LGU ‘rescues’ 48 Aeta families in San Fernando (Sun.Star, Sunday, November 18, 2007)

LGU ‘rescues’ 48 Aeta families in San Fernando
By Ian Ocampo Flora

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -– The social welfare department of the local government unit here has rescued 48 Aeta families who had built makeshift homes in various parts of the city.

“We do not want to use the word ‘apprehend,’ what we did was a rescue of the Aetas who have built temporary homes in the city and have been begging for alms despite the hazards that begging pose to their lives and that of their children,” stressed Irish Deliwang, head of the City Social Welfare (CSWD) department.

She said the “rescued” Aetas have built homes in the city transport facility along Olongapo-Gapan Road and the Torno Memorial Holmes.

“The conditions to which they are exposed had been taking the toll on most of the children they have with them,” Deliwang said, pointing to some Aeta children confined at the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital here.

The CSWD gathered the Aeta families and would be transporting them to the towns were they came from.

Deliwang said the city has no available indigenous program. “We help them when they come to the city each year but we could only do little because they are not part of our clientele. The fact is it’s the local government units (of Mabalacat and Porac) that should institute programs for social services of Aetas.

She added: “Most of the health cases that we have now is on children having pneumonia and diarrhea. Their situation is really alarming which places a question if there are really available streamlining of social services were these Aetas came from.”

According to the CSWD official, Aeta groups usually “visit” San Fernando during the Yuletide season to scratch a living out of begging along streets and communities. She said that it has been a perennial problem for the city. She also raised the issue of hospitals not accepting indigenous people who would like to avail of medical attention.

“We have cases of a hospital that refuses to care for Aetas without necessary identification. They don’t need identification because you would know an Aeta when you see one,” Deliwang, said adding that the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (RA8371) accords indigenous people free medical attention.

“We are coordinating with Porac and Mabalacat but we could only do help within our jurisdiction and we do not have a hold of the social services of the towns,” she said.

A survey of Aeta communities in Porac and Mabalacat reveal that most Aetas are receiving support mostly from religious, community and advocacy organizations rather from tangible government projects.

“This only shows that there is a weak extension of social services in the province. Rehabilitation should have been accorded to them a long time ago. Begging is only a temporary solution to their situation and it has a terrible effect on their health and safety, especially that of the children that they bring when begging,” Deliwang said.