The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has again reminded all provincial, city and municipal governments to craft and implement measures to address the proliferation of mendicancy and vagrancy in their respective localities.
This was stressed by Secretary Atty. Benjamin C. Abalos Jr. in Memorandum Circular No. 2024-037 which he issued on March 19, 2024.
According to the DILG chief, all LGUs are mandated to enact ordinances intended to prevent, suppress and impose appropriate penalties for vagrancy, mendicancy and such other activities inimical to the welfare and morals of the inhabitants pursuant to the pertinent provision of the Local Government Code or Republic Act 7160.
The Code and other applicable governing laws and policies, Sec. Abalos stated, mandate the LGUs to formulate and implement measures against the proliferation of mendicancy and vagrancy; coordinate with other concerned government agencies, private sector, civil society organizations (CSOs), and the Philippine National Police in enforcing such local measures; and monitor the status of mendicancy and vagrancy in their areas of jurisdiction.
Virac Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officer Jean Triumfante told the Tribune that in compliance with the DILG directive, her office has started to conduct an inventory of mendicants and vagrants in the capital town.
Under Article 59 and 60 of Presidential Decree No. 603, otherwise known as the Child and Youth Welfare Code, issued by then President Ferdinand Marcos in December 1974, any parent or guardian who, among others, improperly exploits a child by using him, directly or indirectly, such as for purposes of begging and acts which are inimical to his interest and welfare, will be criminally liable and could be punished with imprisonment of two to six months, or a fine of P500, or both, at the discretion of the Court.
This law was further buttressed in 1978 by Presidential Decree No. 1563, or the Mendicancy Law of 1978, which sought to establish an integrated system for the control and eradication of mendicancy.
Citing the need to promote social justice and protect the citizenry from rampant mendicancy, the decree states that mendicancy breed crime, creates traffic hazards, endangers health, and exposes mendicants to indignities and degradation.
The law seeks to prevent the commission of mendicancy and the exploitation of infants and children through mendicancy by providing habilitative services for those already exploited or in immediate danger of exploitation and promoting the rehabilitation of minors found begging and mendicants through an integrated developmental package.
Section 4 of the law states that any infant or child 8 years old and below who is found begging or is being utilized by a mendicant for purposes of begging shall be apprehended as a neglected child shall be committed to the custody and care of the government’s social services department.
The same applies to any minor over 9 years of age under 15 found begging or is being utilized for purposes of begging and who acted without discernment.
Any adult person who is found begging and who is physically or mentally incapable of gainful occupation shall be provided the integrated package of services.
PD 1563 also penalizes any mendicant by a fine not exceeding P500 or imprisonment not exceeding two years or both upon conviction by the Court.
On the other hand, any person who abets mendicancy by giving alms directly to mendicants, exploited infants and minors on public roads, sidewalks, parks and bridges shall be punished by a fine nor exceeding P20.00.
It may be recalled that in recent years, especially prior to and during the Yuletide season, at least two jeeploads of Indigenous Peoples, composed mainly of Badjao families, arrived in Virac to engage in begging.
One group was found to have rented a vacant house in barangay Rawis for P10,000 a month while others slept at the town plaza and at the public market.
No action appears to have been taken by the LGUs concerned against the IPs, who eventually left for the mainland after a month.
On the other hand, Republic Act 10158 had already decriminalized vagrancy as previously defined under Article 202 of the Revised Penal Code.
The RPC defined vagrants as any person having no apparent means of subsistence, who has the physical ability to work and who neglects to apply himself or herself to some lawful calling, found loitering about public or semi-public buildings or places or trampling or wandering about the country or the streets without visible means of support.