Scavengers in Davao

Ann Silvosa, head of our City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), briefed members of the City Council yesterday on the solid waste management program of the city.

There was one particular issue she raised that alarmed a number of us. She said the city is becoming a "scavengers' paradise."

She said she recently visited at least two areas one at the old Cosmopolitan Parlor area and the other at the back of NCCC Bodega at Lizada, where she found colonies of garbage scavengers.

She was shocked to discover the scavengers were mostly children while their parents just sit at the urban poor colony playing cards, gossiping and drinking.