The Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has confirmed that 340 members of 100 homeless families were removed from Roxas Boulevard, a major Manila thoroughfare, and temporarily relocated to a beach resort about 90 kilometers (55 miles) away for the duration of the Papal visit.
The families returned after the Pope’s departure.
A resolution before the Philippines House of Representatives has called on the government to summon the head of the DSWD for a probe into whether $97,600 spent on the six-day training course at the resort in Nasugbu, Batangas, amounted to a misuse of public funds.
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It claimed that during the World Economic Forum on East Asia held in Manila in May last year, families were relocated to another resort for similar training.
The plight of the poor, particularly street children, was a touchstone during Pope Francis’ visit to the predominantly Catholic country. At a Sunday Mass, the Pope embraced former street children, who asked him why God had allowed them to suffer.
