⌛ Please do not feed the badjao in Dgte

DCOS, here is an article from your city, Davao, about those poor victims, the Badjao:

Sun.Star Davao - OFW hails mayor for tough stance against Badjaos

Just curious...do you still give them money after they curse you and spit on you??

 

If I am only a Dumaguete resident I would write the Mayor about the problem. Only the local gov't can address the problem if there is a political will. I know some Badjao in Zamboanga and Basilan who are self sufficient and survived through livelehood.

 

I read the article. I am a big fan of Mayor Duterte's way of keeping the city of Davao in order. Yes he did the right thing. Spitting and physically abusing people while begging are actions that need to be dealt with. Cursing people, though only words, is also unacceptable. The city of Dumaguete should do things to stop such actions. Please note though that Davao did not have to kick out the Badjao. The other thing about Mayor Duterte is that it is known among the Badjao that Mayor Duterte loves the Badjao. He does many things to help them out. He gives aid. He works closely with their religious leaders. At least one of the deputy mayors mentioned in the article speaks the Badjao language and when needed goes to the various communities to communicate effectively with them. Very fair and very just.

To address other people's comments. I am not here to be a disruption. But I found very provocative posts on this board about a people group that I know and love. I felt a need to give some defense as well as be a help in understanding them. If you might have ran into a Badjao thief, it is not correct to say Badjao are thieves. In face all the other murdering and stealing that goes on in the city of Dumaguete does not get labeled in the papers as "A Bisayan stole someone's purse downtown." or a "Bisayan murdered a man last night." Just like in my country they don't write newspaper articles that say, "White people in Enron embezzled millions of dollars."

People here have said the Badjao do not actually need help. You are viewing the world from Dumaguete a place that is at peace. The Badjao have fled their world that is at war (noting again that it is not they, but members of stronger tribes that are causing the disruption). The way the Badjao are enlisting people's help (begging) may not be appropriate, but yet still they are an entire people group that is in need of help. Kicking them out of Dumaguete for personal comfort reasons would be heartless.

 

I rather be heartless than robbed !

I don't give a bloody damned where those criminals come from.

of course they don't need help as they steal their needs from others and that VERY organized

 

Thank you for bringing political correctness to our attention. Might I suggest that you take a few of the badjao into your own home and feed and clothe them and give them money and teach them manners instead of giving the rest of us instructions on how we should "feel" about them and that we should "understand" them because of their circumstances.

Oh, I almost forgot, those of your ilk want to take away from the rest of us to pay for your "thoughts" on how to treat a totally corrupt way of life. That it is really our fault, not theirs, they have no control over their own destiny but we should, out of our plenty, try to "understand" why they rob us, spit on us and curse us if we do not give them money that we had to work for but they refuse to do the same.

 

Yes, and when booted off they just come back under one of their other profiles!

Larry

 

I especially found this statement to be particularly enlightening!

Larry

 

@diver: the record is 5 profiles as of now....

@gass: well, I did not pray and sing with them, but being an animal lover, I invited the dogs of my neighbor for a pre-christmas-treasure-hunt until the police arrived.

Sadly they could not do a lot next to sending them back to the boulevard. The police ain't pay for food and drink for this rats when they are in jail... so pointless for me to file a case :(

 

I think its the other way around.

When they learn Bisyan and stop stealing and begging then maybe they will be welcome in Dumaguete. If you want respect you must show respect, it is as simple as that. And that is from my own Dumaguetena.

If you ask me I think it is cowardly behavior to send your children out begging while the men are out theiving. I think it is more a way of life and a way of life that should not be encourged or supported. If they have peaceful intent and can live civilized lives then they need to prove it. Until then, actions speak louder than words.

 

Yes, I've got very little sympathy either. Don't know what the current situation is, but like an earlier poster noted, they did become very serious pests in Tagbilaran when we were last there a year ago. Always been some for the last decade or so - but had gotten much worse. We were able to F them off reasonably easy - but they gave very obvious foreign tourists innocently wandering around CPG ave absolute hell. I wonder if any of them will ever come back to the Philippines. I know I'll likely never set foot in India again - totally sick and tired of the harassment there - and it's virtually non-stop wherever you go. The Philippines needs every tourist they can get...and allowing this to go on all over the Visayas is just not in the brochures...assuming you ever see a brochure. My wife went to the tourism department in Manila and gave them a good blast a few years ago.....but some things never change....