Policemen and social workers gathered at least a hundred street dwellers in Manila on Dec. 27, Tuesday, a month before the Miss Universe 2016 pageant which will be held in the country. The homeless were from the areas of Manila City Hall and Baywalk along Roxas Boulevard which is less than half an hour drive from the SM Mall of Asia where the pageant will be held on Jan. 30, 2017.
While the government took the homeless children off the streets when Pope Francis visited the Philippines in January 2015, the Rodrigo Duterte administration is inviting the beauty queens to drop by local disadvantaged communities. Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo will urge pageant organizers to let the contestants interact with the Filipino youths in government shelters.
"We know that many of the Miss Universe contestants come from poor countries," Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo told ABS-CBN. "So, poverty and sufferings are not new to them and the Philippine government agreed not to hide the poor communities."
A recent Department of Social Welfare and Development study revealed many Filipinos are still suffering from poverty. Metro Manila has 4,000 homeless families, many of whom dwell in the streets of Caloocan, Quezon City, Pasay and Manila. Out of that figure, there were 210 families who were once beneficiaries of the housing program of DSWD but return to become homeless again due to lack of work in relocation sites.
This is the third time Philippines is hosting the Miss Universe pageant. The official pre-pageant activities will commence on Jan. 15, 2017 while the candidates will start to arrive on Jan. 12, 2017. Eleven of the candidates have already toured some places of the country this month.
As part of the Miss Universe 2016 official activities, the candidates will visit Albay, Bicol, Batangas, Iloilo and Baguio among others, Philstar reported. They will have a photoshoot in Vigan, Ilocos Sur on Jan. 15, 2016 and a swimwear competition at Jpark Island Resort and Waterpark, Cebu on Jan. 17, 2016. The beauties will have a courtesy call on President Duterte at the Malacañang Palace on Jan. 23, 2017.
Watch reigning Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach welcoming candidates in the Philippines in the clip below: