Street kids a time bomb: Arroyo

Street kids a time bomb: Arroyo

MANILA (AFP): At least 200,000 homeless children roam the mean streets of the Philippines, posing the risk of a "social time bomb" that could lead to more serious national problems, President Gloria Arroyo warned on Thursday.

"It's a social time bomb waiting to explode because the street children ... will become future criminals unless we do something about it now," Arroyo said in a speech as she opened a children's shelter run by the country's largest television network.

Arroyo, a former social welfare secretary, said the majority of the 200,000 street children were runaways from dysfunctional families.

Half of the number could be found in Manila streets, where they have become beggars, child prostitutes, petty thieves and drug couriers, she said.