QUEZON City, Philippines (November 10) – Should the government hide the homeless during the APEC summit?
Imagine yourself walking besides Manila Bay; you feel that cold breeze, see the night lights from commercial buildings and lamp posts, you see happy faces from families who are trying to have some quality time with their loved ones, then suddenly bunch of kids with tattered clothes approached you, begging for money, I believe most of you would say “then give them some” but these kids are different, you give them some then they’ll ask for more, you ask them to leave and they’ll go closer. Do you think your time is still enjoyable after this? I don’t think so.
On November 18, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit will take place; prominent officials from prominent countries such as United States of America, Singapore and South Korea will be visiting the Philippines to discuss avenues and opportunities for future economic growth.
I imagine myself as a prominent official visiting another country, then I am greeted by these street children as I attend the APEC Summit. I don’t think that it would give our country any good impression. I will just feel more pity for that country. So, yes, I agree with the government’s strategy to hide the homeless just for this event, because I believe that “first impression lasts” and yes, I also understand that this is a way of covering the fact on how inefficient our government had been, but what can we do? We only have few days left to, all we can do is to at least try to have a good image to present to our economic partners and those days won’t be enough to lift these street families from their abyss.
I also believe that if we kept these squatters around, it will just be used against us, use it as our weakness against our international image. What the government can do is to have this as a lesson and use it on the future to do better for the international summits or conference which will be held on our country. This is the best way instead of our government clashing with their own people; we always have to remember that the Philippines is not only the government’s responsibility but also ours as a people, so why not instead of complaining about how ineffective our management had been, just keep going and do something for our country’s economic growth instead.
(written by Clark Mangahas, edited by Jay Paul Carlos, additional research by Lovely Ann Cruz)