Begging schoolchildren

On my way to work today, I encountered two grade 1 or grade 2 kids of Balara Elementary School. They blocked my way and asked, "Kuya, pahingi po barya", I was caught off guard by their plea since they are two uniformed children begging for coins from passersby. Still, I hurriedly said, "Sorry, wala akong barya". They replied, "Kuya kahit magkano para pambili lang ng pagkain". Honestly, I don't have a single coin in my pocket. So I told them to ask other people. And they hurriedly asked someone, a student of UP Diliman. That man told them, "oist! masama yan". So there I went to the waiting shed for my jeepney ride. Yet that experience really keeps playing on my mind. It's the first time that I was begged by schoolchildren! With that, I pity them and went back to the area where they beg, but before that, I changed my 100 peso bill so that I can give them some. On my way back, I've seen them talking to a third schoolchild on the way to school. They're telling that child or classmate maybe that they got some baon (or not) from begging. It's too late though, they're on their way to school. The third child, however sits for a while on the sidewalk, maybe reflecting on what the two begging schoolchildren had told him. So OK, I went back on my way to work, passing near him and looking at him in the eye, yet he keeps on sitting not looking at anyone, maybe because that child is embarrassed at the idea of begging. Good child! So there goes my first experience of being begged by schoolchildren.
What a pity! Just what are their parents doing? Maybe the hard realities of life in the Philippines disabled their parents to give them baon. Or it can be that their parents just told them to ask passersby for their baon. This is sick, really. I have read a study on child beggars in Metro Manila before, where the researchers conclude that it's abject poverty that drives these children to beg, as against the common knowledge that these children beg coins to buy their supply for substance abuse like rugby or to gamble at an early age. They beg because they don't have food to eat. They have hungry stomachs and dry mouths. Of course the Philippines have child support institutions and NGOs established for the plight of these children, yet these institutions, as I see it, are active only in funding campaigns. Are they around in areas frequented by begging children? No, they're absent there.
Actually, I am not into giving coins for beggars along sidewalks, or those children climbing the jeeps and wipes off passengers' shoes for some coins. I have never given them a single coin for reasons that the act of begging passengers is wrong. It's human nature, If I give them some, they will keep on begging since its profitable for them. Yet, I see those schoolchildren as exemption. It's a common thing to say that "children must be off the streets, they must be in schools. So there, those children are going to school and begging. Sigh! There must be a place for these children in Philippine society. Something must be done to stop them from begging. Poverty alleviation should be prioritized by anyone.