure it must have been heaven on earth for the denizens of Manila’s streets who were housed there for the duration of the pope’s visit by Soliman; sadly, their stay in Nasugbu has ended, now that the pope has gone. The online news service Rappler said the street denizens arrived at the resort on Jan. 14 and checked out on Jan. 19, the same day that the pope left Manila. Quoting Bahay Tuluyan, the non-government aid organization that helps street children, Rappler said the 600 had been rounded up from all over Malate, Manila, where they had been living for the longest time and where the papal nuncio’s residence— where the pope stayed during his visit—also is. “They stayed in a hotel and went swimming,” a Bahay Tuluyan volunteer said. The hotel has confirmed the stay of the homeless during the period. Soliman was candid enough to admit that the homeless were indeed sent on the junket, which she said was paid for by funds set aside for the government’s conditional cash transfer doleout program. But she said that such excursions were being done on a regular basis as part of the government’s “modified” CCT. I give Soliman points for creativity. So it’s really not true, as the UK tabloid Daily Mail said that homeless children were being caged by her department—they were shepherded into seven buses and sent on a paid vacation at taxpayers’ expense to a resort in Nasugbu. The homeless people treated by Soliman will never forget Pope Francis. I won’t blame them if they wish, as they sleep under Manila’s smog-filled skies, that the pope never left. - Jojo Robles
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 07:28:31 +0000
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