Futile gesture

It was a nice gesture on the part of Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, but the cynic that I am believes it was a futile one. But I understand his concern. Families, especially those with small children, do not belong on the streets, where they are exposed to many hazards, including physical abuse as well as diseases.

The lure of a better life, though, might be too tempting to resist. So I expect the farmer from Dagohoy, Bohol, his wife and their six children, the eldest about seven years old, the beneficiaries of Labella’s largesse last Sunday morning, to be back on our shores in no time.

They were lucky to have chosen that section of the city to spend the night or else the vice mayor would not have seen them during his morning jog.

The way I see it, the problem of homelessness has become so prevalent that we, as a society, tend to forget that it’s there until we literally stumble into it. And that’s what probably happened to Labella.

After the initial shock of discovery, after the conversation with the father, he gave them money for boat and bus fares, food and farming tools.

Of course, he asked the public not to jump to conclusions. He was just doing what any normal human being would do when confronted with the injustice. “Only a person with a heart of stone won’t be touched seeing these small kids and an infant sleeping on the sidewalk. To say that it is inhuman is an understatement,” he told SunStar Cebu’s Rona T. Fernandez.

I believe Labella when he said there was no politicking on his part.

But unless the root of the problem is addressed, the family from Dagohoy will be back. Especially now that they know someone will give them money for squatting on the sidewalk.

And they’re not alone. Many share their story. Rural families uproot themselves to come to the metro in search of greener pastures.

I’m trying to imagine what life was like for them before their exodus to the urban jungle. Maybe it was starvation that drove them out. That, or the lack of employment opportunities. Or maybe they just want to improve their living condition, or experience city living.

Either way, they believe the solution to all their problems is here. In the city. Keeping them out will not be easy or possible or even legal.

That was why I was appalled by one reaction to the vice mayor’s Facebook posts.

A certain Ann suggested deploying border patrols in the port areas of Cebu City to keep track of arriving passengers who may end up on the streets. What’s next? Round them all up and put them in a ghetto?

Maybe we just have to accept that street dwellers are part of the social mise-en-scene. It’s up to the public to ignore them, or, like Labella, to try to make a difference in their lives.