ISABEL, Leyte – The municipal government is mulling the idea of providing civil registry documents to the members of Badjao tribe living in this town.
By giving them registry documents, they can enjoy benefits that are being provided by the rest of the residents, said town Mayor Saturnino Medina.
Isabel is home to 69 Badjao families comprising of 277 individuals.
“Although shelter assistance had been given now to Badjao community, many things is need to be done to make sure that they will really feel that they belong to the community and receive assistance from the government like any other ordinary Filipino does. But they can’t benefit from these services and assistance because most of them are not yet registered,” Mayor Medina said.
“Many of them are not yet registered at the Civil Registrar Office. A lot of them are still undocumented,” he added.
According to Medina, the Badjaos remain without any civil documents because they fear that they might just be rejected or ridiculed if they seek these documents before the local registry office
The town mayor said that if these Badjaos will have their documents, they could avail benefits being provided by the government like the 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) and stop begging in the streets just to earn money to sustain their daily needs.
“For the Badjao people to receive assistance from the government they must be registered at the civil registrar office,” Media said.
Most of the Badjaos in the town are into fishing, carpentry and other menial jobs.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
