Philippines: Street children jailed during Papal Visit

Children in jail - image Preda

Street children as young as five have been put in detention centres alongside adult criminals in an effort by the authorities to clean up the streets of Manila during the visit of Pope Francis. Six million people are expected to attend an open air Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Manila's Rizal Park on Sunday. According to an investigation by the MailOnline, before the Pope's arrival today, hundreds of street children were rounded up from doorways and roadsides by police and officials and put in adult prisons, where conditions are grim.

Columban Father Shay Cullen who has run a centre for street children in the Philippines for the past 40 years expressed his concern for the children's safety, pointing out that they have no legal representation.

Although Pope Francis washed the feet of inmates in a youth detention centre in Rome in 2013, Fr Shay said: "Sadly, there is no way the Pope will be visiting these detention centres in Manila. They are a shame on the nation.."

Catherine Scerri, deputy director of street children charity Bahay Tuluyan, said last April when President Obama visited, children were also cleared from the streets and not freed until he had left. There were protests over this at the time and she said she was surprised it had happened again.

Most people in Manila know nothing about the way children are treated in the detention centres. "When they find out, they are outraged," Catherine said. "People are horrified to find out what the government is doing in their name."

Father Shay said he is praying that Pope Francis will speak out on children's rights during his five-day visit to the Philippines which ends on Sunday.

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For more information on Bahay Tuluyan see: www.bahaytuluyan.org

To read the Daily Mail article see: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2906730/EXCLUSIVE-Children-CAGED-God-Police-seize-orphans-chain-filth-clear-streets-Pope-s-visit-Philippines.html#ixzz3OvVkfixJ

Source: Preda